A long-simmering wiretap scandal involving Murdoch publications, high-ranking Tories, wiretapped royals, and allegedly bought-off/stitched-up Metropolitan Police, has finally been busted wide open — not because of Scotland Yard legwork, but because of lawsuits filed by some of the victims of the wiretapping.

For a lot of reasons it makes all the sense in the world to start a movement now to Ban Glenn Beck from Ground Zero. I hope you’ll join me. So, if you see him anywhere around there, tell him to “Get! Get!”

Got a slow news day? Yell “Shark!” Or “Mosque!” Take your pick of manufactured controversies if you’re corporate media like News Corp.’s Fox News.

Just as the Tea Party itself is a faux populist movement, subsidized behind the scenes by a combination of hidden corporations, represented publicly by discredited figures like Dick Armey, or greedy bastards, exemplified by the organizers of many of their most highly touted events, so the news organizations now covering their first annual convention in Nashville, are combinations of various bizarre business models that pretend to represent some new paradigm.

The media love to talk about transparency and accountability when it comes to politicians and the government — they should, it’s an important subject. They, too, have such an obligation of transparency to the American people, particularly when it comes to who can and cannot advertise on their coveted airwaves. On that account, they continue to fail miserably.

This week in federal court, a legal odd couple will join forces to overturn California’s Proposition 8 because it violates the U.S. Constitution. Cue the right-wing media’s hysteria and homophobia.

A few weeks ago, Rupert Murdoch said that Glenn Beck was right when he called Obama a racist, and since then he has been dodging questions about what exactly he meant. Through one of his staff, Murdoch issued a brief statement saying that he doesn’t believe Obama is a racist, but not explaining what he meant when he said he agreed with Beck. I wrote Murdoch an open letter asking for an explanation, and more than 135,000 people have signed petitions to Murdoch with the same message: Murdoch should either say clearly that he meant what he said and that he stands by Beck; or he should acknowledge there’s a problem with what Beck said and take responsibility for stopping the continued race-baiting at News Corp and Fox. But Murdoch has refused to respond.

Yesterday, Rupert Murdoch spoke at the Federal Trade Commission as part of a conference on the future of journalism. ColorOfChange organizers and others in the audience confronted Murdoch about his comments and asked for an explanation, but as you can see, Murdoch made a quick, silent exit:

News Corporation will release its 1st Quarter Fiscal 2010 today. I wrote a few financial analysts and asked them “What is the ROI to News Corp if some politician is shot at a Tea Party Fox organized?

I’ve heard and read opinions not so much defending Fox “News,” but rather suggesting they are no different from other MSM. I believe such pooh-poohing is misguided. They are a threat to low-information less political news consumers, and that fact needs addressing.