PressEthic

As News Corporation shareholders prepare to vote on whether or not to maintain the anti-takeover "poison pill" this Friday, I am reminded what a ridiculous situation a large section of international media is in.

Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp, owner of Fox TV, The New York Post, Twentieth Century Fox, The National Geographic channel, MySpace and BSkyB as well as many newspapers in the UK and Australia, introduced the poison pill two years ago as a strategy to protect the media conglomerate from hostile takeovers. The most hostile of these investors was John Malone, who currently holds 19% of NewsCorp shares through his own conglomerate, Liberty Media (owner of QVC and the Discovery Channel, and shareholder in many other media companies). More specifically, this controversial anti-shareholder tactic has served as a shield to the 30% share ownership enjoyed by the Murdoch family.

This means that Friday will see shareholders faced with a choice: maintain one family's majority rule over the media conglomerate, or open the corporation to the aggressive investment of yet another mogul-led media conglomerate.

Excuse me while I look for the punch line.