Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has come under fire for making a $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association (RGA), the largest corporate donation to the RGA in this cycle. According to Politico’s Keith Hagey, it is common for companies to give to both the Republicans and Democrats, “both to hedge their bets and to maintain a sense of even-handedness”. But this donation, writes Hagey, “isn’t business as usual – in either size or style”.
And it’s got media analysts and political pros wondering just what News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch – the man behind Fox News and the Wall Street Journal — is up to now.
News Corp., which owns Fox News and the Wall Street Journal in the US, has denied that the donation relates to the editorial activity of its media outlets.
News Corporation believes in the power of free markets, and the RGA’s pro-business agenda supports our priorities at this most critical time for our economy,” News Corp. Spokesman Jack Horner said. He told the Washington Post: “It’s patently false that a corporate donation would have any bearing on our news-gathering activities at Fox News or any other of our properties.
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