Here's the Murdoch story the NYT RUSHED TO PRINT: Ruler of a Media Empire Reaches Out for More

[DeepModem Mom]

Ruler of a Media Empire Reaches Out for More
This article was reported by Jo Becker, Richard Siklos, Jane Perlez and Raymond Bonner, and written by Ms. Becker.

In the fall of 2003, a piece of Rupert Murdoch’s sprawling media empire was in jeopardy.

Congress was on the verge of limiting any company from owning local television stations that reached more than 35 percent of American homes. Mr. Murdoch’s Fox stations reached nearly 39 percent, meaning he would have to sell some.

A strike force of Mr. Murdoch’s lobbyists joined other media companies in working on the issue. The White House backed the industry, and in a late-night meeting just before Thanksgiving, Congressional leaders agreed to raise the limit — to 39 percent.

One leader of the Congressional movement to limit ownership was Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi. But in the end, he, too, agreed to the compromise. It turns out he had a business connection to Mr. Murdoch. Months before, HarperCollins, Mr. Murdoch’s publishing house, had signed a $250,000 book deal to publish Mr. Lott’s memoir, “Herding Cats,” records and interviews show.

An aide to Mr. Lott said the book deal had no bearing on the senator’s decision, and a spokesman for Mr. Murdoch chalked it up to coincidence. Still, the ownership fight showcases the confluence of business, political and media prowess that is central to the way Mr. Murdoch has built his global information conglomerate....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/25/business/media/25murdoch.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

[Independent Democrat]

1. I just hope his bid for the Dow Jones fails.......nt

[still_one]

3. His bid won't fail, unless the Bancrofts vote it down /nt

[still_one]

2. The communication act of 1996 started this mess /nt

[Independent Democrat]

4. Just one more reason to not vote for Clinton in 2008.....

After all, her buddy Rupert has a habit of backing Third Way uber-corporate types (like Blair in '97) when his buddies on the right-wing are in disarray.

[John Q. Citizen]

5. In 2003 the Repos held 51 seats in the Senate. How did they pass this? It

would have required a full 60 votes to stop a Dem filibuster....

How the hell did The Repos get enough votes? They didn't have to wait for another election....

[SoCalDem]

6. How they passed a LOT of bad legislation

There were enough "connected" dems who sided with the repubes....

This is the nasty little "secret". Campaigns love to tout senator-so-and-so's LIBERAL voting record..and how they voted with the Dems 95% of the time...BUT if those "with" votes were for legislation that had NO republican support..and would never pass anyway...AND the 5% that they swung RIGHT...did pass and brought us lousy laws..well there ya go...

Think NAFTA..think Deregulation..Think Roberts..Alito..Scalia..Thomas.. Think bankruptcy bill... etc etc etc

[Hamlette]

7. what's the reference to "rushed to print" about? n/t

[DeepModem Mom]

8. Press reports indicated the NYT hurried the story so it would appear...

before a decision was made on selling the Wall Street Journal to Murdoch.

[Hamlette]

10. ah...thanks

(I'm so out of it, I thought he'd been talking about buying Dow and the WSJ for a month or more. I guess I really should care because the news portion of the WSJ is fine. I just don't see how anyone, even Murdoch, could make the opinion page worse. (I've got to stop saying "it can't get worse."))

[DeepModem Mom]

9. a.m. kick