Base instincts

Yes, Rupert Murdoch spiked the O.J. Simpson book. But the Fox mogul's obsession with degradation will continue unabated.

By Sidney Blumenthal

Read more: O.J. Simpson, Politics, Sidney Blumenthal, Rupert Murdoch, Fox News, Opinion, Bill O'Reilly

Photo: Reuters/Michael Caronna

Rupert Murdoch listens to a reporter's question during a news conference in Tokyo Nov. 7, 2006.

Nov. 23, 2006 | Rupert Murdoch's suppression of O.J. Simpson's hypothetical confession of double murder, "If I Did It," after contracting, printing and distributing 400,000 copies of it, as well as producing a two-part interview with Simpson for broadcast on Fox TV, demarcates, at least for now, the outer limit of Murdoch's indecency. Yet his brief two-sentence statement contains not a glimmer of acknowledgment of any moral element of his quandary. Murdoch's press release is a perfectly pitched production of false deference and anxious deflection. "I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," Murdoch said, as though this were the first time it had occurred to anyone at his publishing company, HarperCollins, that paying Simpson $3.5 million to hold forth on murdering his wife and her friend might not reflect prudent judgment.

Murdoch's invocation of the wisdom of "the American people" inadvertently describes him and his executives as lacking in their own independent judgment, deferring to "the American people" as a nebulous corporate executive committee and deciding to "agree" with them before being trampled. But the appeal to "the American people" also cleverly implies that Murdoch and his executives had nothing to do with the Simpson project and were as innocent as couch potatoes, as if both they and "the American people" were outsiders to News Corp. "We are sorry for any pain this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson," Murdoch concluded. This was a line undoubtedly written by News Corp. attorneys to deflect potential lawsuits from the families of the murder victims. But this lawyerly crafted apology, such as it was, was not the limit of Murdoch's heartfelt response. Denise Brown, sister of the murdered Nicole, told NBC's "Today" show that News Corp. offered her family and the Goldman family proceeds from the Simpson book as a form of hush money but that she said: "Absolutely not." "There were no strings attached," a News Corp. spokesman explained. Of course, there was no suggestion of obligation in receiving millions of dollars from the likes of Rupert Murdoch.

"If I Did It," from beginning to end, perfectly encapsulates how Murdoch does it -- down to his inability to discuss the squalid deal as anything other than a commercial property gone awry. A peasant uprising of Fox affiliates that suddenly refused to air the interview forced his heavy hand. Had the TV stations remained passive transmitters, Murdoch would have gone ahead as planned. The unintentional irony of Fox affiliates finally protesting the airing of something that is almost certainly true -- never having raised a peep about the endless stream of Fox falsehoods -- was lost in the din.

When Fox News talk-show host and self-described "traditionalist" Bill O'Reilly, warming up for his annual campaign against "the war on Christmas," jumped into the fray, seizing upon the O.J. interview as a platform for publicity, the controversy reached a critical mass of hilarity. O'Reilly proclaimed the cancellation of the Simpson interview "a culture war victory," and said, "News Corp. led by Rupert Murdoch did the right thing." Murdoch might be gratified that O'Reilly's bellowing promoted one Fox show, albeit at the expense of another. It's the only consolation Murdoch gained from the incident.

Understandably, Murdoch failed to mention that this was not the first time he had suppressed a book. In 1998, he attempted to censor criticism of the Chinese government in the memoir "East and West," written by Christopher Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong. Murdoch, of course, has extensive commercial holdings in China requiring government approval. When Patten refused to knuckle under to Murdoch's line editing, HarperCollins declined to publish the book. Breaking his contract, Murdoch accused Patten of double-dealing and bad faith. It was the usual transparent Murdoch projection. The News Corp. publicity department issued a statement: "Rupert Murdoch did not agree with many of Patten's positions in Hong Kong which he thought abrogated promises made by the previous government." The editor at HarperCollins resigned in protest. And Patten said, "I don't see how you can be in favor of free speech in one part of the world and less keen on it in another."

Hypocrisy, however, has never caused Murdoch a self-reflective moment of hesitation. His high-flown rhetoric about "diversity" and "liberty" in media, echoed by teams of publicists and polemicists in his employ, is simply cover for his expansion motives. The Australian-born mogul turned U.S. citizen owes allegiance above all to his piratical self. Citizenship, like everything else, is a commercial proposition. The flag he flies is the Jolly Roger.

Murdoch's reputation as a conservative derives from his enthusiastic support for the Thatcher government in Britain through his panoply of high- and low-end newspapers there. (And HarperCollins bestowed a $5.4 million book advance on Margaret Thatcher for her memoir.) Meanwhile, in Australia, Murdoch was a backer of a Labor government. When the Tories looked like losers in Britain, he switched almost overnight into a supporter of Tony Blair's New Labor.

In the U.S. during the Reagan period he supported the ascendant Republicans. When the GOP took control of Congress in 1994 he not only founded a neoconservative magazine, the Weekly Standard, as a loss leader for influence, but also gave the new House speaker, Newt Gingrich, a $4.5 million advance for a book just as Congress was considering telecommunications legislation that would directly benefit Murdoch. In the furor after the book deal was disclosed, Gingrich felt compelled to return his advance. But Murdoch still got his benefit, which, in 1996, cleared the way for him to launch Fox News.

This year, sensing the tide against Republicans, Murdoch's wretchedly right-wing tabloid the New York Post begrudgingly endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton for reelection, an abrupt reversal after sliming the Clintons for more than a decade. To anyone who has tracked Murdoch's peripatetic career, the endorsement was consistent with his opportunism. When Murdoch says "the free market" it translates as "the main chance."

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