Wall Street Opinion Media

By: The Grey Havens
Published On: 7/31/2007 5:36:05 PM

It's a done deal.  Rupert Murdoch's "Opinion Media Corp" (it sure as hell ain't news), has bought the Wall Street Journal.  What does that mean?  It means that the business community's paper of record is controlled by an editorial conglomerate which will defend to the death its right to lie with reckless abandon.

The best example of how the Murdoch empire will gladly lie to further moneyed interests at the expense of the common good, look no further than the case of Akre vs FoxNews((OpinionMedia). 

In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States.

Back in December of 1996, Jane Akre and her husband, Steve Wilson, were hired by FOX as a part of the Fox "Investigators" team at WTVT in Tampa Bay, Florida. In 1997 the team began work on a story about bovine growth hormone (BGH), a controversial substance manufactured by Monsanto Corporation. The couple produced a four-part series revealing that there were many health risks related to BGH and that Florida supermarket chains did little to avoid selling milk from cows treated with the hormone, despite assuring customers otherwise.


That's right, the Murdoch empire went to court to defend their right to lie about the dangers of bovine growth hormone in order to defend their sponsor, Monsanto.  So your kids get to drink dangerous milk, while OpinionMedia Corp collects its paycheck.  If they're willing to lie about that, and defend their right to lie in court, what wont News(OpinionMedia) Corp lie about? 

They'll have to deal with SEC regulations, but will the new Wall Street Journal be a reliable source of business information?  Is Fox a reliable source of News?  I rest my case.

Further reactions from a world, astonished.

Comments



Now the Looting May Continue--Unreported, Unchecked, and Unpunished (FMArouet - 7/31/2007 6:58:56 PM)
Grey Havens,

Thanks for highlighting the 2003 court case. It symbolizes our new Gilded Age.

Yesterday DailyKos had an interesting thread about recent, belated downward revisions of GDP data.

If we cannot trust the justice of the neocon Department of Justice and if we cannot trust the science of neocon NASA managers or neocon EPA managers, should we really trust the economic data assembled and massaged by neocon appointees in the Department of Commerce, the Department of the Treasury, and the Federal Reserve? After all, it is looting the economy which is the key imperative for the plutocrats who call the shots for the G.O.P.

The goal seems to be to feed, by all means possible, the speculative housing bubble and the speculative stock market bubble. So far, the Ponzi Scheme seems to be working.

How much longer will it be before we hear popping sounds?

Will the neocons handle a market upheaval and economic crisis any better than they have handled Iraq or Katrina?



Adios WSJ- Hello Simpsons-Faux News (hereinva - 7/31/2007 9:26:23 PM)
I've subscribed to WSJ since the 80's. Despite their editorial benders; (the usual pro-republican cheerleading squad) the content and investigative reporting has been remarkable. Though I quickly scan through the editorials,(sometimes flat out ignore) WSJ has carried the lead on significant stories of recent; Enron, perchlorate contamination, backdating of stock options, the sub-prime mortage debacle, China's production and pollution problems.

I am not ready to bury the Journal yet...but will be watching closely.