They are Rupert Murdoch — the founder of the corporate news media giants 21st Century Fox and the News Corporation — and President Trump.<br />The latest news about the Murdoch-Trump axis is acutely problematic for the leadership at The Wall Street Journal — owned by News Corp. — as it seeks to quell a rebellion by a group of staff members who believe<br />that the paper has held them back from more aggressively covering Mr. Trump, they suspect, under pressure from Mr. Murdoch.<br />But the relationship between the president and Mr. Murdoch has implications well beyond The Journal, given the global breadth of Mr. Murdoch’s media holdings,<br />his history of putting them to use for political leaders who then help him with his own business needs and Mr. Trump’s own reactivity to the news media.<br />But The Journal’s news pages — the most authoritative of Mr. Murdoch’s American news outlets — are another matter.<br />That means the whole time that Mr. Murdoch’s highly influential news organizations were covering Mr. Trump’s campaign<br />and transition, their executive chairman was entangled in a financial arrangement of the most personal sort — tied to his children’s financial (very) well being — along with the president’s daughter.<br />And Fox News’s Inauguration Day announcement that it was adding to its contributors lineup the pro-“Brexit” British politician —<br />and Trump ally — Nigel Farage, was not only another move in Mr. Trump’s direction but a reminder of Mr. Murdoch’s transnational reach.<br />Fox News provides powerful backing for Mr. Trump, starting with its morning show “Fox & Friends”<br />and ending with its 10 p.m. program, “Hannity,” though its day is interspersed with straight news from journalists like Shepard Smith, Bret Baier and Catherine Herridge.
