Rupert Murdoch, the Zeus-like leader of Fox News Corporation and the Wall Street Journal and pretty much everything else either written or spoken, caused some billion dollar consternation when in 1993 he implied that the media could—gasp!—actually help build democracy. He said the fax machine and satellite television "proved an unambiguous threat to totalitarian regimes." This made leaders of totalitarian regimes slightly uneasy and seriously miffed. China took it especially poorly. The government banned satellite television for the people. This was, as one might expect, bad business for Fox. And so, the soft-handed Australian leader Rupert started kissing some serious Commie ass. A new book by Bruce Dover, former News Corp VP for China called Rupert's Adventures in China reports that Murdoch was a red-hearted brown-noser who sent fawning letters to Party leaders.

From the FT:

After Mr Li banned ordinary Chinese from using satellite dishes and in effect barred News Corp from the media market, Mr Murdoch spent years trying to regain Beijing's goodwill. Mr Dover says that in 1997, Mr Murdoch wrote to Mr Li and Mr Jiang saying he was "alarmed" to hear his comments on technology's liberating effect had been interpreted as referring to China.

"This was never the case. I apologise for any misunderstanding this may have caused. I remain firmly committed to China and the development of the Chinese economy," Mr Dover quotes Mr Murdoch as writing.

"I can assure you that I remain a good friend of China, committed to its taking its rightful place on the world stage," Mr Murdoch wrote in his letter, which was prompted by a suggestion from China's foreign ministry that he put the speech "in context".

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