News Corporation

News Corporation describes itself as "a constellation of media businesses, News Corporation's global operations encompass the fields of filmed entertainment, newspapers, pay and free-to-air television, cable network programming, book publishing, magazines and consumer marketing." [1]

Mission Statement

"Just as our assets span the world, our vision spans art and humor, audacity and compassion, information and innovation - whether in an American television series, an Indian game show, an Australian newspaper, an English sports broadcast or an international box-office hit," the company website states.

"Every day, hundreds of millions of people are entertained and enlightened by the authors and actors, printers and producers, reporters and directors who fulfill our mission. That mission remains unchanged after half a century of expansion and improvement: the creation and distribution of top-quality news, sports and entertainment around the world," it states.

Bias and Misrepresentation

A year-long study released in October 2003 showed that Americans who relied on the Fox News Channel for their coverage of the Iraq war were the most likely to believe misinformation about the war, whatever their political affiliation may be. Those mistaken facts, the study found, increased viewers' support for the war. Note that these beliefs were not simply biased, they were based on provably incorrect facts.

More on the PIPA study[2] at the Fox News page.

Corporate Entities

A comprehensive timetable on the evolution of News Corporation is available at http://www.ketupa.net/murdoch2.htm.

A detailed listed of News Corporation business interests - up to date to early 2003 - is at http://www.ketupa.net/murdoch1.htm

=== Filmed Entertainment === Fox Consumer Products, Fox Interactive, Fox Studios Australia, Fox Television Studios, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Licensing And Merchandising, Twentieth Century Fox Television

=== Television === British Sky Broadcasting Ltd, FOX Broadcasting Company, Fox Sports, FOXSports.com, Fox Television Stations, Inc., FOXTEL, News Corporation Limited Japan, Sky Latin America (SKY Brasil Serviços Ltda., Innova, Sky Multi Country), SKY PerfecTV!, STAR (Channel [V], ESPN STAR Sports, National Geographic Channel Asia, Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings Ltd.), Twentieth Television

=== Cable Network Programming === Fox News Channel, Fox Cable Networks Group (Fox Sports Net, FX Networks)

=== Magazines and Inserts === News America Marketing, Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc., the Weekly Standard

=== Newspapers === New York Post, News International plc, News Limited

=== Book Publishing === HarperCollins

=== Other Assets === NDS Group PLC, Chinabyte.com, News Interactive

On December 22, 2003 News Corporation finalised a $US6billion bid to take a controlling stake in Hughes Electronics and its US pay TV operation, DirecTV. "Now, with the addition of DirecTV, Murdoch has the last piece in a global distribution system that is unparalleled - and he will be rolling out a swag of new channels to run on that system. If you are a content company like Viacom, Disney or Time Warner, at some point in the future you will depend upon Murdoch to run your programs around the world," Chenoweth wrote. [3]

Corporate Officers

• K. Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, News Corporation
• Geoffrey C. Bible, Chairman, Wagga Enterprise
• Chase Carey, Non-Executive Director, News Corporation
• Peter Chernin, President and Chief Operating Officer, News Corporation
• Kenneth E. Cowley, Chairman, Independent Newspapers Limited
• David F. DeVoe, Chief Financial Officer, News Corporation
• Rod Eddington, Chief Executive, British Airways
• Juho Aatos Michel Erkko, Chairman, SanomaWSOY Corporation
• Andrew S.B. Knight, Director, Rothschild Investment Trust C.P.
• James Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, STAR Group
• Lachlan Murdoch, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, News Corporation
• Thomas J. Perkins, Partner, Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield & Byers
• Stanley S. Shuman, Executive Vice President & Managing Director,Allen & Company, Inc.
• Arthur M. Siskind, Group General Counsel, News Corporation
• Viet Dinh, a professor of law at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.
• Peter Barnes, former president of Philip Morris Asia

External links

• Neil Chenoweth, "Malone, Murdoch's new best friend, Australian Financial Review, January 27, 2004.
• Neil Chenoweth, "The man the Murdoch children fear", Australian Financial Review, January 31, 2004.
• Neil Chenoweth and Sean Aylmer, "Malone loosens Murdoch's grip on News", Australian Financial Review, January 23, 2004.
• Geraldine Fabrikant, "News Corp. Plans to Follow Its Chief to the United States," New York Times, April 7, 2004: "Rupert Murdoch, who gave up his Australian citizenship 19 years ago to become a United States citizen, plans something similar for the News Corporation, the media empire his family controls. ... The company, whose holdings include The New York Post and the 20th Century Fox movie studio, will reincorporate in the United States, where it earns about 75 percent of its revenue and profit. News Corporation hopes the move, which includes shifting its primary stock listing to the New York Stock Exchange from the Australian exchange, will lure a wider investor base and give it access to lower-cost capital."