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Turner: Fox’s Popularity Like Hitler’s
I've never been a big fan of Ted Turner, but after reading this today I think I'm beginning to warm up to the guy. LOL
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Turner: Fox’s Popularity Like Hitler’s
CNN founder Ted Turner is continuing his verbal war against the Fox News Channel and its billionaire owner, Rupert Murdoch, this time comparing the country's most popular news network to Hitler's Third Reich.
According to industry magazine Broadcasting & Cable, Turner also blasted Fox News as little more than a propaganda tool of the Bush White House.
Turner, in speaking to the National Association for Television Programming Executives' conference for the first time since being tossed out of Time Warner Inc. in 2000, acknowledged Fox's larger market presence.
But, he said, bigger isn't better, and he quipped that Adolf Hitler also "got the most votes when he was elected to run Germany prior to WWII," B & C reported.
And while "there's nothing wrong" with Fox News being a shill for the Bush administration, Turner continued, "it does pose problems for our democracy. Particularly when the news is dumbed down."
It isn't the first time Turner has slammed his former chief media rival and News Corp. owner Murdoch, whose American-held news properties include the New York Post. And it isn't the first time Turner has compared Murdoch to Hitler.
In 1996, USA Today reported in its "Year in Review" segment, "At a Time Warner shareholder meeting ... in response to a question, [Turner] said he was indeed sorry he'd compared competitor Rupert Murdoch to Adolf Hitler."
"Yes. I should have said he's a disgrace to journalism," Turner said, smiling. "But an Australian disgrace to journalism."
Other jabs followed, but in April 2003, following a speech Turner gave to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, he labeled Murdoch "a warmonger," claiming the News Corp. billionaire "promoted" the war in Iraq.
Regarding the war, Turner bemoaned: "We've spent 200 billion destroying Iraq. Now we've got to spend 200 billion to rebuild it, if they'll let us – and all to find a nut in a fox hole – one guy. ... He posed no threat to any of his neighbors, particularly with us there with overwhelming military superiority. ... [I]t is obscene and stupid."
If he has any better ideas, why doesn’t he run for president himself? Turner tackled that subject by saying: "I'm too old and too burned out to take on that responsibility. I thought about it when I was younger. I don't know if I could have gotten elected or not. It would have been a lot of fun to do when I had higher energy levels."
It’s possible that Turner is just upset he's no longer a true "rival" of Murdoch, since the latter is still in the news business and the former hasn't been in control of the network he founded for years.
He won’t criticize CNN much, though. "I have a responsibility not to be too critical of my old company,” he said. "It is a good company and I had a lot of experiences there. A lot of time things that are painful at the time they occurred turn out to be for the best."
He also has a lot of stock in the company, and doesn’t want its value to go down – how then would he come up with the money for his huge U.N. pledges?
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/...25/161450.shtml
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