Media mogul Rupert Murdoch did more than revolutionize the modern tabloid; he perfected the art turning news into a partisan ideology war. His Brainchild, Fox News, is now being sued for knowingly lying to its viewers; the fact of the matter is that they’ve been lied to for decades.
Ever since the advent of cable news with Ted Turner’s CNN in 1980, polarized news, across all forms, has been on the steep rise. Through TV, magazines, and radio, media has begun to evolve into a sort of ideology war fueled off of a loyal customer base of viewers more eager to receive partisan propaganda, than truthful and genuine news. The issue lies within the gap between opinion news, and news dedicated to further an agenda. When facts begin to shift out of a result of a need to refill people’s “biased glasses of political propaganda”, the notion of truthful journalism, whether it be in an opinion form or not, becomes impaired. This issue, of a rise in one-sided opinion culture-based news rather than that of evidence and information, while growing more relevant by the day, originated far before the age of Tucker Carlson and Joy Reid.
Although elements of radicalism and extremism were present in much of the early 1900’s with the formation of yellow journalism in newspapers, this modern day in which mainstream media has gone unchecked for its involvement in swaying the public against factual news, can largely be traced back to one man.
Australian businessman and media tycoon Rupert Murdoch was an aspiring editor when he first took over his father’s assets in 1954 as part of his inheritance. These included the Sunday Mail and News Limited, both of which were based in Australia. Murdoch’s signature tabloid headlines that we can see across the media today first took base however when he began writing many of the headlines for his newspapers himself. Themes such as sex, scandal, and controversy across human-interest stories became a staple of Murdoch’s signature as he began to grow his empire that would one day manifest into News Corp. Venturing into new markets, he later acquired British media outlets, the News of the World of London as well as the ever-defining tabloid, The Sun, in 1969. With a growing array of brands and countries under his belt, Murdoch employed his signature strategy of scandalous writings while also introducing a formula that would change the world of politics and media intertwined: conservative editorials.
Now, it was about the 80’s in which Murdoch truly transformed his empire by entering the US markets. With his acquisition of the New York Post as well as local papers, he began to implement his business model consisting of sensationalized headlines to attract readers, while also political commentary often taking a more conservative outlook. With a larger audience west of the pond, the US allowed Murdoch to reach new customers who had yet to truly be tainted by Murdoch’s impact on the media. Acquisition after acquisition, Murdoch further expanded his media empire, entering new industries like publishing and television with his acquisition of HarperCollins and 20th Century Fox in the late 1980s. With a media empire growing in assets and size, it became apparent to Murdoch to find separation in his portfolios in order to sort through a slough of diverging outlets each with their own target audience. So he did. The only issue was that movies and television seemed to be much more profitable than newspapers or magazines.
Thus, a venture into the newfound cable television industry would allow for the rekindling of what was a news-based company. What made Murdoch’s Fox Broadcasting Company, founded in 1886, so unique was because of its bold and appealing niche of entertainment to younger audiences. While the Fox network is now only looked upon as a mere copy of that of ABC, NBC, and CBS, it provided this sort of new-age television to the youth who were done with their parent’s way of watching. The sheer success of Fox gave Murdoch a newfound presence in television unlike ever before. With the launch of more affiliates, Fox became a household name. However, one piece of the puzzle was missing, a news outlet Murdoch had dreamt about for decades.
The Fox News Channel, as it is officially called, was launched in 1996 under the umbrella of Murdoch’s Fox Entertainment Group. Its creation was largely seen as a competitor to Ted Turner’s CNN which truly shaped the idea of what a 24/7 news network might look like. Only instead of merely copying this idea, Murdoch added his signature. It started with The O’Reilly Report and continued with Hannity and Colmes. Rupert Murdoch wasn’t simply competing with CNN by introducing new news anchors and reporters, he was competing by turning news reports into political commentary by talk-show hosts.
It was essential to Fox News’s success to diverge from the CNN model of simply reporting on factual events around the world. Rather, Fox News, which is currently the most watched news channel on television, had to offer an opinion. And this opinion, which has furthered their presence in mainstream media over the years, has grown in size, while simultaneously limited in perspective. Facts at Fox have begun to shift while political rants favoring only one extreme side of the isle have ensued. In fact, one study conducted by Pew Research examines how different viewers perceive the network, perfectly illustrating Fox’s divisive effect on society.
“Around two-thirds of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (65%) say they trust Fox News for political and election news. No more than a third of Republicans say they trust any of the other news organizations asked about in the survey…Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 61% say they distrust Fox News for political news. That’s considerably higher than the shares of Democrats who distrust other outlets…”
Put simply, “Republicans trust Fox News more than any other outlet. Democrats distrust it more than any other outlet” (Pew Research). The fact of the matter is that news and any other form of factual information should be universally accepted. Whether or not it is combated by rebuttal from an opposing side does not matter; what matters is whether or not the information told in the first place is true and unbiased.
Currently, Fox News is being sued by Dominion Voting Systems in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit accusing the network of pushing false narratives that the voting company interfered with the election in order to boost ratings. Of course, many have since come to reckon that Fox News, Rupert Murdoch’s golden invention, knowingly pushed these conspiracy theories and lies when in fact this political propaganda has occurred for decades. Murdoch took news and turned it into entertainment. He took information and turned it into propaganda. Even before Fox News, Murdoch conspired falsehoods into headlines.
The most devastating effect, however, of Murdoch’s invention of Fox News, is the formula itself. Media everywhere is under attack by the notion that business should trump journalism. While it may have started with Murdoch’s formation of the network as well as his other media assets, the issue has become pervasive. News, which appeals to society because it impacts us and enlightens our outlook, is increasingly becoming a device to transfer political propaganda. Rather than making informed decisions about voting based upon the factual information media outlets inform us of, we are beginning to solely make them based upon what Tucker Carlson ranted about last night. And that’s where Murdoch’s business thrives.
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