Rupert Murdoch (AP photo)

By Barry Sussman

editor@niemanwatchdog.org

The American Society of Newspaper Editors has selected Rupert Murdoch as a speaker at its annual conference, to be held in Washington April 12-15. “We think he would be an interesting person to speak to the group," said ASNE executive director Scott Bosely.

We ourselves think the Q&A part in particular could be interesting, even exciting. To help out, NiemanWatchdog.org is asking: Got any questions for the mogul who controls the News Corp, Fox Broadcasting Co., British Sky Broadcasting, more than 20 Fox TV stations, and newspapers, magazines and book publishing firms on several continents, among other holdings?

If so, let’s have ‘em — anyone can get in the act. The best way to submit questions is to post them as a comment to this article. Or you can e-mail them to: editor@niemanwatchdog.org. Please include your name, hometown, and affiliation, if relevant. Later on, we’ll pick what we feel are the dozen best questions, and we’ll make sure they get in the hands of editors who’ll be there to ask them of Murdoch, if they choose.

For starters, we asked one of our chief advisers, reporter and author Morton Mintz, for a few questions. Here’s his contribution:

Morton Mintz, mintzm@earthlink.net

Off the top of my head:

Q. Do your news organizations have written codes or standards of ethical conduct for reporters and editors and, separately, for commentators, and if they do, do you make them available on request to the public?

Q. What processes do you or the leaders of your news organizations have in place to address complaints of bias, dishonesty, unfairness, and conflict of interest made against editors, reporters and commentators in your news organizations?

Q. Have you or the leaders of your news organizations reprimanded or disciplined commentators, editors or reporters for bias, dishonesty, unfairness, and conflict of interest, and will you cite specific cases in which reprimands were issued or discipline was imposed?

Q. Do your news organizations and commentators give equal exposure and treatment to people and organizations they describe as "liberal" and people and organizations they describe as "conservative"? If not, why not?

Q. Major news organizations including the New York Times and Washington Post regularly publish investigative reports that expose grave wrongdoing by federal officials and agencies in the current and past administrations and of criminal and grave misconduct by corporations. Have your news organizations done investigative reporting either of grave wrongdoing by federal officials and agencies during the current or previous Republican administrations, or of criminal and grave corporate misconduct?

Barry Sussman is the editor of the Nieman Watchdog Project. E-mail: bsussman@niemanwatchdog.org

Comments

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FOX NEWS Posted by Richard Michem - "ALWAYS, LET PEOPLE THINK THAT YOUR ABILITIES, ARE LESS THEN THEY REALLY ARE, YOU WILL ALWAY HAVE THE EDGE". 03/02/2005, 09:15 AM Mr. Murdoch, why is it with Fox News, You claimed to be fair and unbiased, yet ,"FOX'S NEWS" seem to showed only one side of the story?

Murdoch Inquiries Posted by Bert Caradine - 03/03/2005, 08:12 AM Unlike your competitors MSNBC and CNN, Fox News does not offer broadcast transcripts of shows like the Factor or Hannity & Colmes on it's web site. Why? Fox News picks and chooses what data it airs and posts on it's web site from their Fox News/Opinion Dynamic polling. Why aren't current and complete polling results posted on Fox News.com at the time of it's release? Why is there not an archive of Fox News/Opinion Dynamics past polling results?

Corrections and Apologies Posted by Katherine Graham-Cracker - na 03/03/2005, 10:28 AM There are many examples of Fox News errors -why is there a no correction policy.

oil Posted by clement girault - 03/03/2005, 08:51 PM Q: Dear Mr. Murdoch, Before the start of the Iraq war, which all of your media outlets unconditionally supported, you explained the payoff: "the greatest thing to come out of this for the world economy, if you could put it that way, would be $20 a barrel for oil." World crude oil prices are currently hovering at $US53 a barrel in New York. I have three questions. First - Do you now think that the Iraq war and the subsequent rise of oil prices have damaged chances of a global recovery? Second - Have you personally profited from the high oil prices or have those prices contributed to a loss of earnings for you? Third - Who would you say have been the big winners as a result of the record high prices? (Note to the editor: I would be happy for these questions to be rephrased, if appropriate.)

Most Misinformed Posted by P O'Malley - 03/05/2005, 07:29 PM I would ask him if he were aware of the poll that found viewers of Fox news were the most misinformed when compared to viewers of NPR/PBS. Pat O'Malley Pearl River, NY

Rupert Foster Kane Posted by peter gaffney - writer 03/09/2005, 02:09 PM How do you feel you compare to the most legendary of all press barons, William Randolph Hearst? Will people know your name in a hundred years, and if so, how will you be remembered?

Is there no shame? Posted by Margie Fletcher - 03/10/2005, 12:13 PM How do you justify Bill O'Reilly's bullying of the young man whose father died on 911 - for no reason other than the fact that the young man was against the war? Since when is it proffessional for so called anchor men to tell thier guests to "shut up"? Please feel free to re-state my question any way you see fit. Thank you.

Moral Values? Posted by Margie Fletcher - 03/10/2005, 12:44 PM Why is it a "bad" thing to teach tolerance (i.e. demand that the bunny cartoon be taken off the air because the bunny 'entered' the house of a gay couple), yet it is O.K. to allow a so called anchor man on your "no spin" news to model for our young people how to be rude by telling his 'guests' to shut up? Even the "liberal" elementary school my children go to won't allow them to talk that way to each other. Why? Because it promotes hatred and disrespect. Are those the 'values' your news station wants our kids to learn? No thank you.

Where's Fox News' Bernie Goldberg? Posted by Kevin Groenhagen - Groenhagen Advertising 04/14/2005, 05:37 PM Mr. Murdoch, critics of Fox News claim that there is a conservative bias at Fox News. If this is the case, why haven't we seen a Fox News version of Bernie Goldberg, who exposed the liberal bias at CBS News and other mainstream media outlets? If Fox News had ever done anything as blatantly biased and inaccurate as Dan Rather's report on President Bush's ROTC record, would you allow that reporter to remain of the air for six more months?

Your Power Posted by Claude Monzo - Citizen of the world 10/01/2005, 05:28 AM Can we expect that the answers you give to questions in a forum such as this are true expression of your beliefs and if “yes” Have you ever asked yourself whether you have abused your media power? And if “yes” What did you conclude? And if “no” Why not? Submit a comment - Jump to top of list