Fox News Conservative? – $14,000 to Republicans, $310,800 to Democratic Candidates!
January 30th, 2008 . by Mike
Fox News likes Republicans. Republicans are conservative. So Fox News is conservative, right? Then why do their employees donate only $14,000 to the Republican 2008 Presidential candidates but donate a total of $310,800 to Democratic Candidates! That ratio is 22 to 1.
Clinton
$197,850 of this money goes to one candidate, Hillary Clinton. Politically she is the opposite of Fox’s image, but their Chairman Rupert Murdoch donated to her and only her in the 2008 Presidential race. Rupert Murdoch donated in July 2006 to “Friends of Hillary” then June 2007 to the campaign for the maximum of $2,300. Of the top executives 12 out of 13 donated to Democrats with most going to Clinton. One of the listed executives Peter Chernin the President of Fox, donated to 3 Democratic candidates.
Not that Hillary has not had visible disagreements with Fox. In June of 2007 she refused to participate in an unofficial debate on Fox. Fox also has run stories critical of her in superficial ways such as her laugh. But Rupert organizes huge fundraisers like July 2006 and in 2007.
It is not clear if there is some pressure to donate to her, but Mr. Murdoch has a history of pressuring employees and using Fox News to push his political ideas. (Hillary Clinton’s campaign declined to comment on this story.)
Other Democrats
Barack Obama has received contributions from the whole US for $80,256,427 to Hillarys $90,935,788, which is 88%. But of News Corporation donations he received $102,700 or 52% as much as Clinton. If these donations were totally natural the percentage would be the same, I imagine. (The Obama campaign declined to comment on this story.)
The Edwards campaign is the third largest Democratic recipient of donations from News Corporation at only $5,600. (The Edwards campaign declined to comment on this story.)
Versus the Republicans
The Republican candidate that received the most contributions was McCain at $10,200. Remember Hillary got $197,850. So basically Fox employees are 20 times more likely to donate to Hillary Clinton than the Republicans.
Notes on this story: This story was researched from publicly available information from fec.gov, opensecrets.org and other news sources. The donations are believed to be correct but are low, as candidates have not reported 4th quarter 2007 data. The spreadsheet we compiled is available online. Individual records can be verified at the above links. We are not a paid employee of any candidate or political party. (News Corporation declined to comment on this story.)
January 30th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Umm, I think you may be wrong, I think Murdoch contributed to her NY Seanate campaign only.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Fox, Please click this link on the Federal Elections Committe website: http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/norindsea.shtml
Type “Murdoch” then “K R” for first name.
Hillary is about the ninth one down from the top. No other Presidential 2008 donations Democratic or Republican.
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October 3rd, 2008 at 10:47 am
it’s because fox news would have much rather had hillary clinton as the opponent to their john mccain, because hillary is a weaker and less charismatic candidate than obama. the money was meant as an attempt to take obama down, because they thought hillary would be a lot easier to beat.
August 1st, 2009 at 9:10 pm
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September 10th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.
January 28th, 2010 at 11:47 am
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