Someecards is known for their humorous one liners, but I find some of these ecards targeting Rupert Murdoch & Fox News  particularly hilarious…

Rupert Murdoch - said to believe "coloreds" like American sports

Roger Simon, who wrote a telling piece for Politico, provides fascinating insight into Rupert Murdoch‘s formula for success when purchasing and running a company… at least to those of us outside of Murdoch’s inner circle of evil.

Simon and his wife worked for the Chicago Sun-Times prior to Murdoch buying the company. Soon after, Simon and his left, but not after witnessing first-hand racist remarks from the media magnate.

SIMON: I had a conversation with him about various sections of the paper. “I don’t understand anything about American sport,” [Murdoch] told me breezily, “but I know the coloreds like it.”

I told him that in America we no longer used the word “coloreds,” that it was considered insulting.

He looked at me the way Queen Victoria might have looked at a footman who had told her she was using the wrong fork to eat her pheasant.

Murdoch had apparently told employees and management at the Sun-Times that he intended to maintain the quality and integrity of the paper. Simon said everyone knew it was a lie. Within months, there were mass resignations and dismissals and Murdoch brought on his own “thugs” and “stooges.” He sold the paper, but the damage had been done.

Murdoch and his goons also know what damage can be caused to a political career and exactly how to do it using harassment, printing sexist remarks and photo editing…

Sarah Lyall of The New York Times wrote last week about Clare Short, a Labour member of Parliament, who once mentioned “in passing that she did not care for the photographs of saucy, topless women that appear every day on Page 3 of the populist tabloid The Sun,” owned by Murdoch.

The Sun attacked swiftly with the headline: “‘Fat, Jealous’ Clare Brands Page 3 Porn.” The paper also sent a busload of “semi-dressed” models to Short’s home to jeer at her and stuck a picture of Short’s head on the body of a topless woman in the paper.While powerful politicians often privately deplored the behavior of the British tabloids, they were “afraid to say so publicly, for fear of losing the papers’ support or finding themselves the target of their wrath,” the Times article said.

The editor of The Sun at the time of the attack on that “fat, jealous” member of Parliament was Rebekah Wade, now Rebekah Brooks, who has been arrested in the phone-hacking scandal and who testified Tuesday before a parliamentary committee right after Murdoch finished.

While Fox News may not be as blatantly sexist in their harassment of public officials in the United States, the results are basically the same… We saw the backlash that the Obama administration received when they called out Fox News for their BS. I wonder how many of those journalists who defended Fox News will realize they were on the wrong side of history when it’s all said and News Corp. is done.

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Not sure if you’re on a web site owned by Rupert Murdoch / News Corp.? If you’re a Firefox or Chrome user, you can install a handy plugin that will warn you when you are! The one for Firefox is called Murdoch Alert and there’s Murdoch Block for Chrome.

Of course, you can always check FNB’s list of News Corp Properties (updated).

Here are some screenshots of the plugins…

Murdoch Alert plugin for Firefox

Murdoch Block plugin for Google Chrome

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News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks

Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, the UK arm of Rupert Murdoch‘s News Corporation has been arrested on charges of suspicion of corruption and conspiring to intercept communications. Brooks resigned on Friday.

Mrs Brooks’s arrest is the 10th made by Operation Weeting police, who are conducting the current investigation into phone hacking.

She was released on bail until October.

Others arrested and bailed have included ex-NoW editor Andy Coulson, ex-NoW assistant editor Ian Edmondson, ex-NoW chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, senior ex-NoW journalist James Weatherup, freelance journalist Terenia Taras, Press Association journalist Laura Elston, an unnamed 63-year-old man, and ex-NoW royal editor Clive Goodman.

Officers from Operation Elveden were also involved with this latest arrest. They are investigating allegations of inappropriate payments to police, under the supervision of the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

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As reported last week, Rupert Murdoch‘s News International will admit liability in the phone hacking incidents in the U.K. It has now come to light that Murdoch’s News Corporation, may have sought to hack 9/11 victims’ phones in the U.S. Apparently, Murdoch’s News Corp., the U.S. arm of his media empire, which owns Fox News, is in crisis mode.

A law enforcement official says the FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. sought to hack into the phones of Sept. 11 victims. The official spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

According to the AP, this is a result of U.S. Rep. Peter King and several other members of Congress writing to FBI Director Robert Mueller, demanding an investigation.

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Rupert Murdoch

British tabloid News of the World, owned by News International, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch‘s News Corporation (who, as you know, also owns Fox News Channel) is entangled in a series of hacking allegations in the UK.

News International, parent company of Britain’s top-selling News of the World tabloid, said on Friday it would admit liability and pay compensation in eight cases — although many more people believe they were targeted.

The admission was an about-turn from the media group’s previous denial that it knew journalists were hacking the phones of the royal family, politicians, celebrities and sports stars, blaming a handful of “rogue reporters” for the scandal.

According to TechDirt, the hacking wasn’t limited to politicians and celebrities, but also included a murdered teenage girl whose voicemails were tampered with (some deleted), and families of soldiers who died while fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is also suspicion that the hacking aided two people under investigation for murder by supposedly spying on the detectives involved in the case.

While settling the cases could cost tens of millions of dollars, the damage to Murdoch’s empire is also being seen in more lost advertisers. Ford, among other companies, have pulled ads from News of the World. In a few days, that won’t matter…

It was announced on 7 July 2011 that, after 168 years in print, the newspaper would print its final edition on 10 July 2011 following revelations of the ongoing phone hacking scandal, with the loss of 200 jobs.

No advertisements will run in this weekend’s paper – instead any advertising space will be donated to charities and good causes.

Is Rupert Murdoch simply unaware of what happens in his own company, or is he lying through his teeth? Or, both? Here’s a brief conversation where he, apparently, shows how completely out-of-touch he is with the loss of revenue Glenn Beck has caused (or how out-of-touch the viewers are who believe his reasoning).

SPOCKO: I know that you don’t break out revenue numbers for Fox News beyond the top line, but with 81 advertisers leaving the Glenn Beck show following the Color of Change action, the show now seems limited to in house ads and gold ads. Do you have a time frame for how long Fox will subsidize the show until it to starts to generate revenue in line with its ratings?

That’s pretty straight forward – without sponsors, the money to support the show has to come from somewhere. Right? Not according to the factually-challenged CEO of News Corp.

MURDOCH: It’s not subsidizing the show at all. And it’s giving a terrific kick off to the whole evening schedule. It has plenty of advertising, and those advertisers you talk about, I don’t think there is anything like that number, but if there were they are on other shows.

Thankfully, some media outlets picked up on this and Keith Olbermann even used Murdoch’s response in his Worst Persons segment. Unfortunately, it doesn’t change anything – Fox News and the News Corp. CEO will continue to simply deny facts and their followers will continue to eat up the BS.

Original Story

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, the largest shareholder of News Corp outside the Murdoch family, offered his opinion on Rupert Murdoch’s replacement.

ALWALEED: I met with Mr. Rupert Murdoch and Mr. James Murdoch. We are always in touch. I’m second biggest shareholder there. And no doubt that News Corp is moving on all the fronts. You’ve seen how FOX rating is skyrocketing. … James is now managing Europe and Asia. … I’ll be the first one to nominate him to be the successor of Mr. Rupert Murdoch, god forbid if something happens to him. … I have full confidence in [James], full trust in him, and he’s capable. He’s really Rupert Murdoch in the making, and he’s almost there now.

With the recent Supreme Court ruling, is there is a question of who will be aided by Alwaleed’s financial support?  Alwaleed, King Abdullah’s nephew, has been a friend of the Bush family for 30 years, the richest person in Saudi Arabia, the 22nd richest person in the world and he holds large stakes in many American companies, including Citi, who received billions of dollars in bailout money.

Original Story

There is a rumor surfacing today that Fox News Channel President Roger Ailes has been fired; however, News Corp., the parent company, denies these rumors. News Corp. CEO, Rupert Murdoch has been silent on the issue, but his son-in-law, Matthew Freud, has been anything but…

Putting the rumor aside, let’s look at what Freud, who claims to represent the controlling shareholders of News Corp., had to say:

FREUD: The family is “ashamed and sickened by Roger’s horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to.”

Regardless of whether or not Roger Ailes has been, or will be, fired, there is certainly a line drawn between Ailes and the Murdoch family.

Original Story

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch is reportedly pressuring Time Warner to pay a per subscriber fee, or else News Corp will pull Fox and all affiliated stations from Time Warner’s channel lineup. This has been referred to as the “Wingnut Tax.”

Apparently, Murdoch wants $1.00 per Time Warner subscriber, per month, but the cable company’s response indicates that they do not want to pass on that cost to customers. The accumulated fees would mean an additional $1billion for News Corp. Unfortunately, customers may demand that they pay up in order to keep such shows as American Idol, House, Family Guy, etc. on the Fox Network, in addition to Fox Sports channels, FX, Fox News Channel, etc.

Of course, if you still need (please note heavy use of sarcasm) to watch American Idol, you can use an antenna and converter box, or go online…

Original Story

Glenn Beck has previously ranted about a Maoist conspiracy theory including the Entertainment Industry Foundation, EIF, of which News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch is on the “honorary board of governors.”

Beck has now criticized the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) workshop scheduled for December 1 & 2, 2009. He claims that they want to discuss how to “help journalists do their job.”

BECK: Yesterday, we had two stories that seemed like no big deal if you didn’t know what was behind them. The first story was about the government getting into Internet regulation. Remember, protect you from the shady Internet blogger trying to scam you into buying the perfect pancake maker. Oh, the government is here just trying to help you. Remember that?

Also, the other story was the FTC — not the FCC, but the FTC — they’re just getting together for a little lunch, you know, a conference in December, the 1st and 2nd of December. They just want to talk about how they can help journalists do their job.

Oh, I’d like to have a little speech there, too. They want to know, should there be extra funding for journalists? Should there be tax credits for certain news organizations?

Rupert, gravy train is about to come, I’m sure. Should the government be more involved? OK. Remember those two stories here.

Rupert Murdoch gave his speech this morning, as scheduled, at the FTC workshop titled “From Town Criers to Bloggers: How will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?” So, once again, Beck has linked his boss to another conspiracy theory…

The purpose of the workshop was not to find ways to “help journalists do their job.” Here’s what the FTC press release had to say:

The workshop will consider a wide range of issues, including: the economics of journalism in print and online; the wide variety of new business and non-profit models for journalism online; factors relevant to the new economic realities for news organizations, such as behavioral and other targeted online advertising, online news aggregators, and bloggers; and the ways in which the costs of journalism could be reduced without reducing quality.

Beck even intertwined this latest conspiracy theory with his idea that net neutrality is the government wanting to censor the Internet, the group Free Press is Marxist and that free speech is at risk.

Nowhere does the FTC press release state that the government wants to tell journalists how to do their jobs, regulate or censor what is published, or conspire against people like Beck in any way. Beck made that connection and included Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of FNC parent company, News Corp.

Original Story

Showing that the misinformation we’re used to seeing from Fox News starts at the top, Media Matters for America has put together the following list showing recent falsehoods from News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch.

• falsely characterized Sean Hannity as being an “academic”;

• falsely characterized Glenn Beck as being “purely Libertarian”;

• falsely claimed nobody on Fox News had ever compared Obama to Stalin (i.e. “No, no, no, not Stalin”);

• falsely suggested Fox News’ ratings shot up after its public dispute with the Obama administration began last month;

• falsely claimed that administration officials agree that Fox News has been “absolutely fair” in its White House reporting;

• falsely claimed the White House just doesn’t like “two of our [Fox News] commentators”;

• falsely claimed Fox News’ television competitors “only have Democrats” on to debate the issues;

• falsely claimed Obama had made a “very racist comment”; and

• falsely implied that The O’Reilly Factor, Your World With Neil Cavuto, and Fox & Friends, among others, are not “commentary” shows.

Rupert Murdoch wants Google to not index his online properties, thus decreasing exposure and traffic to those web sites. Here’s how you can help to not visit his properties by adding these sites to your .hosts file located at C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\Etc\

127.0.0.1   askmen.com
127.0.0.1   broadsystem.com
127.0.0.1   dj.com
127.0.0.1   dailytelegraph.com.au
127.0.0.1   fijitimes.com
127.0.0.1   fox.com
127.0.0.1   foxbusiness.com
127.0.0.1   foxnews.com
127.0.0.1   foxtel.com.au
127.0.0.1   fuel.tv
127.0.0.1   fxnetworks.com
127.0.0.1   gcbulletin.com.au
127.0.0.1   heraldsun.com.au
127.0.0.1   hulu.com
127.0.0.1   ign.com
127.0.0.1   kdfi27.com
127.0.0.1   msn.foxsports.com
127.0.0.1   my13la.com
127.0.0.1   my24wutb.com
127.0.0.1   my45.com
127.0.0.1   my50chicago.com
127.0.0.1   my9tv.com
127.0.0.1   myfoxatlanta.com
127.0.0.1   myfoxaustin.com
127.0.0.1   myfoxboston.com
127.0.0.1   myfoxchicago.com
127.0.0.1   myfoxdfw.com
127.0.0.1   myfoxdc.com
127.0.0.1   myfoxdetroit.com
127.0.0.1   myfoxhouston.com
127.0.0.1   myfoxla.com
127.0.0.1   myfoxmemphis.com
127.0.0.1   myfoxny.com
127.0.0.1   myfoxorlando.com
127.0.0.1   myfoxphilly.com
127.0.0.1   myfoxtampabay.com
127.0.0.1   myfoxtwincities.com
127.0.0.1   mynetworktv.com
127.0.0.1   myspace.com
127.0.0.1   natgeochannel.co.uk
127.0.0.1   nationalgeographic.com
127.0.0.1   newsint.co.uk
127.0.0.1   newsoftheworld.co.uk
127.0.0.1   newsphotos.com.au
127.0.0.1   newspix.com.au
127.0.0.1   newstext.com.au
127.0.0.1   ntnews.com.au
127.0.0.1   nypost.com
127.0.0.1   online.wsj.com
127.0.0.1   postcourier.com.pg
127.0.0.1   rottentomatoes.com
127.0.0.1   sunday-times.co.uk
127.0.0.1   sundayheraldsun.com.au
127.0.0.1   sundaymail.com.au
127.0.0.1   sundaytasmanian.com.au
127.0.0.1   sundaytelegraph.com.au
127.0.0.1   sundaytimes.com.au
127.0.0.1   sky.com
127.0.0.1   sky.de
127.0.0.1   skytv.it
127.0.0.1   the-sun.co.uk
127.0.0.1   the-tls.co.uk
127.0.0.1   theadvertiser.news.com.au
127.0.0.1   theaustralian.com.au
127.0.0.1   thecouriermail.news.com.au
127.0.0.1   themercury.com.au
127.0.0.1   thesundaymail.com.au
127.0.0.1   thetimes.co.uk
127.0.0.1   theweeklytimes.news.com.au
127.0.0.1   upn20.com
127.0.0.1   upn20dc.com
127.0.0.1   upn29.com
127.0.0.1   wogx.com
127.0.0.1   wrbw.com

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Remember back in July, Glenn Beck called President Obama a racist? Of course you do… it resulted in Beck losing 80 advertisers! So, now, why in the world would the CEO of Fox News‘ parent company, Rupert Murdoch, publicly defend Glenn Beck and agree with Beck’s assertion that Obama is a racist?

“On the racist thing, that caused a (unintelligible–grilling?). But he (Obama) did make a very racist comment. Ahhh..about, you know, blacks and whites and so on, which he said in his campaign he would be completely above. And um, 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.“

Either Murdoch is incredibly stupid, which is debatable considering the whole Google issue, or he’s in it for the ratings… Since we’re talking about it, it’s a safe bet he said it for shock value. Of course, there’s a strong possibility that Murdoch is completely off his rocker.

In any event, feel free to tell him how you feel!

Rupert Murdoch
Chairman and Chief Executive
News Corporation
1211 Avenue of Americas
8th Floor
NY, NY 10036
Main Phone: 212-852-7000
Possible Email Addresses:
rmurdoch@newscorp.com
murdochk.r@newscorporation.com

Original Story

Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, has issued another idle threat in response to what Murdoch perceives to be theft of information. Apparently, he wants News Corp. content removed from Google, because Google is not paying him to index content, and in connection with his idea of requiring visitors to pay to access said content. According to Google, this is not a problem…

Obvious to nearly anybody who has run a web site, it’s easy to block referrers and search engines from indexing sites. News Corp. could simply block Google via a robots.txt file. That would be step one for Murdoch. But, it seems, he would rather issue a public statement declaring his ignorance about the Internet.

And, in a statement issued by Google, all he had to do was ask…

“News organisations [sic] are in complete control over whether and how much of their content appears in search results,” it said said in a statement issued in London.

“Publishers put their content on the web because they want it to be found, so very few choose not to include their material in Google News and web search. But if they tell us not to include it, we don’t.”

It added: “If publishers want their content to be removed from Google News specifically all they need to do it tell us.”

Google also mentioned that not only are they in full compliance with copyright laws, but they also provide a huge amount of free publicity and traffic to such news organizations, “about 100,000 clicks every minute.”