The Left’s Gleeful Murder of Jobs

July 22, 2011 By 37 Comments

On Tuesday, July 19, Rupert Murdoch visited Parliament to discuss the News of the World scandal.  As the media mogul was speaking, he was attacked by a protester, who threw what looked to be pie content at him.  Wendi Deng, Murdoch’s wife, smacked the protester in the head – a rational and well-calibrated response.

Some in the media celebrated the pie-ing the same way they’ve celebrated the entire News of the World blow-up.  One MSNBC host, militant leftist Contessa Brewer, remarked, “I think, in some ways, this encapsulates what the British people are feeling right now about Rupert Murdoch and those involved in this phone hacking scandal.”  Eric Boehlert, senior fellow at Media Matters for America, had no comment on that – but he’s spent his entire last two weeks mentally pleasuring himself through front covers of the British tabloid.

In fact, the left’s absolute glee over the News of the World scandal cannot be contained.  They aren’t horrified – they’re giggling to themselves like excited schoolgirls spotting Brad Pitt at the local Starbucks.  When Murdoch’s NewsCorp was forced to drop its bid to buy the satellite British Sky Broadcasting company, the left cheered wildly.  Boehlert called it the “best week ever.”  Avaaz.org, a group of leftist media activists, have petitioned the British government to force Murdoch to totally divest from BSkyB.  “Now we’re taking our red-hot UK campaign global, to roll back the Murdoch menace everywhere,” said Avaaz directors.  “Avaaz members live in every country where Murdoch works, making our movement the only one that can truly take a campaign against his global empire and win.  The time is now … we can seize this once-in-a-generation chance.”  Many, if not most liberals saw the failure to acquire as a loss for Murdoch and News Corp, whom they believe to be the dual devils incarnate.

There’s only one problem.  Even as the left chortles over the decaying remains of News of the World and does the wave over the collapse of the BSkyB deal, people lose their jobs.  Shares in BSkyB declined 0.6 percent the day the deal fell through.  As soon as the News of the World scandal broke, in fact, the stock began dropping precipitously; over the past three weeks, the stock of BSkyB – again, a company that has not been implicated in anything – dropped nearly 20 percent.  News Corp’s stock value has declined nearly that much.

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Filed Under: Daily Mailer, FrontPage
About

Ben Shapiro is an attorney and writer and a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, and author of the new book “Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How The Left Took Over Your TV” from Broadside Books, an imprint of HarperCollins.

  • mlcblog

    Yup! they are like wild schoolchildren.

  • Dai of Edinburgh

    Brewer hasn't a clue about what arguably most of us in the UK feel about this hysteria. We're fed up with the constant in your face coverage, which only serves to allow politically vaccuus liberals such as Brewer to gloat. There are other far more compelling matters going on in the world that deserve headlining, but no, the left's hatred for Murdoch has to be feverishly nourished instead.

    • crackerjack

      Its fun seeing Murdoch and Brooks getting a dose of their own medicine. For decades they have dragged other folks through the public bog, ended careers and ruined lives. Britians "elite" cowerd in fear when Brooks sharpend her pencil.
      Now the backlash is on and going by the multitude of foes rupert and Rebekah have created for themselves this affair will end in one allmighty bang before its over.
      May the games begin…LOL. Sure – they may be more important news, but this is more fun.

      • mrbean

        Britain's titled elitests deserve ruining as they believe it is their manifest destiny to rule the great unwashed and live off the government dole their entire lives. Murdoch is an honorable man not like the nazi-communist collaborator George Soros.

  • franz von fear

    Jobs are not the issue here. If they were, Murdoch would resign.

    The trademark "Murdoch" has become toxic for the Western political establishment and a liability to News Corps
    Under Murdoch, any move News Corps now makes to ensure political influence will be front page news and open to extensive public debate in the countrys concerned. The days of Rupert lobbying through the back doors of Downing Street and Congress or on the golf course are over. Parliamentarians, Congressmen and other decision makers will be carefull not to be seens as under the influence of Rupert Murdoch. In this enviroment, major deals such as the BSkyB merger , have become impossible.

    With or without Murdoch, News Corps will survive, but its days of unbridled political influence are over.

    • Stan

      Dream on – while News Corp can publish it's influence will continue. News of the World was less than 1% of the empire. And the UK has an over inflated sense of it's importance in the scheme of things. The British Empire died with the independence of India. Now Britain is just a gutless multicultural hole being overrun by third world immigrants who have respect for traditional Western values. News Corp's real base is the US which still has the guts to stick up for itself.

      • franz von fear

        Sorry, but News Corps is an Australian enteprise with a letter box in Deleware solely to ensure it a US media license.

        NewsCorps real base is its shareholders, the largest after Murdoch being Prince Walid bin Talal bin Abdelaziz Al-Saud. In turn, Murdoch holds a major share of Prince Walid's Rotana Media Groupe and together they looking to take over Sky Arabia. So apparently, Murdoch has no apprehensions whatsoever to being a mouthpiece for the House of Saud as long as the cash flow is secure. So much concerning "..traditional western values".

        Should things get to hot for Rupert in the West, he will dump FOX as swiftly as he dumped NotW or Glenn Beck, and move on to regions of the globe where his style of "business" meets with more understanding and admiration with the ruleing classes and annoying troublemakers are taken care of by the secret police.

        • http://vigilantsociety.comule.com/ Joseph Veca

          I really wish some of you would look at actual percentage,Prince Walid bin Talal bin Abdelaziz Al-Saud share of News Corp is 7%, while large, isn't enough to effect much of how News Corps is run.

      • http://www.boycottscotland.com Edward
  • S. Petersen

    Who is the fool who thinks his cell phone conversations are private?
    I think Mssrs. Murdoch can kiss bare ruined Britain off and still make a living.

  • http://www.19.org Edip Yuksel

    What a pathetic argument! The hacking, the bribing, the corrupting, the blackmailing, the arrogant, the criminal Murdoch empire needs our mercy and sympathy since thousands of journalists will lose their jobs! Well, what do journalist do? Hacking? Blackmailing? Bribing? Let them lose their jobs. If there is demand for news, which there is, the decent and skilled journalists, not the criminal thugs, will find jobs in another newspaper and channel. If there is no demand for more journalists, then they should strat learning to earn moeny in decent way; rather than working for a bloody Zionist.

    • ajnn

      what have the jews and zionism to do with any of this ?

      for some, its always about the jews.

  • DavidHorowitz

    Why defend Murdoch? Showing your true colors? Whither now, Murdoch….

  • DavidHorowitz

    Seems to me you're bending over backwards to be sure they don't 'receive penalties.' But what penalties could really be enough to salvage the complete destruction of media objectivity that Murdoch represents? And we thought the govenment could be tyrannical…

    • StephenD

      Just a friendly request. Unless you are the David Horowitz of FPM would you be so kind as to change your name so the rest of us readers don't assign your writings to him? Please? I would suggest DHorowitz or DavidH. Of course you do what you want, I'm merely suggesting. Please take no offense.

  • LindaRivera

    How was the pie attacker able to get past security?

    I was absolutely DELIGHTED that Wendi Deng, Murdoch’s wife, smacked the protester in the head! You go girl! Some in the media celebrated the pie attack but for sure there are a lot of women and men who celebrated Wendi Deng smacking the protester in the head!

  • LindaRivera

    I'm very concerned and sad about people losing their jobs. There is NO work out there.

  • LindaRivera

    This is what mainstream media/the Left should be concerned about and warning about DAILY:

    An inferior health care plan that no one wants and CANNOT afford to pay. The threat to jail and/or fine those who don't purchase the government enforced plan.

    Massive spending as if there is no tomorrow. Fighting wars we have no money for. Massive borrowing. The Massive giving away of Billions of dollars every year to other countries, including the oil-wealthy Middle East, Hamas-controlled Gaza and the Palestinian Authority organization who fill their war chests, build mansions and laugh all the way to the bank with free infidel money. Whilst in America, homeless shelters are filled to capacity; tent cities have sprung up all over the U.S. filled with desperate, jobless, homeless, NEGLECTED Americans.

    Massive debt. The massive printing of paper money out of thin air to DELIBERATELY create out of control inflation. There is no question that the total DESTRUCTION of America's economy is planned. The results will be horrifying. In the once wealthy and great nation of America, millions of Americans will become destitute, hungry and homeless with no money or resources to help them.

  • Kathleen

    I know I enjoin millions who can not wait to witness Soros, Obama, Holder, Cass Sunstein, Valerie Jarret, and Dunn serving as an example of "What goes around comes around."

    To be forewarned is to be forearmed and the Marxists certainly spent an inordinate amount of time and energy forewarning us what they were up to. Time now to show them we were/are forearmed!

    • trickyblain

      Millions?

      Meh.

      There's a few thousand nuts out there that will enjoin(?) you when all of your tinfoil hats fail to generate the power needed to do what you dream of.

      Millions are laughing their asses off, though.

  • trickyblain

    ha – I'm sure Ben was just as upset when Rather's staff lost jobs.

    And, Mr Shapiro. I have a hard time believing you don't look at your own website postings. But your last article squeaked about MMA and nonprofit status. I guess you missed this question. Would really like your take. Thanks!

    Mr. Shapiro,

    "They violate their 501(c)3 charitable exemption on a daily basis."

    A couple of years ago, Horowitz, himself, told me that this very Website is 501(c)(3).

    How is it ok for FPM, but not for MMA? I don't doubt for a minute that MMA attempts to influence policy, but how can you argue FPM does not?

  • guest

    Speaking of gleeful murder, it seems the wicked poison spread by this site and its sister sites (like "Jihad Watch") have born more evil fruit. Thank you for the 80 + dead in Norway. Scum…all of you.

    • trickyblain

      Nah. That's like saying all Muslims are terrorists. FPMers, by and large, are gullible and stupid — sometimes willfully, other times not — but not murderers.

      • guest

        It's not quite like saying all Muslims are terrorists b/c I am explicitly speaking to those who actively spread Islamophobia and those who write and support the views on here that "leftists" are terrorist lovers, traitors, enemies of America, etc (it's a long list). I distinctly didn't say all conservatives or Christians (as it emerges that the suspect is a Christian fundamentalist who opposed multicultural Norway and the policies of the Labor government). We all know it's just a matter of time until the next right wing nut goes on a shooting rampage here in the US. Will it be this afternoon, in 3 years? Who knows, but it will happen.

        • Carlos Perera

          The suspect is a sociopathic nut, as you yourself admit, _who has been roundly denounced by conservatives and Christians all over the world for the the immoral enormity of his deed_. No Catholic nuns or Baptist ministers have been sighted dancing for joy in the streets. Your side, on the other hand, lionizes its terrorists: Witness the hagiography that has been built around the Weather Underground; Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn are even among Obama's circle of political friends. For every murderous right-wing nut à la Timothy McVeigh or Anders Breivik one can name a multiplicity of Ted Kaczynskis, John Allen Muhammads, Nidal Hassans, James Lees, Joseph Stacks, etc. And, of course, that does not count the many acts of "rational" Islamic terrorism, which are often rationalized, excused, or even celebrated by the Left . . . "Why do they hate us?" . . . "The chickens are coming home to roost!" . . . "What do you expect when Palestinians get no justice?" . . . and on, and on. So here's my own prediction: The next left-wing act of terrorism will happen much sooner than the next right-wing act of terrorism, whether this afternoon or in three years. Who know, but it will happen!

        • nina

          So therefore we should abstain from ever criticizing multiculturalism and the Islamic juhad, and leave the field to you. Wouldn't that be nice? No more divergeant opinions. Only what the marxists/nazis say. Oh, I meant the socialists. Goodby freedom of speech.

  • Jim

    Are we to believe that no other tabloid ,news organization or any thing leftist does not also hack phones. Perhaps the English should focus on hacking in general.

  • Brujo Blanco

    I recall an incident in which two Democrat activists hacked a cell phone conversation with a scanner by accident and just so happened to have a recording device to record it. They were treated as heroes. Perhaps it is OK if the left is doing it.

    • derekcrane

      You are correct. That was Newt Gingrich's phone.

  • Amused

    Oh ,Shapiroi , what in the hell are you babbling about now ? "Left gleefull about loss of jobs " ???
    Just more IRRELEVANT red meat to throw into the yard ;
    if anyone's gleefull about anything , it is that Murdoch's been cut down to size , due to his companiues unethical behavior .
    Truly a "moralist " such as yourself should rejoice when evil has been exposed …no ? Uness of course you approve said tactics and behaviors . Are we calling breaking the law ,getting caught and then sacked "loss of jobs " , or a "Deal " that may have been but no longer is due to Scandal ? WHOSE FAULT IS THAT …"those lefties " again .

  • Amused

    In response to Brujo Blanco …it's wrong when anyone does it , but I think a bit more serious when "journalists " in a news organization , do it methodically ,as a means of news gathering .
    Hardly an intelligent analogy pal .

  • tanstaafl

    This is why I wear my tinfoil hat and speak in Pig Latin when I use my cellphone.

  • Fritz Becker

    So what exactly is Rupert Murdoch guilty of? What a few of his employees may have done at one of the dozens of newspapers his company owns? So by that logic if employees of the U.S Federal government are lets say operating a cocaine distribution operation Obama should be held accountable for it? If a handful of employees at G.M were caught running a child prostitution ring then the President and CEO of General Motors should be hauled before a congressional hearing? That the Chevrolet motor division should be shut down?
    As the article mentioned the News Corporation has 53,000 employees world wide, Is Mr. Murdoch supposed to know what each of them is doing from day to day? Unless some hard evidence surfaces that Rupert Murdoch, or his Son, personally ordered the "News Of the World" employees to hack into cell phone and email accounts then they have committed no crime. This is nothing more then a Soviet style show trial and public vilification campaign by the hard left., these two men have not been arrested, and there have been no charges laid, there hasn't even been an allegation made that they did anything There is only the accusation that they should have known what a handful out of 200 employees out of 53,000 may have been doing and put a stop to something that they would have had no possible way to know was going on, it is absurd.
    In any event you lefties are kidding yourselves, even if you manage to castrate or kill News Corperation don't believe that another media company won't take it's place in a free society. They exist because people like and buy their product, if they liked left wing journalism they wouldn't be watching Fox News or buying Murdoch's newspapers. If people don't like those they can subscribe to the New York times and watch MSNBC till their heart's content. But lets be honest here, you don't want people to have choices you only want one choice and one viewpoint, your own, just like Pravda in the old Soviet days.

  • Amused

    CEO's like Ships Captains are responsible for all that goes on in the ship .If a sailor gets caught smuggling , the Company get;'s the fine , the sailor faces whatever legal charges apply , and the Captain gets a black mark against him , or if the fines are too numerous under his command , he loses that command .It seems this organization was doing this as a matter of practice , and the people involved were some of the closest to Murdoch.
    So stop making excuses for a reprehensible practice , which maybe by individuals a mere annoyance , but by a World Cass News Org. a grievous offence . But I guess this type of "nes gathering " is ok with you huh ? Not to mention the entanglements with the heads of Scotland Yard and some politicians [ and the obvius implications ].

    • Wideband

      CEOs equal ships captains? Sure, just like POTUSs equal squad leaders. Hardly an intelligent analogy pal .

  • Amused

    If it were MSN , or another of your ideological opponents caught doing the same , you'd be screaming bloody murder..and you know it . But because your world view is formed through the lense of a narrow world view , you see this not for what it is , an offence to all , not just left or right , so using your rational Wiki-leaks must be a good thing huh ?

    Your argument based in purposed ignorance , is juvenile at best ./

    • Wideband

      Hey kettle, you're black!