Murdoch's World (51 page)

Page 85
Fox's Kelly . . . devoted forty-five segments:
“Report: Fox News Has Hyped Phony New Black Panthers Scandal at Least 95 Times,” Media Matters, July 16, 2010.

Page 85
the late conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart:
Andrew Breitbart, interview by author.

Page 85
Still, Linda Chavez:
Ben Smith, “A Conservative Dismisses Right Wing Black Panther ‘Fantasies,'” Politico, July 17, 2010.

Page 86
Kelly told Powers more than once:
Kirsten Powers on
America Live
with Megyn Kelly, July 13, 2010.

Page 86
On returning from maternity leave:
Megyn Kelly with radio host Mike Gallagher,
America Live
, August 9, 2011.

Page 86
Kelly also stood up for the right of Chaz Bono:
As reflected in a posting from liberal group Think Progress on September 14, 2011: “Megyn Kelly Debunks Gay-Bashing Psychiatrist's ‘Dancing with the Stars' Theories.”

Page 86
a billowing atomic mushroom cloud:
Frank James, “Fox News Gives Obama Mushroom Cloud Treatment,” Two-Way blog,
NPR.org
, April 7, 2010; “Fox News: We Shouldn't Have Linked Obama-Mushroom Cloud,” David Folkenflik, Two-Way blog, April 9, 2010; Jay Wallace, interview by author.

Page 87
Shirley Sherrod, an African American regional agriculture official:
CNN wire staff, “Vilsack, White House Apologize to Former USDA Official,” July 21, 2010.

Page 87
the policy was observed for little more than a week:
Fox News producer Joe Muto, interview by author.

Page 87
the Pew Research Center released a poll:
“Growing Number of Americans Say Obama Is a Muslim,” Pew Research Center, August 18, 2010,
www.pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/Growing-Number-of-Americans-Say-Obama-is-a-Muslim.aspx
; “CNN Investigation: Obama Born in This Country,” CNN, April 25, 2010.

Chapter 8

The characterization of the recent political past in Australia in this chapter is based in significant part on interviews with a dozen Australians who are thoughtful observers of the scene, including journalists, lawyers, and corporate figures. I have also drawn on articles in the
Australian
, the
Monthly
, the ABC (Australia),
Crickey.com.au
, the Melbourne
Herald Sun
, the
Conversation
, the
Sydney Morning Herald
, and
The Age
. This chapter was initially inspired by the reporting I did in late 2011 and early 2012 for my NPR story “How Murdoch's Aussie Papers Cover Climate Change,”
All Things Considered
, April 6, 2012. The Australian academic and journalist David McKnight also devoted a chapter to related topics in his 2012 book,
Rupert Murdoch: An Investigation of Power
.

Page 89
Clive Hamilton . . . identified twelve figures:
The following Hamilton quotations were taken from “The Dirty Politics of Climate Change,” a speech he delivered on February 20, 2006, on behalf of the Climate Change and Business Conference,
www.tai.org.au/documents/downloads/WP84.pdf
.

Page 90
the Liberal Party of Prime Minister John Howard:
Angus Grigg, “The Player,”
Australian Financial Review Magazine
, September 29, 2006.

Page 90
only . . . Indonesia . . . exports more coal:
World Coal Association,
www.worldcoal.org/resources/coal-statistics
.

Page 91
One episode stood out:
“A Climate of Confusion,”
Australian
, January 16, 2006.

Page 91
significant funding from the family of his younger sister:
Paul Barry, “The Power Index: Rich Crusaders No. 6,”
Crickey.com.au
, March 7, 2012.

Page 92
At the Beacon Theater in New York City:
“Rupert Murdoch's Speech on Carbon Neutrality,” text of Murdoch speech,
Australian
, May 10, 2007.

Page 92
James Murdoch's wife, Kathryn:
Environmental Defense Fund and Clinton Foundation websites; EDF official, interview by author.

Page 92
The elder Murdoch had been won over:
Marc Gunther, “Rupert Murdoch's Climate Crusade,”
Fortune
, August 27, 2007. My description of the efforts of each News Corp division is partially drawn from this account and from the corporation's own videos and statements at gei.newscorp. com. Blair's presence at the Pebble Beach retreat had been previously disclosed, as in Gaby Hinsliff, “The PM, the Mogul, and the Secret Agenda,”
Observer
(UK), July 22, 2006.

Page 93
“Global warming is a crime for which we are all guilty”:
Kiefer Sutherland's appearance on News Corp promotional tape no longer available, but previously accessed on company's global energy initiative website:
http://gei.newscorp.com/video/2008/07/24-climate-change-psa.html
.

Page 93
Asa Wahlquist . . . said she fought with editors:
“Audio Backs Tweets in Editor's Defamation Row,” ABC (Australia), November 29, 2010. Audio available at
www.abc.net.au/news/2010–11–29/audio-backs-tweets-in-editors-defamation-row/2355368
.

Page 94
a study examining how her country's newspapers handled:
Bacon,
Sceptical Climate
,
www.acij.uts.edu.au/pdfs/sceptical-climate-part1.pdf
. Other figures and insights taken from that study are cited in the body of this chapter. Additional quotations in this chapter drawn from author's interview with Bacon.

Page 96
disclosures to an environmental group:
Carbon Disclosure Project,
www.cdproject.net/en-US/Results/Pages/leadership-index.aspx
.

Page 96
Ailes said soberly, looking at the camera:
News Corp Global Energy Initiative website. Ailes appears for about thirty-six seconds in
http://gei.newscorp.com/video/2008/06/global-energy-initiative-intro.html
. By late 2004, the consensus of researchers in the field was captured by Naomi Oreskes, “Beyond the Ivory Tower: The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change,”
Science
, December 3, 2004,
www.sciencemag.org/content/306/5702/1686.full#affiliation
. Fox did execute a special on global warming presenting that consensus a year later,
The Heat Is On: The Case of Global Warming
, hosted by Rick Folbaum, Fox News Channel, November 13, 2005. But the following spring, some doubt was cast in another special:
Global Warming: The Debate Continues
, hosted by David Asman, Fox News Channel, May 21, 2006.

Page 97
Hart found Fox far more likely than its competitors:
“Market Influences on Climate Change Frames in CNN and Fox News Climate Change Broadcasts,” P.S. Hart, 2008. Paper presented at the International Communication Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Page 97
Fox was far more likely to cover global warming:
Lauren Feldman et al., “Climate on Cable: The Nature and Impact of Global Warming Coverage on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC,”
International Journal of Press/Politics
, 2011.

Page 98
“Given the controversy over the veracity of climate change data”:
Ben Dimiero, “FoxLeaks: Fox Boss Ordered Staff to Cast Doubt on Climate Science,” Media Matters, December 15, 2010.

Page 98
an overwhelming imbalance in Fox's coverage:
Aaron Huertas and Dena Adler, “Is News Corp Failing Science? Representations of Climate Science on Fox News Channel and in the
Wall Street Journal
Editorial Page
,”
Union of Concerned Scientists, September 2012.

Page 98
The day before I met Professor Bacon:
“Sixteen Concerned Scientists: No Need to Panic About Global Warming,”
Wall Street Journal
, January 27, 2012. The paper also received sharp rebuttals from scholars: Kevin Trenberth et al., “Check with Climate Scientists for Views on Climate,”
Wall Street Journal
, letter to the editor, February 1, 2012; William D. Nordhaus, “Why the Global Warming Skeptics Are Wrong,”
New York Review of Books
, March 22, 2012.

Page 99
“obviously there is doubt”:
Matthew Thompson, “News Ltd Carbon Coverage Campaigning Not Reporting; New Report + News Response,”
Conversation
, December 1, 2011.

Page 99
Bacon's work made the cut:
“History's Headliners,”
Australian
, December 9, 1999. The article listed the top 100 “historic people, stories, books, and events” that defined twentieth-century Australian journalism. Bacon was listed for her work at the
National Times
in the mid-1980s with several other “talented, aggressive reporters.”

Page 99
Manne wrote a lengthy critique:
Robert Manne, interview by author.

Page 100
calling competing newspapers . . . “propagandists”:
Andrew Bolt, “Feeling Burned over a Cause for Concern,”
Herald Sun
, April 16, 2008.

Page 100
“News Ltd was to become a ‘green' company”:
Former News Corp executive; Robert Manne; Andrew Jaspan; Monica Attard, interviews by author.

Page 100
Dame Elisabeth Murdoch . . . signed a letter:
Michael Gordon, “Climate Crusader: Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Joins Public Campaign for a Price on Carbon,”
The Age
(Melbourne), June 15, 2011.

Page 101
Piers Akerman of News Corp's
Sydney Daily Telegraph: Piers Akerman on
The Insiders
on ABC (Australia), June 19, 2011.

Page 101
“Greens and their crazy cronies”:
As cited in “Climate Criticism Allowed,”
Sydney Daily Telegraph
, July 5, 2012; Adjudication no. 1542 by Australian Press Council. John Newton/
Sydney Daily Telegraph
, July 5, 2012.

Page 101
“Climate change very slow but real”:
Rupert Murdoch, Twitter feed,
@rupertmurdoch
:
https://twitter.com/rupertmurdoch/status/223097765427818496
.

Chapter 9

The reporting that informs
Chapter 9
was influenced by multiple interviews and less-formal conversations with Juan Williams. I was additionally aided by conversations with NPR senior Washington editor Ron Elving, NPR correspondent and Fox News analyst Mara Liasson, former NPR senior vice president for news Ellen Weiss, former NPR CEO Vivian Schiller, and
Fox News Sunday
host Chris Wallace, as well as several NPR board members and member station general managers and NPR producers and editors who spoke on condition they were not named. An earlier interview I conducted with Roger Ailes also helped me understand how he looks at the role that reporters for other news outlets play for Fox when they are paid to appear as the network's analysts.

Page 103
the facts did not match the legend:
David Folkenflik, “Marshall May Not Have Tried to Enroll in UM Law School,”
Baltimore Sun
, August 20, 1995. The late Carl T. Rowan; Juan Williams, interviews by author.

Page 104
women at the
Washington Post: Howard Kurtz, “Post Reporter Williams Apologizes for ‘Inappropriate' Verbal Conduct,”
Washington Post
, November 2, 1991.

Page 104
I profiled Williams:
David Folkenflik, “Juan Williams Fills Two Roles,”
Baltimore Sun
, April 25, 2001.