Media invite skepticism with donations

How can readers or viewers trust the objectivity of a news organization when its parent company is bankrolling one political group over another? The answer is, they can't, which is why media corporations should not be doing it.

Bloomberg News recently reported that News Corp., the parent company of Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, which will spend the money trying to get Republican governors elected. Conservative businessman Rupert Murdoch is chairman and CEO of the News Corp. media conglomerate.

While The Wall Street Journal remains stridently conservative on its editorial pages, we have detected no evidence that the objectivity of its news operation has been compromised since Mr. Murdoch took control of operations two years ago. The same can't be said for Fox News, which consistently pitches for the Republican cause.

Yet the fairness of any news organization must be questioned when it places a $1 million bet on one political party. Readers might ask, why would these news organizations want to publish any negative stories about candidates in which its parent corporation has now made an investment?

In reality, we don't suspect anyone in the News Corp. corporate offices is telling reporters and editors at The Wall Street Journal how to do their job, but perceptions can mean a lot, and this big donation gives a lousy impression.

Teri Everett, a spokesman for News Corp., sees no conflict and said the corporation considers it appropriate to support a political organization "that advocate(s) a pro-job, low tax, economic growth agenda."

In other words, New Corp. is trying to purchase influence.

In this era of corporate news media, News Corp. is not alone, though its recent donation appears unmatched in magnitude. Time Warner gave the Democratic Governors Association $35,000 and the RGA $25,000. Time Warner's holdings include Time Inc., publishers of Newsweek and People magazines, and Turner Broadcasting, which owns CNN.

For the record, The Day Publishing Co. is owned by a split-interest trust that devotes its attention to operating the newspaper, theday.com and several weeklies and supporting a charitable foundation, the Bodenwein Public Benevolent Foundation. The company is independent and does not contribute to political organizations or candidates.