Media Matters for America takes a close looks at News Corps biggest stars, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, etc., as well as the head honcho Rupert Murdoch, and paints a scary picture of continually racially-charged broadcasting.
Glenn Beck’s comment that President Obama is a “racist” with a “deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture” justifiably garnered a great deal of attention, but that remark was by no means an isolated incident at News Corp., owner of Fox News. Indeed, Beck’s comments are indicative of a corporate culture in which racially charged commentary is frequent, goes all the way to the top, and is too often tolerated.
Rupert Murdoch
News Corp.’s race problem starts at the very top. Its chairman and CEO, Rupert Murdoch, baselesslyclaimed that Obama made a “very racist comment” and that Beck’s characterization of Obama was “right.” Murdoch also hired Roger Ailes as Fox News Channel president despite his prior history of using race for political gain.
Murdoch says Beck’s “racist” comment “was right.” Responding to Beck’s description of Obama as a “racist” who has “a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture,” Murdoch said in a November 6 interview with Sky News Australia that while that “was something which perhaps shouldn’t have been said about the president, but if you actually assess what he was talking about, he was right.” Murdoch also claimed that Obama “did make a very racist comment.” A News Corp. spokesperson reportedly later told Politico that Murdoch “does not at all, for a minute, think the president is a racist.”
When asked what “very racist comment” he was referring to, Murdoch says he “denied that absolutely.” On November 19, Media Matters asked Murdoch to explain what he meant by his remark that Obama made a “very racist comment.” Murdoch said, “I denied that absolutely.” He added: “I don’t believe he’s a racist.”
Murdoch apologizes for NY Post running cartoon many “interpreted” as “racist.” Following the publication of a controversial cartoon in the New York Post, Murdoch issued a statement saying: