Editor’s Note: David Zurawik is a professor of practice in media studies at Goucher College. For three decades, he was a media critic at the Baltimore Sun. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.
CNN —
Few media figures in the last 27 years have had a larger and more profound effect on American political and media life than Rupert Murdoch. Most of it for the worse.
Mich Rouse
Stepping down Thursday from day-to-day control of the Fox and News Corporation boards, to become chairman emeritus of the two companies, the 92-year-old founder leaves behind a legacy of reckless, partisan journalism and commentary that has contributed to a citizenry so angry and polarized that our very democracy seems threatened according to some analysts. And with Murdoch handing off day-to-day control of the empire to his son, Lachlan, Fox’s dangerous way of doing business does not seem likely to change for the better.
While there are other factors contributing to the polarization — like politicians and global economics — Murdoch’s Fox News has played a role even in those by showcasing the loudest and most transgressive members of Congress and scapegoating various groups from immigrants to Democrats for the nation’s economic challenges.
While Murdoch had been building his media empire in newspapers since the 1950s in Australia and the ‘70s in the US, it was his founding of the Fox News channel in 1996 that led to his becoming a giant force in America...
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