Who cares if Murdoch is pro-Israel?
JTA's Ron Kampeas filed a story earlier this week about some Jewish organizational leaders being concerned that one byproduct of a News Corp. meltdown could be the muting of the company's staunchly pro-Israel line:
Pro-Israel leaders in the United States, Britain and Australia are warily watching the unfolding of the phone-hacking scandal that is threatening to engulf the media empire of Rupert Murdoch, founder of News Corp....
“His publications and media have proven to be fairer on the issue of Israel than the rest of the media,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice-chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “I hope that won’t be impacted.”
The Forward's editor, Jane Eisner, responded with her own blog post, titled "Is Murdoch's Mess Bad for the Jews?", arguing that such talk misses the bigger picture:
Well, I hope [the pro-Israel bent of News Corp. properties won't change], I guess. But that is hardly what should be on our minds as Jews and as citizens as we watch the media magnate testify before Parliament by dancing around any genuine personal responsibility for the despicable journalism practiced by one of his flagship newspapers. And as we read stories of government corruption in Britain reaching to the highest levels of law enforcement and into the storied halls of 10 Downing Street. And as we hear of real people, ordinary people, harmed by a corporate culture that privileged power and aggression over respect for privacy and common decency.
Britain is Israel’s ally, too, and its current government is being rocked to the core by this scandal. Is that good for the Jews?
In his day, Murdoch was celebrated by some of the big names in the Jewish communal world: American Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League. There may have been legitimate institutional reasons to honor him (and his money) but it is becoming clear that his News Corporation has had a deleterious effect on journalism and government in Britain, and perhaps, beyond. We can’t possibly view this ongoing meltdown strictly through the prism of Israel.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you. Not everythign is about us, not everything needs to be viewed from the persepctive of Israel. Kol ha-Kavod, yasher kochaha, and keep up the good work
>>...that is hardly what should be on our minds as Jews
Right. Let’s concentrate instead on winning back the congress, boycotting the settlements and dividing Jerusalem
Worrying that the News Corp - Murdoch scandal could cost Israel a friend is like supporting the Klan because they kept your lily white redneck town white.
I think Murdoch can look after himself and deserves an opportunity to respond to the allegations. In the meantime his corporations have had much more moral clarity to Israel and Mid East events than the left wing media who have covered up for Obama and left wing anti Israel policies. I am not surprised with the Forward`s attitude since they are slobbering all over the Democrats who are quite adept at screwing up the economy and mid east peace efforts and failing to address the impact of Iran and it`s nuclear program.
It’s hard to chart the depths of stupidity which Jane Eisner arrives at in the piece referenced; and what literal idiocy Samuel Prince and Moishgil have descended to in their comments here.
Specifically, it comes as news that the Cameron Conservative Party government can be fairly characterized as Israel’s “ally.” Second, the phrase “a corporate culture that privileged power and aggression over respect for privacy and common decency” (the word ‘privileged’ being the operative verb in the tangled web) shows off the moral confusion - cum didactic overload, cum sententious and ill-conceived self-righteousness - which is veritably emblematic of the overwrought left; the left of rhetoric in the key of the morally grandiose and accompanying reasoning which is, always and invariably, diaphanous.
Finally, the whole business of characterizing the News of the World as a “flagship” of the Murdoch empire serves to prove only the likelihood that Ms. Eisner doesn’t read (and maybe hasn’t even heard of) either the Wall Street Journal or the Times of London. That such a woman has acolytes like Prince and Moishgil also proves something: that left wing idiots run in packs!
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Samuel M. Prince
07/21/11 11:38 AM
Bravo Jane Eisner for standing up for what’s right (as in correct).