# Should Fox be Required to Reveal its Conflict of Interest? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 19, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772 "2010-08-19T18:47:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/1 "2010-08-19T18:47:42Z")
Newscorp, which owns Fox News, gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. The Democratic head of the Democratic Governors Association said: > [@](#): > > In the interest of some fairness and balance, I request that you add a formal disclaimer to your news coverage any time any of your programs cover governors or gubernatorial races between now and Election Day. But Fox has done no such thing. Just yesterday Bill O’Reilly had GOP Gubernatorial Candidate for Ohio John Kasich on, but made no reference to the conflict of interest. Is the donation unusual for a news agency? Should they have more transparency. I would think so, maybe other news agencies do it to, but I have never heard about it, and if they did it seems like a bad idea. What say you? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/2 "2010-08-19T18:50:26Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Is the donation unusual for a news agency? Should they have more transparency. News Corp. does not equal Fox News. No matter how much people want it to be true, there’s more to Rupert Murdoch’s empire than just Fox News. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/3 "2010-08-19T18:54:22Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > > [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > > > Is the donation unusual for a news agency? Should they have more transparency. > > News Corp. does not equal Fox News. No matter how much people want it to be true, there’s more to Rupert Murdoch’s empire than just Fox News. That is true. But everything they do is pro conservative. Their donation is not a big shock. Why? Because they are a right wing ,conservative enterprise. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/4 "2010-08-19T18:55:10Z")
Should every CNN/MSNBC/Hippy Dippy Liberal Network guy make similar disclosure, or are you only interested in harassing conservatives? ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/5 "2010-08-19T18:57:33Z")
Should we review Ted Turner’s or Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.'s contributions? And then require the disclosure on CNN? But wait! AOL-Time Warner owns Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., and they’re huge republican donors! So, they should need to spend 10-20 seconds to report their donations each time they interview or take a position on anything? ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/6 "2010-08-19T18:58:02Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Should every CNN/MSNBC/Hippy Dippy Liberal Network guy make similar disclosure, or are you only interested in harassing conservatives? Does GE (or whatever they are calling the umbrella parent company) make contributions to political parties? Because if they do, then yes, they should also run disclaimers. Please note that this is different than Murdoch making contributions to political parties. He is free to do whatever he wants and Fox News shouldn’t be tainted by it. But when the company itself makes the contributions, that’s when the viewer should be informed. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/7 "2010-08-19T18:58:14Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Should every CNN/MSNBC/Hippy Dippy Liberal Network guy make similar disclosure, or are you only interested in harassing conservatives? Everyone should. Does that satisfy your urge to point out potential Liberal Hypocrisy, or do you want more? ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/8 "2010-08-19T18:59:53Z")
I don’t think it would be a bad idea for news organizations to have disclaimers similar to how investment advisors need to. For that matter, I don’t think its a bad idea for corporations to do so (see the recent Target flap). I think people would be surprised how many corporations donate where. i.e. this is from a Motley Fool article on Google: Google and Microsoft are Motley Fool Inside Value recommendations. Google is a Motley Fool Rule Breakers pick. Apple is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor selection. Motley Fool Options has recommended a diagonal call position on Microsoft. The Fool owns shares of Google. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz still uses Google a lot in his daily life. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow’s ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/9 "2010-08-19T19:03:40Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > News corp, which owns Fox News, gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. The Democratic head of the Democratic Governors Association said: > > > [@](#): > > > > In the interest of some fairness and balance, I request that you add a formal disclaimer to your news coverage any time any of your programs cover governors or gubernatorial races between now and Election Day. > > But Fox has done no such thing. Just yesterday Bill Reilly had GOP Gubernatorial Candidate for Ohio John Kasich on, but made no reference to the conflict of interest. > > Is the donation unusual for a news agency? Should they have more transparency. > > I would think so, maybe other news agencies do it to, but I have never heard about it, and if they did it seems like a bad idea. > > What say you? Isn’t it already obvious enough? No, I don’t think anything like that is necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/10 "2010-08-19T19:04:12Z")
There’s not any kind of legal requirement that they do so, so they won’t. There’s not much sense in pretending they’re going to do it. > [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > News Corp. does not equal Fox News. No matter how much people want it to be true, there’s more to Rupert Murdoch’s empire than just Fox News. True. Nonetheless this is an enormous and blatant conflict of interest, and it’s just a joke. You really can’t find a more basic ethical issue than this: you can’t donate money to a political party and then present yourself as an unbiased news organization. If News Corp. and Fox don’t take a major hit for this, it’s only because everyone already knows they are in the tank for the Republican Party. I know [Ted Turner is a major donor to Democrats](http://www.newsmeat.com/billionaire_political_donations/Ted_Turner.php) (with a few independents and Republicans sprinkled in), but that’s money from Turner as an individual - not money coming from Time Warner, the company that owns CNN. I welcome a cite if I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/11 "2010-08-19T19:04:57Z")
Well, GE gave $2.2 million to Democrats in 2008. They own NBC. Walt Disney gave $1M to dmeocrats in 2008. They own ABC. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/12 "2010-08-19T19:07:47Z")
Is it ethical for a foreign national to donate money to an American political entity? I am certain that it is not illegal, but that wasn’t my question. It isn’t hard for me to imagine a foreign conspiracy to undermine our country’s ideals by promoting those candidates that are most likely to kow-tow to specific foreign interests. Of course, in this case, the foreign national is Rupert Murdock and he supports the GOP which is supposedly not into ‘internationalism’ (whatever the heck that means these days). So, I suppose my question is purely rhetorical since this is not what is happening in this instance (… _or is it…_ \) Maybe I am just rambling. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/13 "2010-08-19T19:08:54Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > If News Corp. and Fox don’t take a major hit for this, it’s only because everyone already knows they are in the tank for the Republican Party. And you feel the same way about Disney and GE, right? ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/14 "2010-08-19T19:09:09Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > > [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > > > Is the donation unusual for a news agency? Should they have more transparency. > > News Corp. does not equal Fox News. No matter how much people want it to be true, there’s more to Rupert Murdoch’s empire than just Fox News. That’s certainly true, but also doesn’t detract in any way from the original point. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/15 "2010-08-19T19:10:12Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Well, GE gave $2.2 million to Democrats in 2008. They own NBC. > Walt Disney gave $1M to dmeocrats in 2008. They own ABC. Did either corporation give to the Republicans as well? ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/16 "2010-08-19T19:16:49Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > Is it ethical for a foreign national to donate money to an American political entity? > I am certain that it is not illegal, but that wasn’t my question. > It isn’t hard for me to imagine a foreign conspiracy to undermine our country’s ideals by promoting those candidates that are most likely to kow-tow to specific foreign interests. > > Of course, in this case, the foreign national is Rupert Murdock and he supports the GOP which is supposedly not into ‘internationalism’ (whatever the heck that means these days). > So, I suppose my question is purely rhetorical since this is not what is happening in this instance (… _or is it…_ \) > > Maybe I am just rambling. Back in the '96 elections, there was allegations of China trying to donate money to the Presidential Campaign. I think it’s illegal for a foreign government to donate money. Dunno about private individuals. > **[1996 United States campaign finance controversy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_United_States_campaign_finance_controversy)** > > The 1996 United States campaign finance controversy, sometimes referred to as Chinagate, was an effort by the People's Republic of China to influence domestic American politics prior to and during the Clinton administration and also involved the fundraising practices of the administration itself. > While questions regarding the U.S. Democratic Party's fundraising activities first arose over a Los Angeles Times article published on September 21, 1996, China's role in the affair first gained publ... ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/17 "2010-08-19T19:17:39Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > > [@Marley23](#): > > > > If News Corp. and Fox don’t take a major hit for this, it’s only because everyone already knows they are in the tank for the Republican Party. > > And you feel the same way about Disney and GE, right? That any contributions from them to a political party should be public? Of course they should. [Here’s a CNN piece that actually does detail the donations made to each party by the various conglomerates.](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/17/fox-news-takes-heat-for-news-corporations-gop-donation/) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/18 "2010-08-19T19:18:19Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > > [@Bricker](#): > > > > Well, GE gave $2.2 million to Democrats in 2008. They own NBC. > > Walt Disney gave $1M to dmeocrats in 2008. They own ABC. > > Did either corporation give to the Republicans as well? Walt Disney, in 2008, gave Republicans $348,858. And it gave Democrats $1,066,125. GE gave Republicans $1,167,584 in 2008, when it gave Democrats $2,241,527. And of course News Corp gave to the Democrats as well. ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/19 "2010-08-19T19:20:12Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Did either corporation give to the Republicans as well? Come now, for parity’s sake, you must also strive to determine how much Newscorp gave to Democrats. Chortle. ETA, because **Bricker** types faster than I: > [@Bricker](#): > > And of course News Corp gave to the Democrats as well. Do you have that figure handy? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772/20 "2010-08-19T19:24:30Z")
Nearly all corporations donate to campaigns. No news there. What I have noticed is corporations often donate to a lot of sides. Rather than choosing a party they want to choose the winners so the people who get to congress are beholden to them…whatever their political stripe. Rarely do they want to go all in for one side or the other else, if they make the wrong bet, the winning side will tell them to fuck off next time they come hat-in-hand. In the case of Newscorp they are clearly pushing for one side. Also considering they report the news (at least they pretend at that) then a conflict of interest is relevant. For instance a stand-in host the other day on the Rachel Maddow show made it clear the guy he was interviewing was his father-in-law. I think that is good, open reporting. Is it illegal for Newscorp to not divulge that? No (I don’t think so anyway). Should they when doing political reporting from now till the election? Yeah if they had any sense of responsibility in reporting. Since we already know they don’t and couldn’t give a fuck about that we know they won’t. Not like them pushing for the Republicans is news anyway. You’d have had to be in a coma the last 10 years to miss it. Jon Stewart talking about this last night noted that really, the Republican party should be paying FOX for this kind of support. Was funny and scary because that makes sense. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fox-be-required-to-reveal-its-conflict-of-interest/550772.md?page=2)