It does seem that a considerable part of the US population are determined to go backwards. At least they will have God to console them in their poverty I suppose.


Now Fox' approach to politics and journalistic integrity are legion, but what is more interesting right now is the politics within Fox/ NewsCorp.


Rotund, bald and ferocious, the Fox television boss Roger Ailes is said to have two speeds – attack and destroy. Every night under his watch, millions of Americans are enthused, engrossed or appalled by a lively diet of angry rightwing rhetoric served up on Fox's rolling news channel. But the heady mix of hectoring, finger-pointing and liberal-bashing may be proving too spicy even for the strong stomachs of his employers, the Murdoch clan.

Rupert Murdoch's family, a close-knit, powerful and discreet dynasty scattered across three continents, prefer to air their dirty washing in private. Rumoured squabbles over inheritance, succession and over Murdoch's choice of wife have generally played out behind closed doors.

But a gaping crack appeared in the edifice of unity this week as Murdoch's son-in-law, Matthew Freud, delivered an astonishingly public broadside against Fox News. Freud, a media-savvy London public relations supremo married to Murdoch's daughter, Elisabeth, told the New York Times that members of the Murdoch family had become embarrassed by Fox's output: "I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes's horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corp, its founder and every other global media business aspires to."

Freud is said to be adamant that he was speaking on his own behalf, but he is also unrepentant. His words were calibrated to exert maximum damage and are a stunning blow to one of Murdoch's longest serving and most successful lieutenants. Their impact was all the more powerful because such moments of indiscretion are anathema to Murdoch, as one high-ranking former employee recalls. "When you are in the inner circle, you are expected to keep your mouth shut. The mafia call it omerta – the code of silence."

On the face of it, Freud's remark indicates a rift within the family. But some Murdoch-watchers believe it may be a more subtle signal. When Freud spoke, it was not his voice but Murdoch's that many media observers in the US and Britain heard. The author Michael Wolff, who recently penned a biography of Murdoch, believes Freud's outburst may be part of an orchestrated attempt to undermine a lieutenant who is getting a little too powerful. He points out that none-too-discreet "whispering campaigns" pre-empted the departure of other top executives.

"In many instances, it takes about a year to fire someone at a high level within News Corp. They kind of marginalise you, stop speaking to you and eventually you get the message that it's over."

A former political strategist who worked on the successful campaigns of three Republican presidents, Ailes was hired by Murdoch in 1996 to launch Fox News, in a widely scorned effort to challenge the broadcast establishment.

Fox hunt: cracks in Murdoch dynasty as TV news chief finds himself in firing line | Media | guardian.co.uk

On the one hand, Roger Ailes has been a money minting machine for the notoriously commercial dirty digger. On the other hand he is an embarassment, is hated by the Murdoch family, and it would appear has got too big for his boots. He could be on his way out, like several before him at Newscorp.