An Open Letter to Rupert Murdoch: What Exactly Do You Mean?

Dear Mr. Murdoch:

On July 28th, Glenn Beck said that President Obama has a "deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture," and went on to call him a "racist." These statements were indefensible, angering and offending not only Black Americans, but Americans of every color. They led more than 285,000 people to call on sponsors to pull their support from Beck's show. And more than 80 advertisers of conscience have done just that.

On Friday, November 6th, you endorsed Glenn Beck's statements, saying "if you actually assess what he was talking about, he was right." We would like you to explain yourself. Do you really think President Obama is a racist? What part of Beck's statements do you agree with, and why?

It has been an open question as to whether or not News Corporation or FOX News would rein in Glenn Beck. It seems that we may now have our answer. Since his attack on the president, Beck's pattern of race-baiting has continued unabated. Perhaps he feels so secure spouting this outrageous rhetoric, Mr. Murdoch, because you personally agree with his most inflammatory statements.

While Beck is the worst offender on the Fox News Channel, your network has a long, deep history of engaging in inflammatory racial rhetoric: attacking black leaders, black culture, and black institutions. And a number of your recent business decisions suggest that you're consciously building a media empire -- at Fox News and elsewhere -- that attracts viewers by appealing to racial fear and paranoia.

A month ago, you put Don Imus back on television on the Fox Business Network. Days later, the New York Post fired a Latina editor, Sandra Guzman, apparently as retaliation for her public criticism of the Post's notorious 'chimp' cartoon. And a few weeks ago, you personally fired Marc Lamont Hill -- one of Fox News' few black commentators -- in response to a racially charged smear campaign led by a News Corp shareholder.

It's becoming increasingly clear that Fox News and News Corp have a problem with race. It is also becoming clear that the problem starts at the top with you, Mr. Murdoch. Are we missing something, or do your words indeed speak for themselves?

James Rucker
Executive Director, ColorOfChange.org

---

Here's what Murdoch said to Sky News:

 

Comments

[aoxmoviemaker]

Honestly, Fox News has a problem with race? First of all it's becoming a cliche by everyone on the left to simply call everyone who disagrees with them or any policies by Obama a racist. I can tell you as a libertarian that I don't want any government intrusion that is not absolutely necessary. This means I disagree with Obama and many on the left over the unsustainable governement spending which is going to collapse our country's economy unless we stop these trillion dollar entitlement bills. Does this make me racist? Because I've been called racist by dozens on the far left like Garafalo because that is the only explanation she has as to why I distane such out of control government. When those on the left or minorities call people like me racist it's completely fine. When anyone like me, or Beck, points out true examples of racism we are racists (like when Obama chastised the white cop responding to a 911 for arresting the black teacher for breaking into his own house which is definitely a racist comment because he said it before knowing any facts which he admitted).

[Carlos42]

I am no lover of Fox News or Mr. Murdoch but he does have bi racial grandchildren. One of his daughters was married to an African man. At this point they are divorced and last I heard the daughter and children were living in London. Google this topic for more accurate and recent info.

[jhamm1]

Yeah. and I bet some of his best friends are black, too.

[jdunaway65]

Shouldn't that read, "Some of his best friends 'happen to be' black?"

[1laingirl]

It sounded like Murdock couldn't remember what Beck said that proved President Obama was racist, but he agreed with Beck anyway. Murdock, who had a head start in life through inheritance, did not get his billions by being a nice guy. From what I've read, most English would like for him to get out of their country and Australia is glad he is not there. His newspapers are not doing well and, MySpace is bombing, so he doing whatever he can to pump ratings of his Pox News. He has stated he wants the news to have a right slant. I think he would like to own a country.

[lovesds]

Don't worry Juan Williams and others will cover for Murdoch. Juan and others know what has been going on over at Fox and are afraid to speak the truth. It cracks me up to see how the dumbed down public still falls for the crap that Fox puts out. Until you have people step up to the plate Murdoch and his suckers will continue their bull.

[Judah]

Right is right and wrong is wrong. Those who are Right have been wrong for so long.

[UrbanRevolution]

News Corp better make all the money it can now because "times, they are a changin'"...

[alexunlv]

It is a revolution...Our Revolution! We must capitalize on this great opportunity we have. We cannot allow ourselves to be intimidated by these bigots.

[ProudMilVet]

The far right always follows up on their personal insults & name calling with " George Bush was called worse by you Liberals !" Maybe by individuals in the street at protests, but not organized, & encouraged by a supposed "News Organization," the way it is against Obama . Fox News never intended to support in any way, shape, or form Obama, or any other Democrat who happened to win the Presidency. With Fox it is always partisan politics 24/7 no matter what the issue, but as soon as anyone complains about this they try to play the victim & start weeping like Glenn Beck ! Fair & Balanced huh?

[tfoley]

MSNBC

[chazmanr]

That is a complete lie. MSNBC has never helped organize protests. MSNBC does not deliberately mislead its viewers. It does not intermix footage from old rallies with new ones to distort attendence. MSNBC makes retractions when found to be in error. There is no question that it is left leaning and has liberal commentators. Any other comparisons are works of fiction and that of fixed news ditto heads.

[blizb]

That is correct because Bush/Cheney claimed to support gun rights but no one ever was allowed to carry a gun to any of their speeches or appearances.

People not only weren't allowed guns they had to sign pledges and they had very strict rules when they made appearances or campaigned.

However when the guns showed up at Obama events they were allowed and all of the media covered it.

Fox covered it in a racial way pointing out their support of guns when Bush was the one who took that right away along with many other rights during his administration.

Fox never presented that fact or angle when reporting and if they were "fair and balanced" they would have.

They present a slant to their reporting that is very biased.

[Lois Welsch]

James - Something I am more appalled at Murdoch for is allowing to stand on Fox what Limbaugh said on his radio show: That President Obama is a 'Man-Child. I am waiting for someone to point out the obvious intent+ in that statement: Rush Limbaugh called the first African-American President 'Boy' on national television and nobody called him on it.

We know all about the 'Southern Strategy' and those dog-whistles. You have got that right - Murdoch is perfecting it. Yet the shrillest of whistles blew loud and clear with that comment & Chris Wallace just sat there. Color of Change - keep up the sponsor boycott - I'm all in.

[tfoley]

Your analogy makes no sense, its like saying he used a word with n in it so therefore he called President Obama the n-word

[anotherwomanfromva]

That's exactly what Rush meant. He makes these remarks with their racial undertones all the time against our president. But since he is coming right out and calling him "boy" or the N word then he can claim he isn't a racist and it's just the blacks that overly sensitive.

Fox news has never been fair or balanced. You can talk about MSNBC all you want but they do not make this ridiculous claim.

[chazmanr]

Her analogy is spot on and it is unfortunate that you do not see that.

[madbonger618]

"A month ago, you put Don Imus back on television on the Fox Business Network."


Leave Imus out of this. He's changed his tune and has gone out of his way to talk about race relations like he said he would before he was fired. If he hadn't changed his ways do you think Dick Gregory, Dr. Debra Dickerson and Carl Jeffers would be regular guests.

As for Rupert Murdoch, Fox News and the New York Post. Let them have it.

[MissyPat]

May Rupert Murdock bury himself in a pile of S%#@! We received a subscription form from The Wall Street Journal today. It went in the trash. I will not support the likes of Murdock in any shape, form or fashion.
I don't watch FOX news, ever and think that he and his employees have stooped to a new low. I wish he would just sell off everything in the U.S. and go back to Australia. I think if you did a poll, more than 50% of Americans feel the same way.
As long as he's making money, he will continue on the same course. He's a crude, indefensible little man!

[KindOne]

I think we should do more than that. His 'news' station sold us the 2000 election and several illegal wars. His racism is deadly.

[gloriousbeing]

I like to send those subscription offers back in the postage paid envelope after having written "No thanks, I don't subscribe to racism" on the subscription form.

[Abner Dwight]

nice idea.

[Vxx]

Any debater can show that every single human being is "racist"... its a basic part of how the brain categorizes other people. Now what you DO with that categorization can be positive or negative. So Murdoch's babbling is a non-starter and seems to reveal more about him than it does his target.

[belly dancer]

So every human being believes that their race deserves superior treatment on the backs of other races deemed inferior (or forced to be inferior through brutality)..a racial caste system?...because that was the original theory behind the political institution of racism when a sweet Spanish man came up with it in the 1500's when they were trying to figure out whether to enslave Native Americans or give them human status (hint..they did give Native Americans human status but still needed slaves to get rich so they decided that Africans were the inferior slave race)...what does a person of mixed races do?...how about someone who is mostly white but has a Native American ancestor(s) in their DNA?...or a person half Euro half Asian...who are they racist against one part of themeselves maybe? i don't agree every human is a racist.there are many who are bigots but those are two different things they can complement one another but they are not the same...the last part of your statement though is very well said and i completely agree.

[Maney]

It's about time somebody took on Murdoch. He's been supporting all that's devisive in the United States since Reagan (if not before . . . ). I think he's determined to make the United States into the (lesser) image of Australia. That wouldn't be so bad if it weren't that Australia is still living in the 1950's.

[thatcherschild]

Correction Maney - Oz may still have been living in the 50s under John Howard (or Bonsai as we called him cos he was a little Bush), but since he was kicked out we have moved on quite a bit -not enough, I grant you, but quite a bit.
On the positive side the Oz media doesnt pander to the ranting wing-nuts, we have a fab public health care system and we are leading the way in technology.
And thanks to our PM we managed to avoid the worst of the GFC, weve not even had a financial depression..need I say more?

[alex61]

The issue is not how many people were offended (people are often offended by the truth) but whether or not Beck's assessment is true. You either agree with him or you don't. Trying to punish him or Fox news for expressing his opinion under his First Amendment right is anti-democracy. You have the right to tune out. That is the proper coarse of action.

Countless liberals rountinely called George Bush a Nazi. Who was punished for that? That was offensive to moderates and conservatives and other fair-minded people, but there was no attempt to nullify peoples' right to say stupid things.

[zola77]

Apples and oranges, friend.

How many reporters called Bush a N.a.z.i?

Becks is (purportedly) a journalist. Yes he has freedom of speech, but in his role as a journalist he must show responsible speech - he can say what he wants in his own time, but when he is on tv, as a journalist, his role is to temper the bats*it crazy.

Freedom of speech was never meant as a "free for all".

[alex61]

Ah--here is your problem-Beck is not a reporter! He has a talk show. You call him a journalist, but I bet you can't give any of us readers a good definition of what a "journalist" is.

He is a commentator. Within broad FCC general guidlines, he gets to say anythig he wants. He is no more bound by the rules of professional reportage that Keith Olbermann.

The whole definition of journalist vs reporter has been confused. Dan Rather ruined himself when he tried to be a "player and opinion maker" for the left just because Rush Limbaugh was out there being (very successfully) biased for the right. THAT"S your apples and oranges! Reporters should report-in a neutral and non-flammatory manner. Guys like Beck are not reporters (The word "journalist" is useless and should be junked) they are opinion givers. He gave his opinion. Duh.

[MissyPat]

George Bush was just an unintelligent, stupid, arrogant man. He has set the U.S. back 50 years with his policy.

How could you possibly believe that President Barack Obama is racist? He is 1/2 white and was raised by white grandparents. You need to read his books instead of spouting rhetoric.

[alex61]

I am not accusing Obama of anything. But, for the record, racism is not a function of skin color, but of attitude, ANY person, of any color, can be a racist, if that is what they choose to do. That includes Obama.

I used to live in L.A. I saw blacks that were racist towards Asians, Hispanics that were racists towards blacks, etc. You get the idea,

It is possible (I am not making this claim) that Obama sees himself as primarily a black person and he has biases against white people just because of their membership in the "white" group.

[VideoHammer]

would you please provide a link to the on-air personalities that refereed to Bush as a nazi? I am having trouble locating those references.

[alex61]

Reporters cannot do that, commentators can. All "on the air personalities" are not the same. However-I'd start with-oh, never mind.

[lvmblvmb]

The first amendment protects Beck's right to say whatever he wants, regardless of it being true or not. It does not protect him from the consequences of what he says. It is perfectly legitimate to call for a boycott of Beck's show based on what he says. That is in no way a nullification of his rights, his speech is still protected, but the first amendment does not give him the right to have a TV show, and if his advertisers pull out, well, couldn't it be said they are expressing their first amendment rights by speaking, so to speak, against a view they find repugnant.

As for liberals who were punished for saying bad things about Bush, I recall a big dust up when the Dixie Chicks simply said something about not being proud he's from Texas (I recall the exact quote, but they didn't call him a Nazi). And as a liberal myself, I disliked Bush but never nor would I ever, call him a Nazi. It's an intellectually shallow argument.

[alex61]

Your comments are reasonable. Your right to free speech is being violated if you are arrested and thrown in jail for speaking your mind. Real world consequences are not prohibited by the Constitution. Example, if you call your boss a pinhead to his face, you get fired. Your rights have not been violated.

The Dixie Chicks-good example. One caveat: Most people expressed their displeasure by simply refusing to buy their concert tickets or CDs. That is reasonable. I'm not sure there was a call for sponsors to pull out and their entire record label was not attacked. These little details are important.

[ZTB]

You are trying to defend the indefensible.

[ditsylilg]

It is strange that Murdoch can not see the forest for the trees. There are a majority of minorities in America now (black, brown, red, yellow, female, gay, etc). We must band together, united we stand, divided we fall.

It is time for the progressives in this country to rise, together. I know we are out there.

[Wordsmith]

Lunatic fringe, I know you're out there........

[Lucile Smith]

go ask murdoch to tell you about the aborigine people of australia and see what he tell you.