Murdoch: Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire! - Charlie Warner - Charlie Warner - The Media Curmudgeon

Published: July 19, 2011 at 09:26 PM GMT
Last Updated: July 19, 2011 at 09:26 PM GMT

According to Advertising Age Rupert Murdoch is keeping the throttle wide open on crisis-control efforts in an attempt to limit the damage from the News of the World's hacking scandal…

Do you honestly believe one word of this ad? Do you believe that Murdoch's News Corp., which includes Fox News, the Fox Business Network, and the NY Post, believes it is "in the business of holding others accountable?" News Corp. is in the entertainment business for the sole purpose of making a profit.

Do you honestly believe that Murdoch or News Corp. "are sorry for the wrongdoing that occurred," or "are deeply sorry for the hurt suffered by the individuals affected?" Can you imagine that Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity or Don Imus are deeply sorry for the nasty insults and mud they sling? That's why Murdoch hired them.

Can you imagine in your wildest dreams that Murdoch regrets "not acting sooner to sort things out."

Is it conceivable to you in your most generous moments that Murdoch actually believes that "a free and open press should be a positive force in society?" Do you believe that he really is committed in his soul to "live up to this" concept? Will Murdoch force Roger Ailes to make Fox News "a positive force in society" and make "fair and balanced" a reality rather than a cynical marketing slogan?

Looking at this newspaper ad and Murdoch's interview in the Wall Street Journal July 14, in which he is quoted as saying News Corp. has handled the crisis "extremely well in every way possible," making just "minor mistakes," you wonder what the 80-year-old Murdoch has been smoking.

The suits and scores of MBAs at News Corp. who understand Excel spreadsheets and bottom lines but not journalism are probably advising and prepping Murdoch in this ultimate form of cynical spin, but it's not working.

The dirty chickens are coming home to roost. Everyone knows Murdoch is lying … bigger than ever. What hair he has left is aflame and his pants are on fire.

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Until he retired in 2002, Charlie Warner was Vice President of AOL's Interactive Marketing division. Before joining AOL, he was the Goldenson Endowed Professor at the Missouri Journalism School where he taught media management and sales, and he created and ran the annual Management Seminar for News Executives. Charlie can be contacted at charleshwarner@gmail.com.

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You don't believe Mr. Murdoch. Fine. But this adolescent drivel gives no evidence that he his lying other than you don't like him or his politics. If this is an example of writing by a former Journalism School Professor, I'm beginning to see why the craft is so quickly dying.

Posted at 09:58 AM on Jul 19, 2011 by LarryD

This post could have been positioned in a variety of ways - for example,

The newspaper industry struggles to be timely in its delivery of news. The pressure (both to be relevant and financially) is so high that journalistic standards have been sacrificed

Or...in retrospect, how could any single news outlet have gotten access to so many different scoops without violating its journalistic integrity? What has happened to editorial oversight?

Instead, Charlie took the low road by pulling in all sorts of Fox Inc references who have nothing to do with the scandal at hand. The overtly conservative bent of those media outlets is unfortunate but no different than the liberal bent of others (such as msnbc).

Put another way, if a local NBC-owned television station in a major market did something similar, would Charlie have used the opportunity to bash Rachel Maddow?

Too bad Charlie didn't focus on the incident. Tapping the phones of 9/11 victims' families wasn't done to take on the liberal politicians.....it was just terribly bad journalism

By building this around your political bias, you became representative of the problem

Posted at 10:31 AM on Jul 21, 2011 by Kyle