Within five months after Rupert Murdoch took over the Wall Street Journal he fired the editor and installed his close friend Robert Thomson, following his assignment where he had also Foxified The Times of London. The new publisher was Leslie Hinton, former boss of the division that published Murdoch’s British newspapers, including The News of the World, who resigned last Friday for his alleged cover-ups. The changes are now very apparent in the Wall Street Journal: shorter articles, less depth, an increased emphasis on politics and at times even unsophisticated coverage of business.
Along with this rapid transformation of the prestigious Wall Street Journal into a mediocre publication also came changes that were far more devious. The political articles grew more and more slanted toward the Republican party line. The Wall Street Journal at times even took to using the word “Democrat” as an adjective instead of a noun, a usage favored by the right wing.
Unfortunately for the people who oppose Murdoch and want to see him jailed, he also has a large number of "fans" around the world, including well known media personalities, like Piers Morgan, the former editor for Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World. Piers Morgan dedicated a segment of his new CNN show last night to defending Rupert Murdoch. In this show he included former New York Post reporter Vicky Ward, who is a personal friend of Murdoch's.
Despite all his pretended faith in the free-market, Murdoch’s success has always owed much to his uncanny ability to align himself with governments that were able to dole out lucrative broadcasting and cable monopolies. Not just in China but in the West as well, Murdoch has been an expert practitioner of crony capitalism.
Rupert Murdoch is also a typical right-wing populist who knows that the road of success for plutocrats is to wear the mask of plebian outrage, pretending to be the voice of the very people they are economically exploiting.
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