young Murdoch no zionist, wingnuts alarmed
New York Sun - July 25, 2007 http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=59052&v=3580935811
Murdoch, Son Differ Sharply Over Israel BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
The pro-Israel outlook of the Wall Street Journal and many News Corp.
outlets could waver if one of Rupert Murdoch’s sons, James Murdoch,
takes the helm of the publishing and broadcasting company, a new book
suggests.
The just-published diaries of a communications director for Prime
Minister Blair, Alastair Campbell, indicate that James Murdoch
launched into a foul-mouthed tirade that suggested that the behavior
of Palestinian Arabs was justified by their poor treatment by
Israelis. The outburst occurred at a private dinner with his father,
his brother, Lachlan, Mr. Blair, and others at no. 10 Downing St. in
January 2002.
The elder “Murdoch was at one point putting the traditional very
right-wing view on Israel and the Middle East peace process and James
said that he was ‘talking f— nonsense.’ [Rupert] Murdoch said he
didn’t see what the Palestinians’ problem was and James said that it
was that they were kicked out of their f— homes and had nowhere to f—
live,” Mr. Campbell recorded, adding that the News Corp. chairman was
“very pro-Israel, very pro-Reagan.”
The prime minister’s aide said James Murdoch’s outburst drew a rebuke
from his father, who said “he didn’t think he should talk like that
in the Prime Minister’s house.”
“James got very apologetic with [Mr. Blair], who said not to worry, I
hear far worse all the time,” Mr. Campbell wrote.
James Murdoch, who heads News Corp.’s BSkyB satellite broadcasting
division, has been intimately involved in the firm’s $5 billion bid
to take over Dow Jones, which publishes the Journal. The elder
Murdoch brought James to a critical meeting last month in Manhattan
at which the pair sought to win over members of the Bancroft family,
which controls Dow Jones.
The takeover talks have been difficult in part because members of the
Bancroft family have demanded assurances that there would be no
interference with editorial practices at the Journal.
It is widely assumed in financial and publishing circles that James
Murdoch would have ultimate responsibility for overseeing operations
at the Journal if the takeover bid is successful. James Murdoch, 35,
is also seen as the most likely heir to chairmanship of News Corp.
when his father, 76, retires.
Advocates for Israel expressed distress yesterday at the report of
James Murodch’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Certainly, it’s troubling,” a spokesman for the Committee for
Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, Alexander Safian, said.
“It’s a little upsetting to hear that perhaps a son who might
eventually have a lot of power is not favorably inclined towards
Israel.”
Mr. Safian said several News Corp. properties, including the New York
Post and Fox News, usually present a positive image of Israel, though
some British outlets have a more mixed record. He said the Wall
Street Journal’s editorial page is presently “very pro-Israel,” but
the news pages are not.
A spokesman for News Corp., Andrew Butcher, and a spokesman for
BSkyB, Robert Fraser, declined to comment on Mr. Campbell’s diary
entry or on how the Murdochs’ views on Israel could affect the press
and broadcasting operations.
A former editor of the Jerusalem Post who now works as an editorial
writer for the Wall Street Journal, Bret Stephens, said he expects an
agreement being worked out between the Bancrofts and the Murdochs to
insulate the Journal from any interference. “If the Murdochs are
intent on preserving our editorial independence, as they profess to
be, neither Rupert’s apparent pro-Israel bias nor James’s reported
anti-Israel bias should make any difference,” Mr. Stephens said.
A pro-Israel activist in London, Jonathan Hoffman, said he was not
aware of other instances where James Murdoch had expressed views on
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “It’s clearly interesting,” Mr.
Hoffman said.
While Mr. Safian criticized Israel-related coverage by Sky News, the
service James Murdoch currently oversees, Mr. Hoffman said he had no
issues with Sky. “I’ve never had any cause for complaint about their
coverage on Israel, in contrast to the BBC,” he said.
Mr. Hoffman, an economist, said he considers James Murdoch’s views on
Israel fairly typical in Britain, particularly in younger circles.
“The generation that remembers World War II and the Holocaust, that
generation knows why Israel was created as a Jewish state and
appreciates it,” the activist said. “I think makes a huge difference.”
While many Europeans are steeped in anti-Israel sentiment at
universities on the Continent, James Murdoch attended Harvard
University for a year before dropping out to start a rap music label.
A pro-Israel lobbyist in Washington, Morris Amitay, said family
dynamics may explain James Murdoch’s exuberance but that the outburst
did not reflect well on the young executive. “For a son to say his
father was talking ‘f—ing nonsense,’ that’s a little bothersome …
particularly in that venue.”
While Rupert Murdoch generally hews to a pro-Israel line, he
maintains business contacts in the Arab world. A Saudi prince who is
a major investor in News Corp., Alwaleed bin Talal, has expressed
confidence in the elder Murdoch, as well as James and Lachlan, as
future leaders for the company. In 2005, Prince Alwaleed reportedly
complained to the elder Murdoch that Fox News was labeling
disturbances in Paris as “Muslim riots.” The graphic was later
changed to read “civil riots.”