Apparently Rupert Murdoch’s daughter Elizabeth, is throwing a fundraiser for Obama in London, with such illustrious guests as Gwyneth Paltrow.
The Murdoch family are used to people trying to decode their political stance and its implications from their public actions. Now Elisabeth Murdoch, Rupert’s daughter who runs a large independent production company, has thrown them a curveball by hosting a London fundraiser for Barack Obama.
In the most high-profile example yet of glitzy fundraising bashes for the US presidential hopefuls spreading across the Atlantic, a string of notable US ex-pats with jobs in media, the arts and finance will gather at the Notting Hill home Murdoch shares with her husband, PR guru Matthew Freud.
So-called “event chairs” at the fundraising evening include actress Gwyneth Paltrow, the wife of Coldplay singer Chris Martin, Warner Brothers UK chief Josh Berger and Julia Moffett, the director of strategy for the BBC World Service Trust.
Hosts at the bash, VIP tickets for which cost $2,300 (£1,160), include Joanna Shields, the international vice-president of social-networking site Bebo, which was recently sold to AOL.
I think this is more a matter of bribery than support. It simply means he thinks the republicans and Hillary Clinton are losers, and he is giving a bribe to the likely next President. He also supported Tony Blair,in England, when it became clear than the Tories couldn’t win. In return for that support Blair persecuted the BBC, and allowed him to consolidate more control over the British media. He also gave Rupert a secret cabinet position in the run-up to the Iraq War, which Tony Blair supported. When Tony Blair resigned owing to his unpopular support of the war, Murdoch offered him a position at News Corps. In 2006, when Clinton was seen as inevitable, Murdoch supported her with a fundraiser, and she has rewarded him by appearing on his network more than any other candidate, even when Barack and Edward’s had sworn them off.
I sincerely wish Barack would refuse Murdoch’s support. It doesn’t come without a price, and it looks bad to those of use who are worried about media consolidation. I think undermining the dominance of News Corp and other corporate broadcasters should be a top priority of any serious progressive.