Colman: THE EXIT OF A TYCOON

It is sad to say, but all things must end.  Strom Thurmond served in the U.S. Senate till he was 100.  Clint Eastwood, at 92, is still making movies, but for how long.  Tom Brady played football till he was 45.  Now, Rupert Murdoch, at age 92, has decided to step aside.

Murdoch has a storied history in the media—running newspapers, TV studios and creating the most watched and talked about cable news network, Fox.  It is time to congratulate a person who has made a difference.

THE EXIT OF A TYCOON

By Richard Colman, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views,  9/25/23  www.capoliticalreview.com

So, Rupert Murdoch has decided to step down from running Fox News and other media enterprises.

The best Latin expression to describe Murdoch is:  “Sic transit Gloria mundi.”  The appropriate English translation is “Earthly matters shall pass.”  The literal translation is, “Thus passes the glory of the world.”

In his 70-year career, Murdoch has never produced a defining moment.  When and where did Murdoch ever do or say something that strengthened democracy?

Winston Churchill, in his writings and speeches, inspired the world with his warnings about the tyranny of Adolf Hitler and other tyrants.

All Murdoch did was make money.

On two occasions, CBS News stepped outside the boundaries of traditional journalism and warned the American people of danger.

The first occasion came on March 9, 1954, when Edward R. Murrow, an employee of CBS News, denounced the tactics of Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) who, in demagogic fashion, claimed that domestic communists were threatening the security of the United States. 

In a famous broadcast for the program, “See It Now,” Murrow said, “No one familiar with the history of this country can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating, but the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one and the junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. 

“His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind, as between internal and the external threats of Communism.  We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.  We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law.  We will not walk in fear, one of another.  We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men — not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.”

The second occasion came on Feb. 27, 1968, when Walter Cronkite, the CBS News anchorman, made an on-air commentary after visiting Vietnam during the multi-year war that America waged against communist forces in that divided Southeast Asian nation.  Cronkite said, “For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.  This summer’s almost certain standoff will either end in real give-and-take negotiations or terrible escalation; and for every means we have to escalate, the enemy can match us, and that applies to invasion of the North, the use of nuclear weapons, or the mere commitment of one hundred, or two hundred, or three hundred thousand more American troops to the battle.  And with each escalation, the world comes closer to the brink of cosmic disaster.

“To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion.

“On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy’s intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations.  But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy and did the best they could.”

On June 13, 1971, The New York Times published the Pentagon Papers, a secret history of the Vietnam war.  The administration of President Richard Nixon tried to suppress publication of the Pentagon Papers.  Publication of the materials was halted.  A few weeks later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Times could resume publication.

In June 1972, burglars broke into the Watergate complex in Washington D.C.  The break-in specifically targeted the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee.  The intruders were arrested.  Reporters at the Washington Post began to examine the burglary.  Two reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, found connections between the burglars and the Nixon administration.  After a congressional investigation in 1973 and other actions, it became clear that the Nixon administration tried to cover up links between the Watergate break-in and the Nixon administration.  On Aug. 9, 1974, Nixon resigned his presidency after he was shown to have engaged in the cover-up.

What can we say about Murdoch?  He has been a rich and successful media tycoon.  But has his collection of media properties ever done anything comparable to what CBS News, The New York Times, and the Washington Post had done to enhance liberty?

Murdoch had a chance to produce a defining moment.  He failed.

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For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. This summer’s almost certain standoff will either end in real give-and-take negotiations or terrible escalation; and for every means we have to escalate, the enemy can match us, and that applies to invasion of the North, the use of nuclear weapons, or the mere commitment of one hundred, or two hundred, or three hundred thousand more American troops to the battle. And with each escalation, the world comes closer to the brink of cosmic disaster.

To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion.

On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy’s intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honourable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy and did the best they could.

No one familiar with the history of this country can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating, but the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one and the junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind, as between internal and the external threats of Communism. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men — not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.