I guess you've got to go to the loudest voices to try and get something for nothing from the government...
News Corp. Switches
On Charm Offensive
Fox Parent Woos Democrats
To Help Block Nielsen System
That Lowers Many of Its Ratings
By BRODY MULLINS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
August 9, 2005; Page A4
WASHINGTON -- In becoming the nation's top-rated cable news network, Fox News Channel was helped by millions of conservative viewers who tuned in to watch the likes of Bill O'Reilly, Tony Snow and Cal Thomas. But to win a ratings war in Washington, Fox-parent News Corp. is counting on the support of some unlikely allies: Democrats.
News Corp. is quietly courting Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill to block a new local-TV ratings system that lowers ratings for many of its stations. The company contends the new ratings system, launched by Nielsen Media Research in four major television markets last year, greatly undercounts the number of African-Americans and Hispanics watching shows such as "Girlfriends" and "The Parkers" on the UPN network. Although Viacom Inc. owns UPN, News Corp. owns several big-city affiliates of the network.
To slow the rollout of the new ratings system, News Corp. has hired a who's who of Democratic operatives: Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for Sen. Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign; Mike Feldman, a top adviser to Al Gore; Chris Lehane, a political strategist for former President Bill Clinton; and Minyon Moore, who helped found the liberal America Coming Together group that spent millions of dollars last year trying to defeat President Bush.
While most U.S. corporations send a majority of their political donations to Republican candidates, News Corp. contributed 55% of $130,500 in individual donations from its political action committee to Democrats in 2004, according to the nonpartisan PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks political contributions. Some of the biggest recipients of News Corp. money last year were liberals such as Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Rep. Henry Waxman of California. From 1997 to 2003, the company's PAC gave 57% of its individual donations to Republicans.
This year, News Corp. and its lobbyists have contributed nearly $100,000 to lawmakers of both parties who have signed on to legislation that requires any new television-ratings system to be cleared by an industry board.
The charm offensive by News Corp. shows how even as Republicans control most levers of the federal government -- with President Bush in the White House and Republicans holding a majority in both the House and Senate -- companies often must win the support of Democrats to be successful.
Indeed, News Corp. is only the most recent corporation that has tried to make inroads with Democrats to score a legislative victory. Last year, Altria Group Inc., the parent of Philip Morris USA, partnered with liberal icon Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts to try to approve new tobacco regulations that would have solidified its dominance in the U.S. cigarette market. More recently, the U.S. insurance industry has considered whether to cozy up to Democratic lawmakers to create a new federal regulator in Washington for the industry.
The courtship of Democrats also highlights how companies aren't as politically monolithic as sometimes perceived. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch has made no secret of his conservative political views, staunchly backing Margaret Thatcher when she was Britain's prime minister, and Fox News is headed by Roger Ailes, a former Republican political operative.
But as is the case with many companies, some News Corp. executives are big Democratic backers. Peter Chernin, the company's chief operating officer, is a major Democratic fund-raiser who along with his wife raised more than $100,000 for John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. The couple also contributed $73,000 out of their own pockets to Democratic lawmakers during the 2004 campaign.
Gary Ginsberg, News Corp.'s executive vice president for corporate affairs, is former assistant counsel to President Clinton and has close ties to several Clinton-era operatives.
At issue is Nielsen's plan to introduce an electronic-ratings system in the 10 largest local media markets by next year. The new system, called Local People Meters, replaces the paper diaries that the company has relied on for decades. People meters are already in place for national television ratings, but this is the first time that Nielsen has used them for local ratings. Television advertisers and stations rely on the Nielsen ratings to set advertising rates.
Nielsen has already introduced the new system in seven of the top 10 media markets. After making the change, many of the major markets have seen significant shifts in television viewers from broadcast channels to cable channels. News Corp. is hit hard by the change because it owns a local UPN affiliate in all but one of the top 10 media markets.
Nielsen's people meters have difficulty accurately measuring television habits in large households, News Corp. says, which often are minority households. Nielsen denies this.
"This is an issue that cuts across party lines," Mr. Ginsberg says. "This is an issue about accountability and accuracy. We think that should resonate just as much with Democrats as with Republicans."
News Corp.'s outreach to Democrats has met limited success. Two influential Democrats, Ms. Clinton and Ms. Boxer, were early supporters of the company's effort. But neither has endorsed legislation to impose new regulations on Nielsen, the media-ratings unit of Dutch-parent VNU NV. Only two Democrats, New York Reps. Eliot Engel and Carolyn Maloney, have signed on to the bill.
News Corp.'s efforts may improve after last month's departure of Lachlan Murdoch, the 33-year-old son of Rupert Murdoch and deputy chief operating officer of the media conglomerate. The younger Murdoch personally oversaw the lobbying effort on the issue and while he brought in some influential Republicans to back the measure, he made a tactical mistake early in his dealings with Nielsen.
At a meeting early last year, Mr. Murdoch threatened to destroy Nielsen's reputation and begin a competing ratings system if Nielsen refused to make changes in its new ratings system, according to Jack Loftus, a spokesman for Nielsen.
Lachlan Murdoch was traveling for business and couldn't be reached for comment.
Instead of caving to the powerful media conglomerate, Nielsen's newly hired chief executive, Susan Whiting, dug in. Ms. Whiting recruited influential minority leaders to rebut News Corp., such as Jesse Jackson and Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.). Though the company had never before lobbied in Washington, Nielsen has spent more than $6 million on lobbying since April 2004, according to federal lobbying reports and company officials.
Write to Brody Mullins at brody.mullins@wsj.com
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