Murdoch's brand of biz journalism

Peter Hart, the activism coordinator of Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, writes in the Seattle Times that the new Fox Business Network is practicing News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch‘s brand of journalism.

Hart wrote, “Fox Business Network, it would seem, is hardly straying from the right-wing playbook — business boosterism, issuing warnings about ‘big government’ excesses, and so on. This shouldn’t be a big shock, considering that Ailes and Fox News host Neil Cavuto are overseeing news coverage.

“That would be the same Neil Cavuto who quipped during the 2004 presidential campaign that Osama bin Laden might be wearing a Kerry/Edwards button, and called New York Times columnist and well-respected Princeton economist Paul Krugman a ‘sanctimonious twit’ before adding, ‘Now may I suggest you take your column and shove it?’

“The partisan spin Cavuto can be expected to give to FBN’s coverage is illustrated by his claim on Fox News Channel that 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry’s naming John Edwards as his running mate caused an ‘Edwards Dip’ in the stock market. Similarly, a Fox contributor claimed during the campaign that ‘as Kerry’s numbers increase, the market seems to go down on almost a one-for-one correlation.’

“But pandering to the right didn’t stop Fox News Channel from being a ratings success — at least in the relatively small pond of cable news — and with business viewers being an even smaller and arguably more conservative-leaning group, FBN could be a similar winner in its niche. This could tempt CNBC to try what CNN and MSNBC did when Fox began to hit them in the Nielsens — move to the right in a pathetic attempt to outfox Fox.”

Read more here.