"In 2008, News Corporation contributed $380,558 to Mr. Obama’s campaign, compared with $32,740 to the Republican nominee John McCain." For the 2012 election, News Corp. has contributed $58,825 to Obama and only $2,750 to Romney.
8/22/12, "Donations by Media Companies Tilt Heavily to Obama," NY Times, Media Decoder, by Amy Chozick
"Wall Street may lean Republican this presidential election cycle, but the New York media world is staunchly Democratic.
All the major media companies, driven largely by their Hollywood film and television businesses, have made larger contributions to President Obama than to his rival, former Gov. Mitt Romney, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit, nonpartisan Washington-based research group that publishes the Open Secrets Web site.
The center’s numbers represent donations by a company’s PAC and any employees who listed that company as their employer.
Even companies whose news outlets are often perceived as having a conservative bias have given significantly more money to Mr. Obama. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, for example, has contributed $58,825 to Mr. Obama’s campaign, compared with $2,750 to Mr. Romney. The conglomerate, which owns Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and the 20th Century Fox studios, gave roughly the same amount to Mr. Romney’s Republican primary competitors Rick Perry and Ron Paul as it did to Mr. Romney.
But the choice of Representative Paul Ryan, the conservative congressman from Wisconsin, to be Mr. Romney’s running mate, might help win News Corporation dollars. Shortly after Mr. Romney’s announcement, Mr. Murdoch took to Twitter: “Thank God! Now we might have a real election on the great issues of the day. Paul Ryan almost perfect choice.”
Mr. Murdoch has not been shy about expressing his criticism of Mr. Romney, including at a tense Journal editorial board meeting with the candidate that led the newspaper’s opinion pages to characterize Mr. Romney as Consultant in Chief. The announcement that Mr. Ryan would join the ticket came after The Journal’s editorial page published a column titled “Why Not Paul Ryan?”
News Corporation has donated $504,162 to individuals, Super PACs and candidates in 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics’s OpenSecrets Web site. Eight of the 10 top recipients of that cash are Democrats. (Mr. Murdoch’s personal contributions largely favor Republicans, though his wife, Wendi Murdoch, has donated to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York.)
In 2008, News Corporation contributed $380,558 to Mr. Obama’s campaign, compared with $32,740 to the Republican nominee John McCain.
Other media companies have contributed more significantly to Mr. Obama, including Time Warner, owner of CNN and the magazine publishing house Time Inc. The company, which is based in New York and also owns Warner Brothers and HBO, has contributed $191,834 to Mr. Obama in the 2012 election cycle, compared with $10,750 to Mr. Romney. The Walt Disney Company, owner of ABC and ESPN, donated $125,856 to Mr. Obama and $9,950 to Mr. Romney.
Philadelphia-based Comcast Corporation, owner of NBCUniversal and one of the biggest spenders in lobbying money in Washington, has given
- $206,056 to Mr. Obama and
- $20,500 to Mr. Romney.
Each of these media companies were among the roughly 150 organizations listed by the Center for Responsive Politics as “heavy hitters” that have given the most money. The New York Times Company was not among the center’s “heavy hitters” and does not have a PAC; the newspaper discourages employees from contributing to political campaigns.
Despite the media money pouring in to his opponent, Mr. Romney and the Republican National Committee still have a significant cash advantage over Mr. Obama and the Democrats. According to a Federal Election Commission report released Monday, the GOP had $186 million on hand, compared with $124 million for Democrats." via Washington Free Beacon
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Ed. note: According to Open Secrets, a web site the NY Times references in this report, Obama is by no means the financial underdog the Times and others such as NPR claim he is:
8/23/12, "Center for Responsive Politics:"
Obama has raised $348,413,128, spent $262,968,849
Romney has raised $193,373,762, spent $163,205,427
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