The ethical nightmare surrounding Fox's coverage of the 2012 election goes far beyond Bill Sammon. When the year began, Fox was actually employing five potential Republican candidates, providing them not only with salaries but also with millions of dollars' worth of free airtime.
And Fox's journalists have their own financial relationships with the candidates. Jim Pinkerton, for example, has used his position as a regular contributor to Fox's media ethics show to discuss Michele Bachmann, the other Republican contenders, and President Obama. But what he chose not to disclose -- until Politico reported it -- was the fact that he had been paid to "partner" with Bachmann on her recently released book. Pinkerton told Media Matters that he kept the financial relationship secret at the request of "the publisher, the candidate, the campaign." Amazingly, though, Pinkerton said that he didinform his supervisors at Fox, and they approved of the arrangement.
Then there is Dick Morris, who has received money this year from the campaigns of at least threeRepublican presidential contenders -- a fact he chose not to reveal (until he was questioned about it by the AP) while speaking positively of each of them on Fox and attacking their critics.
So why does Rupert Murdoch put up with these conflicts of interest?
Probably because it would be hypocritical not to. In April, Fox Business Network spent three days promoting a controversial oil shale venture being undertaken in Israel by a company called Genie Energy. Then in July, Fox News broadcast two reportsdiscussing a Genie oil shale project in Colorado. In none of the reports did Fox bother to mention that Murdoch serves on Genie's "strategic advisory board" and holds an equity stake in the projects.
It's that corrupt approach to journalism that has earned Murdoch and News Corp. the 2011 Misinformer of the Year award.
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