Parry writes: "Journalistic objectivity was never high on Rupert Murdoch's
ethics list, but 'secret' records from the 1980s show how far the media
magnate went to ingratiate himself with President Reagan by collaborating
with U.S. propaganda operations."
Rupert Murdoch. (photo: Josh Reynolds/AP)
Rupert Murdoch: Propaganda Recruit
By Robert Parry, Consortium News
10 October 15
Journalistic objectivity was never high on Rupert Murdoch's ethics list, but
"secret" records from the 1980s show how far the media magnate went to
ingratiate himself with President Reagan by collaborating with U.S.
propaganda operations, reports Robert Parry.
In February 1983, global media magnate Rupert Murdoch volunteered to help
the Reagan administration's propaganda strategy for deploying U.S. mid-range
nuclear missiles in Europe by using his newspapers to exacerbate public
fears about the Soviet Union, according to a recently declassified "secret"
letter.
Murdoch, then an Australian citizen with major newspaper holdings in Great
Britain and some in the United States, had already established close
political ties with British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
and was developing them with President Ronald Reagan, partly through one of
Murdoch's lawyers, the infamous Red-baiter Roy Cohn, who had served as
counsel to Sen. Joe McCarthy's investigations in the 1950s.
By February 1983, Cohn had already arranged a face-to-face meeting between
Reagan and Murdoch (on Jan. 18, 1983) and had brokered a collaborative
relationship between Murdoch and Charles Z. Wick, director of the U.S.
Information Agency who oversaw U.S. propaganda operations worldwide.
On Feb. 14, 1983, in a "secret" letter to Reagan's National Security Advisor
William P. Clark, USIA Director Wick described a phone call from Murdoch in
which they discussed ways to heighten European and American fears about
Soviet SS-20 intermediate-range missiles and thus undermine activists
pushing for nuclear disarmament. Murdoch said his comments reflected the
views of high-ranking British officials with whom Murdoch had talked.
In the letter, Wick told Clark that CIA Director William J. Casey was eager
to help Murdoch's efforts by releasing classified satellite photos of the
Soviet missiles in eastern Europe but was confronting resistance from the
spy agency's professional analysts.
"Rupert Murdoch . called me on February 9 [1983]," Wick told Clark. "Senior
British officials have been telling him of their increasing concern with the
rapid progress being made by the unilateralists," a reference to the
anti-nuclear activists who were rallying millions of Europeans to the cause
of nuclear disarmament.
"According to Murdoch, the majority of the people just do not understand the
SS-20 threat. He asked if we could release satellite photographs of Soviet
SS-20s to dramatically stem the rising opposition to GLCM [U.S.
ground-launched cruise missiles] and Pershing II deployment. He felt that
the delineation of the SS-20 threat graphically could be very persuasive. It
would give the press - the friendly press in particular - an opportunity to
counter the growing wave of unilateralism.
"I pointed out to Murdoch that I had seen these photographs and they are not
comprehensible to the lay person. Murdoch responded that he would commission
credible analysts to be briefed here. They could make the photographs
understandable to the average individual with circles, arrows, and other
enhancements." The next section of Wick's letter remains classified - more
than three decades later - on national security grounds.
On the letter's second page, Wick describes his contact with CIA Director
Casey regarding Murdoch's phone call to seek the CIA's cooperation in
releasing the satellite photographs and making other public relations moves
to influence domestic and international public opinion, including "a
presidential press conference similar to President Kennedy's during the
Cuban missile crisis."
Wick said President Reagan "could present large blow-ups while experts would
be on hand to provide explanations in greater detail. Bill Casey agreed to
re-check the objections raised by his people when we initially discussed
release of the photographs last year. Bill's people still oppose release of
the photographs for 'legal and security considerations.' However, Bill said
we do not want to be too rigid and protective, given Murdoch's observations
and with so much hanging in the balance on the upcoming German elections."
Wick added that he and Casey wanted NSC Advisor Clark to take this "major
public diplomacy question" to the Senior Policy Group (SPG) to consider
overriding the CIA staff's objections. (Wick's letter was declassified last
month by the National Archives in response to a Freedom of Information Act
request that I filed in 2013.)
Dangerous Tensions
In 1983, the escalating tensions with the Soviet Union over the SS-20s and
the deployment of U.S. cruise missiles in Europe led to what became known as
"the New Cold War," with Reagan rapidly expanding the U.S. military budget
and engaging in extreme anti-Soviet rhetoric.
In a March 23, 1983 speech to the nation about the supposed Soviet threat,
Reagan did release a few satellite images but they were of facilities in
Cuba and Central America, not eastern Europe and the SS-20s. "I wish I could
show you more without compromising our most sensitive intelligence sources
and methods," Reagan said.
A CIA historical review in 2007 revealed that the Reagan administration in
the early 1980s was intentionally raising tensions with the Soviet Union, in
part, by mounting provocative military exercises near its borders. In
response, Moscow raised its nuclear alert levels fearing a possible U.S.
first strike, a hair-trigger risk for an accidental nuclear conflict that
was not well understood in Washington at the time.
The CIA study reported: "New information suggests that Moscow . was reacting
to US-led naval and air operations, including psychological warfare missions
conducted close to the Soviet Union. These operations employed sophisticated
concealment and deception measures to thwart Soviet early warning systems
and to offset the Soviets' ability . to read US naval communications."
The Soviets were also spooked by Reagan's harsh "evil empire" rhetoric and
weapons build-up, prompting "Soviet officials and much of the populace to
voice concern over the prospect of a US nuclear attack," the CIA study said.
"Moscow's threat perceptions and Operation RYAN [a special intelligence
operation to collect data on the U.S. threat] were influenced by memories of
Hitler's 1941 surprise attack on the USSR (Operation BARBAROSSA)."
As a major global publisher with close ties to Thatcher's government,
Murdoch saw himself as part of this ideological struggle and volunteered his
news outlets to support hard-line Thatcher-Reagan policies against the
Soviets. Documents previously released by Reagan's presidential library in
Simi Valley, California, revealed the key role played by Cohn in connecting
Murdoch with the top echelon of the Reagan administration.
Both Roy Cohn and Ronald Reagan got their starts in politics during the
anti-communist purges in the 1950s, Cohn as Sen. Joe McCarthy's chief
counsel and Reagan as a witness against alleged communists in Hollywood.
Cohn, a hardball political player, built his reputation as both an
anti-communist and anti-gay crusader who aggressively interrogated witnesses
during the Red Scare and the Lavender Scare, claiming that the U.S.
government was infiltrated by communists and homosexuals who threatened the
nation's security.
Cohn's high-profile role in the McCarthy hearings ultimately ended when he
was forced to resign over charges that he targeted the U.S. Army for an
anti-communist purge because it had refused to give preferential treatment
to one of his close associates, G. David Shine. Though Cohn denied he was
romantically involved with Shine - and a homosexual relationship was never
proven - Cohn's own homosexuality became publicly known after he underwent
treatment for AIDS in the 1980s, leading to his death in 1986.
However, in Cohn's final years, he enjoyed close personal ties to the Reagan
administration and exchanged warm notes with Reagan himself. But, more
significantly, Cohn, as one of Murdoch's lawyers, brought the influential
publisher into the Oval Office on Jan. 18, 1983, to meet with Reagan and
Wick. A photograph of that meeting - also released by the Reagan library -
shows Cohn leaning forward, speaking to Reagan who is seated next to
Murdoch.
"I had one interest when Tom [Bolan, Cohn's law partner] and I first brought
Rupert Murdoch and Governor Reagan together - and that was that at least one
major publisher in this country . would become and remain pro-Reagan," Cohn
wrote in a Jan. 27, 1983 letter to senior White House aides Edwin Meese,
James Baker and Michael Deaver. "Mr. Murdoch has performed to the limit up
through and including today."
The letter noted that Murdoch then owned the "New York Post - over one
million, third largest and largest afternoon; New York Magazine; Village
Voice; San Antonio Express; Houston Ring papers; and now the Boston Herald;
and internationally influential London Times, etc." [For more details on
Cohn's role, see Consortiumnews.com's "How Roy Cohn Helped Rupert Murdoch."]
Financing Propaganda
Following the Jan. 18, 1983 meeting, Murdoch became involved in a privately
funded propaganda project to help sell Reagan's hard-line Central American
policies, according to other documents. That PR operation was overseen by
senior CIA propaganda specialist Walter Raymond Jr. and CIA Director Casey.
By late 1982, the Reagan administration was gearing up for an expanded
propaganda push in support of the President's aggressive policies in Central
America, including support for the Salvadoran and Guatemalan militaries -
both notorious for their human rights violations - and for the Nicaraguan
Contra rebels who also were gaining an unsavory reputation for acts of
terrorism and brutality.
This PR campaign was spearheaded by CIA Director Casey and Raymond, one of
the CIA's top covert operation specialists who was transferred to the
National Security Council staff to minimize legal concerns about the CIA
violating its charter which bars influencing the American public. To further
shield the CIA from possible fallout from this domestic propaganda
operation, Casey and Raymond sought to arrange private financing to pay for
some activities.
On Jan. 13, 1983, NSC Advisor Clark noted in a memo to Reagan the need for
non-governmental money to advance the PR project. "We will develop a
scenario for obtaining private funding," Clark wrote, as cited in an
unpublished draft chapter of the congressional Iran-Contra investigation.
Clark then told the President that "Charlie Wick has offered to take the
lead. We may have to call on you to meet with a group of potential donors."
Five days later, on Jan. 18, 1983, Roy Cohn accompanied Rupert Murdoch into
the Oval Office for a face-to-face meeting with President Reagan and USIA
Director Wick. Nine days later, in the Jan. 27, 1983 letter to Meese, Baker
and Deaver - written on the letterhead of the Saxe, Bacon & Bolan law firm -
Cohn hailed the success of Murdoch's "warm meeting with the President and
the goodwill created by Charlie Wick's dinner."
But Murdoch was also thin-skinned. Cohn complained about what Murdoch saw as
a presidential snub when Reagan bypassed the Boston Herald during a late
January 1983 trip to Boston. Michael McManus, the deputy assistant to the
President, offered an effusive apology to Cohn: "we were all sorry about the
confusion surrounding a possible Presidential visit to the Boston Herald. .
"I also called Mr. Murdoch as you suggested, explained the situation to him
and apologized for any confusion. I am sure you are aware of our continued
high regard for Mr. Murdoch personally and our appreciation of the
importance of what he is doing."
Despite Cohn's complaint about the slight to Murdoch, the Australian media
magnate appears to have pitched in to help the CIA-organized outreach
program for Reagan's Central American policies. Now declassified documents
indicate that Murdoch was soon viewed as a source for the private funding.
On May 20, 1983, longtime CIA propagandist Raymond, who was overseeing the
"perception management" project aimed at both domestic and foreign
audiences, wrote that $400,000 had been raised from private donors brought
to the White House by USIA Director Wick.
Raymond said the funds were divided among several organizations including
Accuracy in Media, a right-wing group that attacked reporters who deviated
from Reagan's propaganda themes, and the neoconservative Freedom House
(which later denied receiving White House money, though it made little sense
that Raymond would lie in an internal memo).
As the White House continued to cultivate its ties to Murdoch, Reagan held a
second Oval Office meeting with the publisher - on July 7, 1983 - who was
accompanied by Charles Douglas-Home, the editor of Murdoch's flagship UK
newspaper, the London Times.
In an Aug. 9, 1983 memo summing up the results of a Casey-organized meeting
with five leading ad executives regarding how to "sell" Reagan's policies in
Central America, Raymond referred to Murdoch as if he were one of the
benefactors helping out.
In a memo to Clark, Raymond said the project would involve a comprehensive
approach aimed at persuading a majority of Americans to back Reagan's
Central American policies. "We must move out into the middle sector of the
American public and draw them into the 'support' column," Raymond wrote. "A
second package of proposals deal with means to market the issue, largely
considering steps utilizing public relations specialists - or similar
professionals - to help transmit the message."
To improve the project's chances for success, Raymond wrote, "we recommended
funding via Freedom House or some other structure that has credibility in
the political center. Wick, via Murdoch, may be able to draw down added
funds for this effort." Raymond included similar information in a separate
memo to Wick in which Raymond noted that "via Murdock [sic] may be able to
draw down added funds" to support the initiative. (Raymond later told me
that he was referring to Rupert Murdoch.)
In a March 7, 1984 memo about the "'Private Funders' Project," Raymond
referred to Murdoch again in discussing a request for money from longtime
CIA-connected journalist Brian Crozier, who was "looking for private sector
funding to work on the question of 'anti-Americanism' overseas."
Raymond wrote: "I am pursuaded [sic] it is a significant long term problem.
It is also the kind of thing that Ruppert [sic] and Jimmy might respond
positively to. Please look over the stack [of papers from Crozier] and lets
[sic] discuss if and when there might be further discussion with our
friends."
Murdoch's News Corp. has not responded to several requests for comment about
the Reagan-era documents.
Murdoch's Rise
With these close ties to Reagan's White House and Thatcher's 10 Downing
Street, Murdoch's media empire continued to grow. To meet a regulatory
requirement that U.S. TV stations must be owned by Americans, Murdoch became
a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1985. Murdoch also benefited
from the Reagan administration's relaxation of media ownership rules which
enabled him to buy more TV stations, which he then molded into the Fox
Broadcasting Company, which was founded on Oct. 9, 1986.
In 1987, the "Fairness Doctrine," which required political balance in
broadcasting, was eliminated, which let Murdoch pioneer a more aggressive
conservatism on his TV network. In the mid-1990s, Murdoch expanded his
political reach by founding the neoconservative Weekly Standard in 1995 and
Fox News on cable in 1996. At Fox News, Murdoch hired scores of prominent
politicians, mostly Republicans, putting them on his payroll as
commentators.
Last decade, Murdoch continued to expand his reach into U.S. mass media,
acquiring DirecTV and the financial news giant Dow Jones, which included The
Wall Street Journal, America's leading business news journal.
As his empire grew, Murdoch parlayed his extraordinary media power into the
ability to make or break political leaders, especially in the United States
and the United Kingdom. In December 2014, the UK's Independent reported that
Ed Richards, the retiring head of the British media regulatory agency Ofcom,
accused British government representatives of showing favoritism to
Murdoch's companies.
Richards said he was "surprised" by the informality, closeness and frequency
of contact between executives and ministers during the failed bid by
Murdoch's News Corp. for the satellite network BSkyB in 2011. The deal was
abandoned when it was discovered that journalists at Murdoch's News of the
World tabloid had hacked the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and
others.
"What surprised everyone about it - not just me - was quite how close it was
and the informality of it," Richards said, confirming what had been widely
reported regarding Murdoch's access to powerful British politicians dating
back at least to the reign of Prime Minister Thatcher in the 1980s. The
Reagan documents suggest that Murdoch built similarly close ties to leading
U.S. politicians in the same era.
These glimpses behind the curtain also reveal how these symbiotic - or some
might say incestuous - relationships have developed between media magnates
and likeminded politicians. Though Murdoch might argue that he was simply
following his ideological beliefs - and putting his news outlets behind his
political goals - it's also clear that his commitment to right-wing causes
proved very profitable as well.
________________________________________
Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories
for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest
book, America's Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from
Amazon and barnesandnoble.com). You also can order Robert Parry's trilogy on
the Bush Family and its connections to various right-wing operatives for
only $34. The trilogy includes America's Stolen Narrative. For details on
this offer, click here.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Rupert Murdoch. (photo: Josh Reynolds/AP)
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/10/05/rupert-murdoch-propaganda-recruit/http
s://consortiumnews.com/2015/10/05/rupert-murdoch-propaganda-recruit/
Rupert Murdoch: Propaganda Recruit
By Robert Parry, Consortium News
10 October 15
Journalistic objectivity was never high on Rupert Murdoch's ethics list, but
"secret" records from the 1980s show how far the media magnate went to
ingratiate himself with President Reagan by collaborating with U.S.
propaganda operations, reports Robert Parry.
n February 1983, global media magnate Rupert Murdoch volunteered to help
the Reagan administration's propaganda strategy for deploying U.S. mid-range
nuclear missiles in Europe by using his newspapers to exacerbate public
fears about the Soviet Union, according to a recently declassified "secret"
letter.
Murdoch, then an Australian citizen with major newspaper holdings in Great
Britain and some in the United States, had already established close
political ties with British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
and was developing them with President Ronald Reagan, partly through one of
Murdoch's lawyers, the infamous Red-baiter Roy Cohn, who had served as
counsel to Sen. Joe McCarthy's investigations in the 1950s.
By February 1983, Cohn had already arranged a face-to-face meeting between
Reagan and Murdoch (on Jan. 18, 1983) and had brokered a collaborative
relationship between Murdoch and Charles Z. Wick, director of the U.S.
Information Agency who oversaw U.S. propaganda operations worldwide.
On Feb. 14, 1983, in a "secret" letter to Reagan's National Security Advisor
William P. Clark, USIA Director Wick described a phone call from Murdoch in
which they discussed ways to heighten European and American fears about
Soviet SS-20 intermediate-range missiles and thus undermine activists
pushing for nuclear disarmament. Murdoch said his comments reflected the
views of high-ranking British officials with whom Murdoch had talked.
In the letter, Wick told Clark that CIA Director William J. Casey was eager
to help Murdoch's efforts by releasing classified satellite photos of the
Soviet missiles in eastern Europe but was confronting resistance from the
spy agency's professional analysts.
"Rupert Murdoch . called me on February 9 [1983]," Wick told Clark. "Senior
British officials have been telling him of their increasing concern with the
rapid progress being made by the unilateralists," a reference to the
anti-nuclear activists who were rallying millions of Europeans to the cause
of nuclear disarmament.
"According to Murdoch, the majority of the people just do not understand the
SS-20 threat. He asked if we could release satellite photographs of Soviet
SS-20s to dramatically stem the rising opposition to GLCM [U.S.
ground-launched cruise missiles] and Pershing II deployment. He felt that
the delineation of the SS-20 threat graphically could be very persuasive. It
would give the press - the friendly press in particular - an opportunity to
counter the growing wave of unilateralism.
"I pointed out to Murdoch that I had seen these photographs and they are not
comprehensible to the lay person. Murdoch responded that he would commission
credible analysts to be briefed here. They could make the photographs
understandable to the average individual with circles, arrows, and other
enhancements." The next section of Wick's letter remains classified - more
than three decades later - on national security grounds.
On the letter's second page, Wick describes his contact with CIA Director
Casey regarding Murdoch's phone call to seek the CIA's cooperation in
releasing the satellite photographs and making other public relations moves
to influence domestic and international public opinion, including "a
presidential press conference similar to President Kennedy's during the
Cuban missile crisis."
Wick said President Reagan "could present large blow-ups while experts would
be on hand to provide explanations in greater detail. Bill Casey agreed to
re-check the objections raised by his people when we initially discussed
release of the photographs last year. Bill's people still oppose release of
the photographs for 'legal and security considerations.' However, Bill said
we do not want to be too rigid and protective, given Murdoch's observations
and with so much hanging in the balance on the upcoming German elections."
Wick added that he and Casey wanted NSC Advisor Clark to take this "major
public diplomacy question" to the Senior Policy Group (SPG) to consider
overriding the CIA staff's objections. (Wick's letter was declassified last
month by the National Archives in response to a Freedom of Information Act
request that I filed in 2013.)
Dangerous Tensions
In 1983, the escalating tensions with the Soviet Union over the SS-20s and
the deployment of U.S. cruise missiles in Europe led to what became known as
"the New Cold War," with Reagan rapidly expanding the U.S. military budget
and engaging in extreme anti-Soviet rhetoric.
In a March 23, 1983 speech to the nation about the supposed Soviet threat,
Reagan did release a few satellite images but they were of facilities in
Cuba and Central America, not eastern Europe and the SS-20s. "I wish I could
show you more without compromising our most sensitive intelligence sources
and methods," Reagan said.
A CIA historical review in 2007 revealed that the Reagan administration in
the early 1980s was intentionally raising tensions with the Soviet Union, in
part, by mounting provocative military exercises near its borders. In
response, Moscow raised its nuclear alert levels fearing a possible U.S.
first strike, a hair-trigger risk for an accidental nuclear conflict that
was not well understood in Washington at the time.
The CIA study reported: "New information suggests that Moscow . was reacting
to US-led naval and air operations, including psychological warfare missions
conducted close to the Soviet Union. These operations employed sophisticated
concealment and deception measures to thwart Soviet early warning systems
and to offset the Soviets' ability . to read US naval communications."
The Soviets were also spooked by Reagan's harsh "evil empire" rhetoric and
weapons build-up, prompting "Soviet officials and much of the populace to
voice concern over the prospect of a US nuclear attack," the CIA study said.
"Moscow's threat perceptions and Operation RYAN [a special intelligence
operation to collect data on the U.S. threat] were influenced by memories of
Hitler's 1941 surprise attack on the USSR (Operation BARBAROSSA)."
As a major global publisher with close ties to Thatcher's government,
Murdoch saw himself as part of this ideological struggle and volunteered his
news outlets to support hard-line Thatcher-Reagan policies against the
Soviets. Documents previously released by Reagan's presidential library in
Simi Valley, California, revealed the key role played by Cohn in connecting
Murdoch with the top echelon of the Reagan administration.
Both Roy Cohn and Ronald Reagan got their starts in politics during the
anti-communist purges in the 1950s, Cohn as Sen. Joe McCarthy's chief
counsel and Reagan as a witness against alleged communists in Hollywood.
Cohn, a hardball political player, built his reputation as both an
anti-communist and anti-gay crusader who aggressively interrogated witnesses
during the Red Scare and the Lavender Scare, claiming that the U.S.
government was infiltrated by communists and homosexuals who threatened the
nation's security.
Cohn's high-profile role in the McCarthy hearings ultimately ended when he
was forced to resign over charges that he targeted the U.S. Army for an
anti-communist purge because it had refused to give preferential treatment
to one of his close associates, G. David Shine. Though Cohn denied he was
romantically involved with Shine - and a homosexual relationship was never
proven - Cohn's own homosexuality became publicly known after he underwent
treatment for AIDS in the 1980s, leading to his death in 1986.
However, in Cohn's final years, he enjoyed close personal ties to the Reagan
administration and exchanged warm notes with Reagan himself. But, more
significantly, Cohn, as one of Murdoch's lawyers, brought the influential
publisher into the Oval Office on Jan. 18, 1983, to meet with Reagan and
Wick. A photograph of that meeting - also released by the Reagan library -
shows Cohn leaning forward, speaking to Reagan who is seated next to
Murdoch.
"I had one interest when Tom [Bolan, Cohn's law partner] and I first brought
Rupert Murdoch and Governor Reagan together - and that was that at least one
major publisher in this country . would become and remain pro-Reagan," Cohn
wrote in a Jan. 27, 1983 letter to senior White House aides Edwin Meese,
James Baker and Michael Deaver. "Mr. Murdoch has performed to the limit up
through and including today."
The letter noted that Murdoch then owned the "New York Post - over one
million, third largest and largest afternoon; New York Magazine; Village
Voice; San Antonio Express; Houston Ring papers; and now the Boston Herald;
and internationally influential London Times, etc." [For more details on
Cohn's role, see Consortiumnews.com's "How Roy Cohn Helped Rupert Murdoch."]
Financing Propaganda
Following the Jan. 18, 1983 meeting, Murdoch became involved in a privately
funded propaganda project to help sell Reagan's hard-line Central American
policies, according to other documents. That PR operation was overseen by
senior CIA propaganda specialist Walter Raymond Jr. and CIA Director Casey.
By late 1982, the Reagan administration was gearing up for an expanded
propaganda push in support of the President's aggressive policies in Central
America, including support for the Salvadoran and Guatemalan militaries -
both notorious for their human rights violations - and for the Nicaraguan
Contra rebels who also were gaining an unsavory reputation for acts of
terrorism and brutality.
This PR campaign was spearheaded by CIA Director Casey and Raymond, one of
the CIA's top covert operation specialists who was transferred to the
National Security Council staff to minimize legal concerns about the CIA
violating its charter which bars influencing the American public. To further
shield the CIA from possible fallout from this domestic propaganda
operation, Casey and Raymond sought to arrange private financing to pay for
some activities.
On Jan. 13, 1983, NSC Advisor Clark noted in a memo to Reagan the need for
non-governmental money to advance the PR project. "We will develop a
scenario for obtaining private funding," Clark wrote, as cited in an
unpublished draft chapter of the congressional Iran-Contra investigation.
Clark then told the President that "Charlie Wick has offered to take the
lead. We may have to call on you to meet with a group of potential donors."
Five days later, on Jan. 18, 1983, Roy Cohn accompanied Rupert Murdoch into
the Oval Office for a face-to-face meeting with President Reagan and USIA
Director Wick. Nine days later, in the Jan. 27, 1983 letter to Meese, Baker
and Deaver - written on the letterhead of the Saxe, Bacon & Bolan law firm -
Cohn hailed the success of Murdoch's "warm meeting with the President and
the goodwill created by Charlie Wick's dinner."
But Murdoch was also thin-skinned. Cohn complained about what Murdoch saw as
a presidential snub when Reagan bypassed the Boston Herald during a late
January 1983 trip to Boston. Michael McManus, the deputy assistant to the
President, offered an effusive apology to Cohn: "we were all sorry about the
confusion surrounding a possible Presidential visit to the Boston Herald. .
"I also called Mr. Murdoch as you suggested, explained the situation to him
and apologized for any confusion. I am sure you are aware of our continued
high regard for Mr. Murdoch personally and our appreciation of the
importance of what he is doing."
Despite Cohn's complaint about the slight to Murdoch, the Australian media
magnate appears to have pitched in to help the CIA-organized outreach
program for Reagan's Central American policies. Now declassified documents
indicate that Murdoch was soon viewed as a source for the private funding.
On May 20, 1983, longtime CIA propagandist Raymond, who was overseeing the
"perception management" project aimed at both domestic and foreign
audiences, wrote that $400,000 had been raised from private donors brought
to the White House by USIA Director Wick.
Raymond said the funds were divided among several organizations including
Accuracy in Media, a right-wing group that attacked reporters who deviated
from Reagan's propaganda themes, and the neoconservative Freedom House
(which later denied receiving White House money, though it made little sense
that Raymond would lie in an internal memo).
As the White House continued to cultivate its ties to Murdoch, Reagan held a
second Oval Office meeting with the publisher - on July 7, 1983 - who was
accompanied by Charles Douglas-Home, the editor of Murdoch's flagship UK
newspaper, the London Times.
In an Aug. 9, 1983 memo summing up the results of a Casey-organized meeting
with five leading ad executives regarding how to "sell" Reagan's policies in
Central America, Raymond referred to Murdoch as if he were one of the
benefactors helping out.
In a memo to Clark, Raymond said the project would involve a comprehensive
approach aimed at persuading a majority of Americans to back Reagan's
Central American policies. "We must move out into the middle sector of the
American public and draw them into the 'support' column," Raymond wrote. "A
second package of proposals deal with means to market the issue, largely
considering steps utilizing public relations specialists - or similar
professionals - to help transmit the message."
To improve the project's chances for success, Raymond wrote, "we recommended
funding via Freedom House or some other structure that has credibility in
the political center. Wick, via Murdoch, may be able to draw down added
funds for this effort." Raymond included similar information in a separate
memo to Wick in which Raymond noted that "via Murdock [sic] may be able to
draw down added funds" to support the initiative. (Raymond later told me
that he was referring to Rupert Murdoch.)
In a March 7, 1984 memo about the "'Private Funders' Project," Raymond
referred to Murdoch again in discussing a request for money from longtime
CIA-connected journalist Brian Crozier, who was "looking for private sector
funding to work on the question of 'anti-Americanism' overseas."
Raymond wrote: "I am pursuaded [sic] it is a significant long term problem.
It is also the kind of thing that Ruppert [sic] and Jimmy might respond
positively to. Please look over the stack [of papers from Crozier] and lets
[sic] discuss if and when there might be further discussion with our
friends."
Murdoch's News Corp. has not responded to several requests for comment about
the Reagan-era documents.
Murdoch's Rise
With these close ties to Reagan's White House and Thatcher's 10 Downing
Street, Murdoch's media empire continued to grow. To meet a regulatory
requirement that U.S. TV stations must be owned by Americans, Murdoch became
a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1985. Murdoch also benefited
from the Reagan administration's relaxation of media ownership rules which
enabled him to buy more TV stations, which he then molded into the Fox
Broadcasting Company, which was founded on Oct. 9, 1986.
In 1987, the "Fairness Doctrine," which required political balance in
broadcasting, was eliminated, which let Murdoch pioneer a more aggressive
conservatism on his TV network. In the mid-1990s, Murdoch expanded his
political reach by founding the neoconservative Weekly Standard in 1995 and
Fox News on cable in 1996. At Fox News, Murdoch hired scores of prominent
politicians, mostly Republicans, putting them on his payroll as
commentators.
Last decade, Murdoch continued to expand his reach into U.S. mass media,
acquiring DirecTV and the financial news giant Dow Jones, which included The
Wall Street Journal, America's leading business news journal.
As his empire grew, Murdoch parlayed his extraordinary media power into the
ability to make or break political leaders, especially in the United States
and the United Kingdom. In December 2014, the UK's Independent reported that
Ed Richards, the retiring head of the British media regulatory agency Ofcom,
accused British government representatives of showing favoritism to
Murdoch's companies.
Richards said he was "surprised" by the informality, closeness and frequency
of contact between executives and ministers during the failed bid by
Murdoch's News Corp. for the satellite network BSkyB in 2011. The deal was
abandoned when it was discovered that journalists at Murdoch's News of the
World tabloid had hacked the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and
others.
"What surprised everyone about it - not just me - was quite how close it was
and the informality of it," Richards said, confirming what had been widely
reported regarding Murdoch's access to powerful British politicians dating
back at least to the reign of Prime Minister Thatcher in the 1980s. The
Reagan documents suggest that Murdoch built similarly close ties to leading
U.S. politicians in the same era.
These glimpses behind the curtain also reveal how these symbiotic - or some
might say incestuous - relationships have developed between media magnates
and likeminded politicians. Though Murdoch might argue that he was simply
following his ideological beliefs - and putting his news outlets behind his
political goals - it's also clear that his commitment to right-wing causes
proved very profitable as well.
Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories
for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest
book, America's Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from
Amazon and barnesandnoble.com). You also can order Robert Parry's trilogy on
the Bush Family and its connections to various right-wing operatives for
only $34. The trilogy includes America's Stolen Narrative. For details on
this offer, click here.
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