The News Corporation, whose holdings include The Wall Street Journal and the Fox News Channel, has donated $1 million to the United States Chamber of Commerce, the business advocacy group that is among the heaviest anti-Democratic advertisers in this year’s elections.
The donation, first reported by The Politico last night and confirmed by a person with knowledge of the transaction, is News Corp.’s second known contribution to a group that is advertising heavily to support Republicans this year. In August, News Corp. confirmed that it had donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association.
The second donation is sure to add to the political heat that surrounds News Corp. and its potent corporate offspring, the Fox News Channel, which has come under increasing fire from Democrats who have questioned its political motives — accusations that have received especially full-throated answers from the network’s stable of opinionated hosts this election season.
In the latest salvo, in an interview published by Rolling Stone this week, President Obama described Fox News as having “a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world.”
Referring to the interview on her show on Tuesday, the Fox News Channel host Greta Van Susteren asked a guest, the pollster Doug Schoen, “Thin-skinned or good tactic to come after us?’’ He answered, “I think it’s thin-skinned and self destructive.” The same night, the Fox News conservative host Sean Hannity said on his program, “Mr. President, put your pants on, sit at the table, man-up,” adding, “I am tired of him whining, complaining and blaming everybody — as he does in this article — but himself.”
Officials with News Corp. and the Fox News Channel had no comment on the Chamber donation late last night.
After news of the Republican Governor’s Association donation broke in August, company officials had said, “News Corporation has always believed in the power of free markets, and organizations like the R.G.A., which have a pro-business agenda, support our priorities at this most critical time for our economy.” News Corp. controls a wide array of companies, including the Fox broadcast television network, the HarperCollins publishing house, and the Twentieth Century Fox movie studio.
When the R.G.A. donation was disclosed, company officials said their news gathering organizations were not involved in the decision to give the money, and that their operations would not be affected by it.
The Chamber has vowed to spend around $75 million on this year’s elections, and the effort has overwhelmingly focused on defeating Democrats, though the Chamber has made exceptions in some races.
News Corporation has a political action committee that has donated to both parties this year, as have those of Comcast (which is in the process of acquiring a 51 percent stake in the company that holds NBC News and MSNBC). Time Warner (whose holdings include CNN and Time magazine). and CBS Corp (parent of CBS News).
But nothing on record is on the order of the $2 million the News Corporation is now known to have given to the Republican Governor’s Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.