News Corp. and the CBC [Ben Smith]
So why would the Congressional Black Caucus defy Democratic activists and co-host a debate with Fox News?
Without venturing an answer, it's worth noting that News Corp. has been working in these vineyards for a long time. As liberal bloggers have already noted, News Corp. (along with many other major corporations, including Time Warner)* is a regular contributor to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, with contributions adding up to more than $100,000 since 2003, according to this (accurate) tally from the foundation's annual reports.
But there are also elements of a deeper political relationship. News Corp. recruited almost half of the members into a campaign to cast a business dispute with Nielsen, which centered on a shift in the technology of Nielsen ratings, into a racial issue under the rubric of the Don't Count Us Out Coalition.
According to a Roll Call story from April 2004, 17 members of the CBC, along with many members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, signed a letter to Nielsen's CEO suggesting its new system would be racially biased against minority-oriented shows -- many of them carried by News Corp.
They hired the Glover Park Group, and other lobbying and PR firms, to assemble the "coalition," something that later became grist for Nielsen's (successful) counter-attack.
At the time, News Corp.'s gambit was viewed as, depending on who you asked, either a masterwork of corporate P.R., or of cynicism or both, but in any case, Rupert and the CBC do go way back.
If you want to know more, BusinessWeek had the definitive (and Nielsen-friendly) story on the subject and the Village Voice's Wayne Barrett got into the inner workings of just who News Corp. paid on the New York front of its campaign.
ALSO: As I reported yesterday, a spokeswoman for the CBC says there's no financial element to the debate arrangement.
*The CBC is co-hosting debates with CNN too.
UPDATE: I'm reminded that Fox News also recently put former CBC star Harold Ford on contract.