Is Fox News cleaning themselves up for Murdoch?
Written by Dianna Parker
Published
Could it be true that Rupert Murdoch really doesn't know what's going on at his own news organization? That seemed to be the case in April when Media Matters asked him whether Fox News' extensive promotion of the Tea Party was appropriate, and Murdoch said he didn't think Fox News “should be supporting the Tea Party,” but that he'd have to “investigate” “before condemning anyone.”
This morning, we may have discovered why Murdoch seems clueless when it comes to Fox News' agenda: they clean up their act when the big boss is around.
Steve Doocy hosted Murdoch and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Fox & Friends to talk about their about immigration reform efforts, and the tone of the discussion was pretty measured and -- dare I say -- pro-immigrant.
It was not the tone Fox News usually employs when talking about immigration. There was no typical scare-tactic b-roll of people appearing to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally by crawling over fences, no crowing about “amnesty,” no outrage over immigrants stealing American jobs or getting fair wages, and no baseless suggestions that all immigrants are criminals. Get this: Doocy even used the phrase “undocumented immigrants,” instead of slinging around the charged word “illegals,” like he and his co-hosts do in virtually every other segment on immigration. It was like watching a completely different network. Take a look:
This raises two questions: 1) Does Murdoch even know how his news organization treats immigration reform and 2) who is that host, and what has he done with Steve Doocy?