Rupert Murdoch is arguably one of the people most responsible for President Donald Trump's ascension to the White House. And yet, at a time when major news outlets' corporate parents are settling Trump's bogus lawsuits and capitulating to regulatory threats by doling out multimillion-dollar payoffs, any freedom-loving American should be rooting for the Australian-born right-wing media mogul to stand up to the president's all-out assault on free speech.
Trump is suing Murdoch, News Corp., Dow Jones & Co., The Wall Street Journal's publisher and two reporters who wrote a bombshell article last week about a "bawdy" Trump-penned birthday note to the late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump claims the letter is a "fake," and his lawyers in the suit accuse the Journal of "glaring failures in journalistic ethics and standards of accurate reporting." He wants the defendants to pay at least $20 billion.
A representative with Dow Jones, the Journal's parent company, said in a statement: "We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit."
To be sure, that's what they all say at first. But there are reasons for hope that the 94-year-old Murdoch could show more spine than his competitors.
This is a preview of Anthony L. Fisher's latest column. Read the full column here.
