His cynicism--such as the Fox News Channel proclaiming to be exactly what it's not, "fair and balanced"--is profound. The quantity of his media holdings is vast. And some are extremely important. He now owns 150 newspapers in Australia including The Australian, the nation's biggest paper. In the U.K., he bought what had been the most distinguished newspaper in the English-speaking world, The Times of London, the quality of which has been downgraded under Murdoch. His other U.K. holdings include Sky Television.
In the U.S. his holdings, in addition to the New York Post, include The Wall Street Journal which he has been using to take on The New York Times to become the leading American newspaper. His News Corporation also owns the giant book-publishing company, HarperCollins; 20th Century Fox movie studio; 20th Century Fox Television and Fox Broadcasting Company. His U.S. cable TV assets in addition to Fox News Channel include Fox Movie Channel and Fox Business Network.
Murdoch's holdings also extend to Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. All in all, his News Corporation owns more than 800 media companies in more than 50 countries.
According to Forbes magazine, Murdoch's net worth is now $8.3 billion making him, says Forbes, the 106 th richest person in the world, the 38 th richest in the U.S.
"With News Corp undoubtedly facing increased regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. as the phone-hacking scandal expands in the U.K., the company is acting to correct a breach of FCC laws regarding foreign ownership," the website Studio Briefing reported last month. "The media conglomerate will likely suspend half the voting rights of foreign shareholders to bring it into compliance with FCC rules limiting foreign ownership of broadcasting stations to 25 percent." The largest foreign shareholder, it said, is Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud who "owns 7 percent of News Corp's voting stock."
Now what about the man at the top--Rupert Murdoch--and the requirement of integrity?
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