Murdoch Promises Laissez-Faire and Balanced Biz News
When Fox News went on the air over 10 years ago, it sold itself with the brilliant slogan "Fair and Balanced." As a piece of marketing, it was ruthless and efficient, in four short syllables saying that there was a problem with the rest of TV news and that Fox was the solution. Now, as Fox gears up to launch a business chnnel later this year, Fox is taking the same tack, with News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch promising that his network will be more "friendly" to business than the competition--i.e., CNBC. “Many times I’ve seen things on CNBC where they are not as friendly to corporations and profits as they should be,†Murdoch told the New York Times.
Leaving aside the question of whether CNBC, which so kindly loaned out Maria Bartiromo to Citigroup, is really business-unfriendly, I'm not sure this approach is going to sell for Murdoch this time. It's true, other CEOs, like Murdoch, may be irked by antagonistic business coverage and may long for a more adulatory news channel. But that's not enough viewers to keep a network afloat. A business channel also serves regular news consumers and, above all, investors. And what investors want most is information they can make money off of, whether it's business-friendly or business-hostile or business-neutral.
In this sense, covering business is not like covering politics. There are millions of news viewers you can please by flattering their worldview. For an investor, though, a stock is either going to go up or go down, and a lot of money hangs on anticipating which way it's going to go. A stock price or exchange rate is an objective number, not subject to debate and contention like, say, gay marriage. And business news that's programmed on the basis of what will keep CEOs happiest won't keep viewers happy for long if it overlooks information--say, the "scandals" that Murdoch chides CNBC for emphasizing--in a way that causes viewers to lose money.
Murdoch is a smart businessman and programmer, and I'm surprised he wouldn't see this. (Maybe his judgment's been clouded by one too many mean articles in the media.) It's one thing to sell political news by appealing to viewers' sense of "balance." But the market really is a no-spin zone.
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1
Exactly. Other than board members of corporations and management, who would tune into a business channel whose stated goal is to flatter business? The loved ones of board members and management?
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2
Lets be real here I watch FOX CNN and NBC. All are in there own little world. But fox is not fair and blanced as well as the others.
They are so far right its unreal. Im a republican and would love to hear the truth period. As a vietnam vet who worked with
the highest classified marerial i can read between the lines and see who is lieing. so i watch all three and go from there. Mr Murdoch isnt for the united states its all for the money and has no business in our politics. money talks and shit walks.so dont ever think fox is fair and balanced its slanted so far to the right there is no happy medium They are like the Christian right if they had their way there would only be one party in this country like fox sorry guys this is the real world. if you really want to know where the problms lye go to the wh and too the vp's office and see he is a liar and can not be trusted. He thinks his way or the highway,the president im not sure what world he lives in. -
3
What a smug, stupid and terminally trivial commentary. Business news on the tube is -- as all serious investors and market-watchers know -- ALREADY at least 50% spin and PR flackery, with company spokespeople trying to keep the markets for their companies' stocks up, regardless of company fundamentals or macroeconomic factors. That's why for years during the post-2000 market decline, happy talk saturated CNBC and Bloomberg, encouraging gullible newbies in the stock market to not sell, no matter the size of loss.
Mr. Poniewozik smugly and ignorantly opines that "A stock price or exchange rate is an objective number, not subject to debate and contention like, say, gay marriage," and confesses that he is "surprised" that Rupert Murdoch, "a smart businessman and programmer," does not have to smarts to see, with Mr. Poniewozik, that "the market really is a no-spin zone."
The reality is that Mr. Poniewozik is a pompous and self-infatuated adolescent who incarnates all the worst media stereotypes.
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4
The previous comment was a little harsh but there is plenty of naïveté in believing that the market can’t be coaxed by popular perception. What’s interesting is that while it is illegal for a company to misrepresent its financial status and forecast, it is not illegal to buy time on a news station that does it for them. As the previous commentator said, having “experts†talk up a failing market keeps the suckers on the line longer than if the companies themselves were making assurances.
- poniewozik Loved the season. Mrs Tuned In wd have put u on the main list RT @boredtodeath Thank u for incl us in Time's Top 10. We'll take hon mention. - 8 hours ago
- poniewozik @carr2n Virgin is the best, LAX-JFK - 9 hours ago
- poniewozik Did NPR interview abt multiscreen multitasking. After, automatically reached for iPhone in pocket. Like don draper wd have for cigarettes. - 10 hours ago
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