Elisabeth Murdoch believes in Barack Obama

By SDH Elisabeth (Liz) Murdoch is letting knows who she wants to be the next President of the great U.S. of A and she is throwing a fund raiser all the way across the Atlantic to help to make sure it happens. Not following in daddy Rupert Murdoch's footsteps when it comes to politics, Elisabeth is throwing a snazzy fundraiser for Barack Obama while Rupe donated $2,300 to Hillary Clinton's campaign fund last year. Will Daddy and daughter go head to head with their picks? Then again maybe Liz isn't worried about that at all as many believe the race for the Democratic nomination is already over. In the most high-profile example yet of glitzy fundraising bashes for the US presidential hopefuls spreading across the Atlantic, a string of notable US ex-pats with jobs in media, the arts and finance will gather at the Notting Hill home Murdoch shares with her husband, PR guru Matthew Freud. Murdoch's daughter hosts fundraiser for Obama [Media Guardian]

Jeff Bewkes is a green CEO + The Wall Street Journal changing one section at a time and more.....

By SDH Jeff Bewkes was already making CEO money before becoming CEO of Time Warner. He made a sexy $19.4 million in 2007 [AP] For those of you who care, Emmis Communications is unloading Country Sampler magazine. Something about it not fitting with the current image or something like that. [FolioMag] Another Murdoch looks to make a mark in the media business. Elisabeth Murdoch’s company, Shine bought Reveille Productions, which produces “Ugly Betty,” and “The Office.” She may have already bought her mark. [NYT] The Wall Street Journal is revamping it’s “Market Place” section and this has some newsroom employees wondering what their roll will be [NYT] Fox Newser Chris Wallace calls out colleagues who he says Took Obama’s comments about race out of context. OK so how long until Wallace is booted? Doesn’t he know that Fox News is dedicated to pushing the republican agenda? [Media Talk]

And the next FCC Chairman/woman if Democrats win the Whitehouse will be....

By SDH FCC Charboy Kevin Martin has seen his days of battle since taking over from Mike Powell. He is accused of sitting on his hands and dragging out the approval process on requests that come across his desk. Democrats are hoping to get the chance to shake up the FCC starting with Martin's departure if the Dems take the White House. Though there is no clear Democratic nominee, people within the circles of both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are already throwing out names and speculating about who would become the next FCC Chairman/woman under a Clinton or Obama administration. Anyone would do for us as long as Martin is long gone. If Sen. Hillary Clinton takes the prize, Susan Ness is the name bandied about among the tele-cognesceti. Ness, a former commissioner, has strong ties to the Clintons. If Sen. Barack Obama wins, his campaign and Senate staffs are dotted with people who have close ties to the FCC. Connecting those dots, however, is Julius Genachowski, a former aide to Hundt and Kennard and a close friend of Obama's since they attended Harvard Law School.

The New York Post’s endorsement of Obama yesterday, worth as much as perverted cop that pimped a runaway

-ZOE S. So yesterday The New York Post went ahead and endorsed Senator Barack Obama. However you would think that with such a statement announcement they would have given the man the whole front page, nope. The Post split the cover 50/50 with the sleezy cop who was pimping out some runaway. You gotta love The Post.

Turkey plans to spread em for big foreign media companies

-BY SDH Turkey planning to bend over and allow foreign media companies to own bigger chunks of Turkish broadcasters. A draft law written and submitted to the Prime Minister's office would open the gates for people like Rupert Murdoch to up his stake in media properties in the country. Murdoch is already said to be one of many media bigs kicking the tires on ATV-Sabah. If and when this law does pass, will other major U.S. media companies show interest in entering and/or expanding in the Turkish media market? A young population, coupled with annual economic growth seen around 5 percent makes the Turkish media market attractive to investors. A population of more than 70 million speaking the same language is also a plus for advertisers, analysts say. Turkey plans to lift foreign media ownership limit [Reuters

News Corp Aggregated: Hillary Clinton's unflattering campaign's unflattering coverage | Monster.com, not Linked-In on Rupert Murdoch's mind?

-SDH It looks like all that speculation about News Corp being in talks with the folks at business social networking site Linked-In is just that, speculation at least for now. Well there is new speculation again, but this time it involves job search engine Monster.com. According to seekingalpha.com, Murdoch sent a letter to the Monster.com board offering them $4.8 billion for the company. Sounds familiar right? Yeah, he took similar route when he went after DowJones. But is this rumor, just a rumor or is this really happening? seekingalpha.com fails to spark any sense of "WOW! this may happen" They only mention that Sal Iannuzzi was hired as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Monster.com back in April 2007 to reportedly set the company up to be sold, apparently because he's a wiz at selling companies or something. He sold a company called Symbol Tech Whooohooo! Like every other rumor, this is a wait and see. After all, News Corp is still chewing on their recent $5 Billion take over of Dow Jones. [seekingalpha.com] Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton should join the line of people who holds a grudge against Rupert Murdoch. Apparently Hill is kinda ticked off at the coverage The New York Post gave her during the New Hampshire debates. Is that what she was really worried about? [Newsbusters]

Charlie Rose talks up Jann Wenner

Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner took time out to sit and chat with Charlie Rose. In this clip of a more lengthy conversation, Jann talks politics and expects change when the 2008 elections are over, don't we all.

News Corp's shady stake

-YOSH Rupert Murdoch is no doubt slowly taking control of our everyday sources of news, information and entertainment, but not all of them are transparent. Georgia's prime minister said on Wednesday he wanted Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. to buy the banned independent television station Imedi outright. Rupe already owns a chunk of the channel with Georgian multimillionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, but it looks like Georgia's Prime Minster is hoping a full takeover by News Corp will quiet his non supporters. The thing is, no one knows how deep News Corp's stake is in the network and they (News Corp) aren't saying, at least not right now. "We have stated our desire to not to see News Corp. in an unclear role in Imedi," he (the prime minster) said. "On the contrary, we want News Corp. to own a 100-percent share or a controlling stake." News Corp. has declined to disclose its holding in Imedi. Patarkatsishvili has said he sold his 49-percent stake to News Corp. in 2006. So does News Corp own all of Imedi? Why are they staying mum on this property? Georgia PM has offered Imedi TV to News Corp. [Reuters]

and now this morning's worthy media news mentions

-By YOSH Jeff Zucker to Las Vegas: The little big man at NBC Universal will yap it up at NATPE 2008. Overall, NATPE 2008 will focus on the convergence of programming, advertising and emerging media, with a theme of “Where Now Meets Next.” Why not throw in some dancing and singing postman while you're at it? The Royal Mail, the British postal service, which has been hit hard by the effects of the Internet, is trying to stimulate business by appealing to the senses. A new initiative, aimed at marketers who use the mail to reach potential consumers, encourages them to incorporate a scent, taste or sound in their snail mailings. You mean all those reports weren't their's? CNN Worldwide plans to increase its staff of correspondents by 10 percent as part of a major effort to increase its ability to produce its own reports. Fox News likes Giuliani for one reason and one reason only. He will go into Iran if he wins According to Regan's suit, "This smear campaign was necessary to advance News Corp.'s political agenda, which has long centered on protecting Rudy Giuliani's presidential ambitions." Does CBS have the smartest internet strategy? At the NewTeeVee conference, CBS Interactive president Quincy Smith demonstrated why he and CBS deserve to be viewed as having the smartest Internet strategy of the major TV networks.

News corp, the evil republican media empire?

-By YOSH We all know that News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch is a huge Republican backer. We all know that he uses his print properties, specifically his newspapers to make sure the republican message gets out. But are News Corp's Republican ties waste deep to the point where a senior executive allegedly tried to talk deposed Regan Books head Judith Regan into hiding her past intimate relationship with disgraced former NYC police commissioner Bernie Kerik to protect the presidential aspirations of Rudy Giuliani? What else has News Corp done or doing to protect the Republican agenda? How will Dow Jones and it's properties play into this? One-time book publishing powerhouse Judith Regan filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit Tuesday saying her former employers asked her to lie to federal investigators about Bernard Kerik, the former police commissioner who was once her lover, and tried to destroy her reputation.Regan, who worked for HarperCollins Publishers LLC, said the smear campaign stems from her past intimate relationship with Kerik, who was police commissioner under former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and from the political agenda of News Corp., the parent company of HarperCollins. Regan Files $100M Suit Against Publisher [Huff Wires]

Did Time Warner's Republican Chairman switch sides?

Lately Time Warner Chairman & CEO Dick Parsons has been called many things, or has came up in Google searches as many things. But one thing we're sure he is not is a Democrat, at least last we checked. However this doesn't stop the media exec from rubbing elbows with star Dems like Obama. Is Dick secretly throwing his support and money behind the Presidential hopeful or is this photo simply of two passing friends catching up?

The NY Sun's Grace Rauh still expects Dick Parsons to step down this week, and reminds us he isn't running for Mayor

NY Sun reporter Grace Rauh is one of those reporters who digs up old news and recycles it like new, then again don't we all. We've all accepted Dick Parsons's word that he has no plans to run for Mayor of NYC. And we've all kinda leaned off the rumor that Dick will step down as TimeWarner CEO this week, well at least kinda. We all know the latter will happen but we don't think this week is the week, kinda. On his long rumored Mayoral run, political consultant, Joseph Mercurio painfully reiterates the whole not running for Mayor part. But a GOP political strategist who didn't want to give his name to the Sun because he is lingering for a job in the 2009 campaigns, speaks of another potential candidate whose name he says dwarf's that of the gigantic Parsons, NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. Wait why do we sound, like fucking Wonkette? OK back to the media biz for us. Parsons Seen Departing, Without a Run [NYSun]