News Hounds

Rupert Murdoch Plans Chinese Version of MySpace

Last year Rupert Murdoch purchased the extremely popular social networking site MySpace and yesterday's Financial Times reported that he plans to launch a version of the website within the restrictive parameters set forth by the Chinese government. “We have to make MySpace a very Chinese site,” Mr Murdoch said at a media conference organised by Goldman Sachs. “I have sent my wife [Wendy Deng] across there because she understands the language.”

George Galloway Rips Into Sky News about Its Coverage of Lebanon

George Galloway, the controversial and fiery Member of the British Parliament, who once read the riot act to Sen. Norm Coleman during Senate hearings on the Oil for Food Progam, has done it again. On August 6th at the height of the war on Lebanon, Galloway tongue-lashed Sky News, the Murdoch-owned "sister station" of FOX News, accusing the network of biased unbalanced reporting. Both Sky News and FOX News are owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. A big hat tip to regular reader Wisdo for the heads up on this video.

Spain's Ousted Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar to Sit on News Corporation Board

The Guardian reports today that Rupert Murdoch has appointed a new member to his News Corporation Board of Directors. It is former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, the man who defied the will of his people and sent Spanish troops to Iraq as part of the coalition of the wiiling. Aznar was thrown out of office in the last elections because his party attempted to lay blame for the March 11, 2004 Madrid bombings on a local separatist group rather than on the actual Al Qaeda perpetrators. The ex-Prime Minister has been a friend of Mr. Murdoch's for several years.

Think About It: Not One, but Two, Bush News Channels

Here we go again. According to a June 20, 2006, Reuters article, Fox is set to launch a business channel by "the middle of next year."

What is it about June 20? Does Roger Ailes suddenly get a hankerin' for some media attention on that date? On June 20, 2005, Forbes ran an article saying that Fox would launch a business channel "in the first half of 2006."

Katy Bar the Door, The Immigrants Are Invading the Heartland

In keeping with the Fox theme of overwhelming fear of terrorists, liberals, and immigrants, yesterday 6/4/04 on Heartland host John Kasich began his segment on immigration with the loud statement “there’s something about immigration that you should know.” The chyron underneath read “staggering numbers.”