Guide us to thy perfect light

Came a question a few weeks ago on how the Fair 'n' Balanced Network might compare to the muscular right-wing news empires of the past -- say, Col. Bertie McCormick's Tribune. One point that hadn't stood out was the degree to which McCormick, and perhaps even more so Hearst, lavished space on their own prose and ideas. I'm now tempted to change my mind, based on this epic by one of Fox's pet media writers:

Fox Corporation chairman and News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch turns 90 Thursday, but the media mogul hasn’t taken a step back from defending free speech, harnessing key roles in two of the most recognized and influential media companies in the world.

Uh, sure. McCormick, whatever else you might think of him,* was an actual defender of the First Amendment, even when it cloaked characters as slimy as Jay Near. Murdoch's outlets think free speech is fine, as long as it comforts the Trump cult and afflicts working journalists.

Murdoch recently condemned cancel culture as "awful woke orthodoxy" suppressing free speech around the globe while accepting a lifetime achievement award from the Australia Day Foundation earlier this year. He began by noting that his career is far from over, before slamming a "wave of censorship" plaguing the media industry.

If by "recently" you mean "late January," true. Here's the same writer then:

Murdoch made the remarks when accepting a lifetime achievement award from the Australia Day Foundation. He began by noting that his career is far from over, before slamming a "wave of censorship" plaguing the media industry.

You have to admit, it's a lot easier to just copy your own prose. Here's today's third paragraph:

"A lifetime achievement award does have an air of finality, almost of closure, but I can assure you that there are many goals still to come, and challenges to overcome. Well, I’m far from done," Murdoch said, noting his journey that "began in a smoke-filled Adelaide newsroom" remained in motion.

And January's:

"A lifetime achievement award does have an air of finality, almost of closure, but I can assure you that there are many goals still to come, and challenges to overcome. Well, I’m far from done," Murdoch said, noting his journey that "began in a smoke-filled Adelaide newsroom" remained in motion.

Indeed, you won't find much new in today's 65o-word labor of love, except -- and this is truly Hearstian -- the paean from another Murdoch shop:

He expanded to the United States in the early 1970s, adding a plethora** of newspapers – including the New York Post – to his portfolio.

"Media mogul Rupert Murdoch turns 90 today, and apart from his family, it’s The New York Post, and New York City, that have the most reason to celebrate the milestone," the Post’s Steve Cuozzo wrote Thursday.

"The Big Apple hasn’t been the same since Murdoch bought the paper from Dorothy Schiff in late 1976. The city is immeasurably more self-aware and better-informed than it was when its media were uniformly liberal if not outright left-leaning. It’s also a more fun place to be, thanks to Page Six," Cuozzo added.

You followers of pre-WWII exceptionalism can clear your own throats here. But if you've been wondering, yes: You may add the Heavenly Chorus to the ways in which Murdoch resembles his predecessors.***

So happy birthday, boss. Here’s to many more.

* Plenty.
 ** Pro tip: Never use "plethora" unless (a) it's preceded by "veritable" and (b) you are Howard Cosell.
*** Three guesses about what the prewar McCormick or Hearst would have thought about being likened to a carpetbagger who received an award from "a nonprofit organization designed to unite the leading figures of the Australian community living in the United Kingdom."