Murdoch: Faith-Based Investing!

It seems that Rupert (who's real first name is Keith - go figure) wants to bring that 'Fair and Balanced' charm to the business world that he has so successfully brought to politics in general and foreign policy in particular.  According to this blurb, Rupert wants to make his 'news' empire  "more business-friendly."  Follow me after the break for my personal analysis of this latest turn in Faux 'News' empire...

UPDATE: mrbubs has a good take here.

The article states:

The News Corp. chief said the programming, not unexpectedly, will be "more business-friendly." Broadcasting & Cable also reported that he added CNBC "leap( s) into every scandal. There's an atmosphere to (CNBC) that's negative."

OK - let's back up a second.  CNBC is pretty good at showing stock tickers and making a lot of noise.  I watch the show occasionally when I am working out in the gym.  But, I never got the feeling that the show was all that serious - like say Bloomberg.  They mostly like to do superficial reporting of why the stock market is going up or down at that exact moment.  Yes, they dig into corporate scandals.  But let's face it, scandals affect the bottom line.

If a company is engaging in accounting shenanigans, or if the CEO is abusing company assets, I want to know about it if my hard earned cash is invested in that enterprise.  It has a direct affect on the profitability of the company.

OK, back to the article. Let's get to the meat of what is going on:

In what may have been an aside, Keith R. Murdoch (yes, that's really his first name) also said: "We have to recruit some money honeys," according to Reuters.

Let's just soak that in for a moment.  The simple statement is actually breath-taking.  'Keith' is admitting that it isn't really the content of what you are giving that is important, it is the way in which it is delivered.  As long as it is by good looking bimbo or mimbo and it sounds good, then you have a marketable product.  Oh, and making everything happy, happy, joy, joy attracts views and advertisers too.  Credibility doesn't matter.  Whether someone makes sound investment choices doesn't matter.  What matters is that people get to look at sexy people telling them that everything is blissfully swell.  Even while their portfolios are heading in the toilet.

So, a few days ago, our good friend Rupert admitted that he at least tried to influence the American public into favoring Dubya's plan in Iraq.  We all know how that has worked out.  So now, he wants to do the same thing with our investment money.  Investor beware.