Quick: Name a Democrat employed by Fox News Channel.
That was the challenge posed to News Corp. boss Rupert Murdoch on Tuesday night at the National Press Club. And after a few “ummms,” he settled on his choice.
“They are certainly there,” he said, acknowledging Fox News President Roger Ailes would better be able to tick off a list of liberals.
“Greta van Susteren is certainly close to the Democratic Party, she just doesn’t cover really political stories, she is just a great journalist who goes after any story she can get,” Murdoch said. “But people who have been involved in Democratic politics and so on, yeah we have people.”
Murdoch made his D.C. appearance for a filming of “The Kalb Report” with host Marvin Kalb. And, talking in sound bites in his thick Australian accent, the Fox News head discussed the future of journalism and his beef with Google, and shed some light on his own media consumption habits.
Turns out, he’s still a newspaperman at heart, but that doesn’t mean he reads every prominent paper. “No, I don’t read the Washington Post; I probably should, but I don’t,” Murdoch said, acknowledging that he first reads the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.
“But you own those two,” Kalb said, getting laughs from the audience.
Murdoch also reads “a lot” of the New York Times.
“I have great respect for the Times, but it very clearly does have an agenda, anything that Obama wants,” Murdoch said.
And of course he watches TV, too. Among his favorite non-cable news shows: “House,” which airs on Fox, and a new show on FX called “Justified.”
