Murdoch rips competitors for bias even as more Fox critics emerge on the right

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Reuters

In an address last night to the National Press Club, News Corp Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch ripped into the New York Times as a media outlet with "an agenda" focused on "anything Mr. Obama wants." Murdoch, who owns Fox News and the Times' primary competitor the Wall Street Journal, then fielded a question from the audience about Fox News' own reputation for advancing a conservative agenda — and lately the conservative, grass-roots Tea Party movement — in its coverage, Murdoch waved off the allegation.

"I don't think we should be supporting the Tea Party or any other party," he said. "We have both sides in our news shows, our politics or whatever. We have Democrats and Republicans and whatever."

But while Fox News' head cheerleader was trumpeting his network's objectivity and slinging scorn at liberal bias he sees in the rest of the media, Fox News' coverage and its connection to the activist right has been drawing flak from some prominent national conservatives.

Yesterday, Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, who is strongly identified with both the fiscal- and social-conservative wings of the GOP, wound up cautioning some conservative constituents at a town hall gathering not to "catch yourself being biased by Fox News that somebody is no good."

Coburn's plea for viewer skepticism came in defense of his courtly aside about Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom he characterized as "a nice person." When a wave of grumbling followed, Coburn stood his ground, asking the crowd "how many of you all have met her?" before proceeding to chide them for echoing the Fox-branded view of Pelosi as a poor specimen of humanity.

The Coburn episode was especially striking, since he happens to be one of the most stalwart conservatives in the Senate, netting a 96-point rating on the 100-point scale furnished by the American Conservative Union.

Other conservatives who are closer to the traditional GOP mainstream have lately raised similar red flags about Fox's broader political impact. David Frum, the former American Enterprise Institute fellow who was recently let go in the wake of a widely circulated blog post he wrote criticizing GOP legislative tactics on health care reform, has said that "Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we're discovering that we're working for Fox." Frum spelled out what he meant by that remark in a weekend appearance on CNN's "Reliable Sources":

"What that means is that Fox, like Limbaugh, has an interest in pushing the Republicans to the margins, making people angry," he said. "When people are angry and alienated, they don't vote. They succumb to feelings of helplessness."

Bruce Bartlett, a Frum sympathizer, argues that the network's elevation as the premier source of conservative information has also closed the right off from healthy debate. "Fox News is a Republican, conservatively biased organization," Bartlett told Yahoo! News. "Now conservatives don't need to get into the New York Times, or on CBS. They've got their own news network, and all they really think is, 'How can I get a positive mention from Beck or Limbaugh?' or 'How can I get my boss onto Fox News?' "

Fox's Glenn Beck, indeed, spearheaded the Sept. 12 rally in Washington, D.C., that served as the national coming out moment for the Tea Party movement. The network was also instrumental in publicizing the first round of Tea Party protests over the stimulus law, which launched last April 15.

Those actions have sent the network's ratings through the roof — Beck, for one, is now the second highest rated host on cable news, behind only fellow conservative and Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. But the popular anger stirred up under the network's auspices may not be an unqualified boon to a GOP facing a tough primary season that pits many Tea Party-style insurgents against candidates aligned with the national party organization. Two of the most prominent such races are the Senate contests in Florida and Arizona, where two more compromise-minded mainstream candidates, Charlie Crist and John McCain, are fending off challenges from candidates backed by the Tea Party — and running strongly to the right of their usual positions as a result.

Beyond the primaries, the GOP is looking to make significant headway against the Democratic majorities in Congress — hoping even to return the House to Republican control. But to do that, Republicans will have to overcome their disadvantage in voter registration in many districts by appealing to independent voters — and those are the very sorts of voters most likely to be repelled by an angry ideological message.

Kevin Madden, a political consultant with the Washington-based firm ####### Associates and former communications director for Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential bid, says that GOP leaders aren't yet voicing "widespread" concerns about the Fox message distorting the fall campaign. At the same time, however, Madden — a frequent commentator on the rival cable network CNN — praised Tom Coburn's candor.

"Mr. Coburn's remarks seem to reflect an admirable and rare belief that one can win a political debate by convincing those seated in the jury box of public opinion that an opponent has wrong ideas, without having to demonstrate that same opponent has corrupt intentions," Madden said.

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