Murdoch, Hearst Head List of Newspaper Donors to Election Campaigns

By: Joe Strupp News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch and George R. Hearst, The Hearst Corporation chairman of the board, top the list of rather sparse campaign contributions from leading newspaper figures during the first part of 2004, according to campaign finance records filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Although several major newspaper owners -- from Mortimer Zuckerman to William Dean Singleton -- have contributed to campaign coffers during the past year, as reported by E&P Online in January, Murdoch and Hearst are the only ones who have since increased their payout to political parties and their candidates.

Murdoch, who had previously given $2,000 each to the 2004 re-election campaigns of Bush-Cheney, Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz., and Republican Rep. Bill Thomas of California, has since offered more election cash.

Since December, Murdoch has donated $5,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee, $2,000 each to the senatorial campaigns of Charles Schumer of New York (a liberal Democrat), Bill Jones of California, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, and Jack Ryan of Illinois, and $5,000 to News America Holdings Inc., a political action committee of Murdoch's Fox Corp.

In addition, Murdoch's wife, Wendi, contributed $2,000 in her name to Schumer, Jones and Ryan.

Hearst, who had previously given $1,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, added another $8,500 in donations since late 2003 to various campaigns. Those included another $2,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, $2,000 to the Republican National Committee, $1,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee, $1,000 to the Bush-Cheney campaign, $500 to the congressional campaign of Vernon Robinson in North Carolina, and $2,000 to the Black America's Political Action Committee.

The only other prominent newspaper owner who reported campaign donations so far this year is William Block Jr., chairman of Block Communications, which owns the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Blade of Toledo, Ohio. After giving two $250 contributions to the Democratic National Committee last year, he added another $500 contribution in February.