After the News of the World (NOTW) scandal broke in the U.K., Rupert Murdoch's image was plastered across television screens, newspapers and magazines across the globe. Murdoch is the owner of NOTW, the most popular and widely published newspaper in Britain, as well as owner of the Fox Network (including equally controversial Fox News), The Wall Street Journal, and a number of other media outlets. However, when news broke that NOTW's wide-spread hacking and phone-tapping was going to result in the paper closing down, people were astonished. The newspaper has been controversial, the subject of lawsuits and investigations, for years and Murdoch had never thought to close it down. When Murdoch arrived in London on July 10th, it was to shore-up his acquisition of BSkyB, a British satellite television service. The deal, despite the now defunct NOTW's scandal, was considered a sure thing. However, as allegations increased and public anger boiled into Parliament, Murdoch's acquisition was crushed. Now British industry regulators are conducting an investigation into whether Rupert Murdoch is a "fit and able" person to retain the 39% of BSkyB that he already holds.

     Murdoch has been widely referred to as a 'Media Mogul', a man that has created a media empire, and used the resources and leverage of his empire to expand. In expanding he has also garnered a fair amount of political leverage as well, using his news networks to create huge manipulations of facts, opinions, and ideas; simultaneously throwing out journalistic integrity in favor of misleading millions. When you own the news, you own the truth. Murdoch has been creating truths for years, and some of his manipulations have become institutionalized in our political parties and within social movements. He does this by using the media to create politicians or bolster the ones he likes, and he uses political leverage from those individuals and movements that he covers on his news outlets to create opportunities to expand his empire. In this way he has a feedback loop, each side leveraging the other.

     Murdoch isn't the first to do this, either. One of the most famous media mogul manipulators was Sir Randolph Hearst (1863-1951). Hearst was the only son of George Hearst, a miner and self-made multimillionaire, who went on to create an empire of newspapers, magazines, and other companies in other industries. Hearst's most dubious contribution is that of yellow journalism; or sensationalized news stories with little factual and evidentiary support. (Sound familiar?) He used sensationalized stories to increase circulation of his primary paper, New York Morning Journal, and then purchased other major newspapers in other major cities to further his political ambitions (he was elected to the U.S. House twice). His papers supported FDR during the Great Depression, largely because his readership was largely working class who were easily swayed by the sensationalized headlines. Hearst waged a number of blatant media campaigns based on his own personal agenda, including a campaign against Socialism in America in the late 1800's, and a very effective media campaign against marijuana in the 30's and 40's. The latter campaign successfully garnered popular support in making the drug illegal by publishing false claims of the drug's effects. (Reefer Madness is based on Hearst's misinformation campaign.)

     What many don't know if that his Hearst's campaign was the result of his holdings in the lumber industry, rather than any real position on the plant's use as a drug. Hemp, the stalks of the marijuana plant, were found to be incredibly cheap, fast-growing, and a more efficient pulp for use in making paper and other products normally made from timber. Hearst was seeing his share-prices fall, and began a campaign to demonize marijuana through any means necessary. If the plant was illegal for smoking, people would be breaking the law by growing it regardless of its intended use. Many also are unaware that, out of necessity, it was made legal temporarily for use in making ropes and parachutes for the war effort in Europe during World War II. It was then "re-illegalized" after the war. Now, in 2011, we still struggle with the issue of legalization of marijuana largely due to one "media mogul's" campaign of misinformation.

     Rupert Murdoch has done his own share of damage in pursuing personal agendas via his media news outlets. However, it seems that his over leveraging of media-to-politics has resulted in both entities pushing against him. He is receiving widespread criticism and threats of investigation both abroad and domestically because of his business' lack of integrity, and politically the British Parliament has turned against him as well, allowing regulators free-reign of his empire there. I would, again, attach a label to anything seemingly "too big too fail", and that would be "doomed". Unfortunately, anything big enough to support Murdoch's realm of influence will be unimaginably damaging to the public before it is finally toppled. Hopefully that happens sooner rather than later.