MURDOCH: FLOTILLA? WHAT FLOTILLA?

Really, Rupert? You're not pushing anything about the flotilla incident at your high-end fever swamp, Fox Nation?



And instead of the flotilla, the lead story in the New York Post is a death in the family of Ted freaking Koppel? The Trump family, the Lohan family -- I could see leading with tragedy in those households. But Koppel? He's a bigger deal than the flotilla?



It really surprises me that the Post is downplaying this -- Israel matters to people in New York City and the 'burbs, across a surprisingly wide stretch of the political spectrum. In addition to right-wing Israel fans, there are lots of people around here who regard themselves as defenders of the country and dyed-in-the-wool progressives. In local politics, Israel is often called "the sixth borough."

But, um, I suppose if Murdoch's nastier media outlets were to go all in on this story, they'd have to serve up heaping slabs of red meat. And that might upset Murdoch's big Saudi investor, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

So, even though his outlets could easily concoct a Dems-and-libs-are-pro-terrorist spin, he's not giving huge chunks of his audience what they want. Interesting.

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UPDATE: Well, a flotilla story has now moved onto the Fox Nation homepage, just below an oil spill story. Curiously, though, the FN headline is less inflammatory than the one at the source, which is a Haaretz article titled "Israel Navy Commandos: Gaza Flotilla Activists Tried to Lynch Us." Fox Nation's headline? "Shootout at Sea: What Caused Deadly Raid?" That's not red meat -- that's a veggie burger.