Saturday, December 10, 2005

Saudi Billionaire Boasts of Manipulating Fox News Coverage

Ok, you couldn't pay me to watch a Fox Faux News broadcast but many people unfortunately count on this rag TV station for all their news. Now not only do they skewer the news but foreigners can change it! A Saudi billionaire caused the Fox News Channel (FNC) to dramatically alter its coverage of the Muslim riots in France after he called the network to complain. The Saudi billionaire, Al-waleed bin Talal, is a friend of News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch and controls an influential number of voting shares in the company.

Al-waleed, who is a member of the Saudi Royal Family and investor in the Fox News parent company News Corporation, gave an interview boasting that he had called Fox to complain about coverage of the "Muslim riots" in France. He said he "called as a viewer" and "convinced them to change" the coverage because "they were not Muslim riots but riots against poverty and inequality." And "they changed" the coverage, the Saudi reportedly said.