News Corp. PAC Donates To Five Democrats And Zero Republicans In January

For anyone who thinks Fox News parent company News Corp. leans to the right, the latest donation numbers from its News America-FOXPAC may come as a surprise. According to Federal Election Commission data, the company’s political action committee donated to five Democratic candidates and no Republicans in January.

The Center for Public Integrity reported that the lucky recipients of News Corp. cash last month were Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT) for $5,000, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) for $2,500, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) for $1,500, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) for $1,000 and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) for $500.

The PAC did donate an additional $15,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee, trumping the total given to Democrats, but it did not donate to any specific GOP candidates. The Center for Responsive Politics had previously reported that of the $311,500 the PAC gave to individual candidates in 2012, 52% went to Democrats.

On the Political Activities section of the News Corp. website, the company states, “The News America-FOXPAC is a non-partisan PAC. Its focus is helping to elect quality men and women, regardless of political party, who are dedicated to providing leadership in public service and promoting sound public policy.”

So, while the commentators and contributors on the Fox News channel may tend to skew to the right, when it comes to News Corps.’ recent political activity they can in fact claim to be “fair and balanced.”

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