Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire media mogul who controls News Corp, is a pragmatist.
asserted
who → control → Corp
So it was little surprise to learn that, in the lead-up to the US midterm elections, the man who owns the Wall Street Journal and other major media assets around the world, has continued to pour cash into the Republican cause, despite the best efforts of US President Donald Trump to sue him.
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who → learn → him
In this calendar year alone, Murdoch has made donations to Republican political committees of more than $US2 million ($2.84 million) in support of the party’s ambitions to hang on to its majority in the House, and even expand the party’s majority in the Senate.
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Murdoch → make → Senate
The biggest of Murdoch’s contributions this year was a May 3 contribution of $US2 million to SLF PAC, according to political donation receipts filed with the US Federal Election Commission.
uncertain
biggest → accord → Commission
The committee is a Republican super PAC focused on expanding the party’s control of the Senate.
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committee → focus → Senate
The Murdoch patriarch then made two separate $US10,000 donations to the California Republican Party Federal Account in August, the filings show.
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filings → make → August
News Corp didn’t respond to requests for comment.
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Corp → respond → comment
Murdoch has been a reliable Republican donor for the better part of the past decade, even after Murdoch’s less than favourable views of the president became public a few years ago, and despite reported tensions between the pair.
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views → become → pair
Emails filed as part of evidence in Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox, for instance, show the elder Murdoch wanted to make Trump a “non-person”.
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Trump → file → instance
Fox reached a $US787.5 million ($1.1 billion) settlement with Dominion in April 2023.
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Fox → reach → April
The Trump-Murdoch relationship soured further in July last year, when the Wall Street Journal revealed that a letter, reportedly from Trump, had appeared in a 2003 birthday book for disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
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letter → sour → Epstein
In response, Trump launched a defamation lawsuit against the Journal and Murdoch last year.
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Trump → launch → Journal
It was dismissed by a District Court judge in April but Trump’s lawyers refiled it in May.
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lawyers → dismiss → May
Murdoch and his advisers may well be counting down the days until Trump leaves the White House.
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Trump → count → House
But in the meantime, Murdoch would clearly still rather be doing business with Trump controlling the House and the Senate than considering life under a Democratic regime.
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Murdoch → do → regime
MCA rattles the tin
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MCA → rattle → tin
In October last year, the Museum of Contemporary Art drew about 250 artists and patrons for the third run of its MCA Artists Ball, to raise money for the museum’s artist and engagement programs.
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Museum → draw → programs
All in, that one raised about $1.6 million.
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one → raise → million
So the question heading into next month is whether the MCA can beat the figure when it returns for round four.
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it → head → round
The MCA will rattle the tin in honour of Australian artist Julie Rrap on November 7, when a string of works from big name artists will go under the hammer to raise some cash.
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string → rattle → cash
Among them will be works by Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei and Australian artist Del Kathryn Barton, along with Paris-based Australian artist Gregory Hodge, British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor and Australian artists Janet Laurence, Danie Mellor and Tom Polo.
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works → base → Hodge
Regular readers will no doubt recall our interest in former Coalition staffer Vikki Campion doing some work for One Nation’s NSW executive.
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Campion → recall → executive
Word of Campion’s new role reached us earlier this month after she had been listed as the media contact for the party’s NSW leader Mike Newman, sparking intrigue on Macquarie Street over who she was working for and what it would mean for her weekly column at The Daily Telegraph.
Well, not much at all, it turns out.
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it → reach → Telegraph
Campion has continued writing her column for the Tele, without any disclosure in the print edition of Saturday’s newspaper related to her work for the One Nation NSW executive as a contractor.
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Campion → continue → contractor
But the newspaper did disclose the work at the bottom of the column online.
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newspaper → disclose → column
But we can’t be sure whether it was there when it was published, or only after we approached News Corp Australia for comment.
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we → publish → comment
We found the absence of any disclosure related to Campion’s work for One Nation in the newspaper particularly interesting, given she dedicates about 300 words to criticising NSW Labor’s new plastics bill.
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she → find → bill
News Corp Australia never got back to us.
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Australia → get → us
The Aporia
