Fox News Parent News Corp. Reportedly Gave $1M to Chamber of Commerce
Fox News parent company News Corp. gave $1 million this summer to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the powerful business group that is largely supporting Republicans in the midterm elections, Politico reports.
The news organization came under fire earlier this summer for giving another $1 million to the Republican Governors Association (RGA). FOX's political action committee has also reportedly made smaller donations to Democrats.
Corporations that own other media companies -- General Electric owns NBC, for instance -- typically make political contributions to both Republicans and Democrats and in smaller sizes, Politico's Ben Smith points out.
The Chamber has said it aims to spend as much as $75 million on this election cycle, and the Wall Street Journal reported this month that it is one of about a dozen major conservative and business organizations that will spend about $300 million to support Republican candidates. The Chamber has also been outspoken in its criticism of the Obama administration.
Spokespersons for News Corp., Fox News and the Chamber declined to comment on the company's donation to the Chamber to Politico.
Fox News is often characterized as right-leaning, but the network maintains that its news coverage (rather than its opinion programming) is nonpartisan.
The liberal media watchdog Media Matters created an ad attacking Fox for not reporting on News Corp.'s donation to the RGA and after a tussle with the company, managed to air the ad once on Fox.
In a hearing on immigration on Capitol Hill yesterday, Democrats questioned News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch about bias in Fox News programming.
"I'm interested in knowing... how you feel about some of the anti-immigrant positions that are promoted by your network, on issues like Arizona's recent immigration law?" Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) asked Murdoch.
The CEO responded that his network welcomes Democrats.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), meanwhile, took an opportunity during the hearing to praise Fox for its fair coverage.
