Buzz Watch: Why Did Murdoch Cancel O. J. Simpson’s Book and Interview?

Authored by Jay Baage on November 21, 2006 - 10:08am.

Everyone knows that News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch is not the type of person to back down from a controversial subject, especially if it will make him and his company a lot of money. That is why it’s interesting to note that News Corp. has canceled the planned publication of the O.J. Simpson book, If I Did It, due to be published on its subsidiary Regan Books, as well as a two-part TV interview of Simpson, which was scheduled to air on Fox on Nov. 27 and 29. In the book and in the interview, Simpson was to discuss how he, hypothetically, would have killed his wife, Nicole Brown-Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, if he had done it, of course.

In a statement issued yesterday, Murdoch said, "I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project. We are sorry for any pain this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown-Simpson."

OK, but what makes this an ill-considered project for News Corp.? It wasn’t as if the execs at News Corp. that had greenlit this project didn’t know what they where doing. O.J. Simpson's former sister-in-law Denise Brown appeared on the Today show Tuesday, claiming that prior to News Corp.’s canceling both projects, Rupert Murdoch's company offered her family "millions of dollars" in "hush money" to keep mum on their objections to Simpson's hypothetical confession. Andrew Butcher, a representative for News Corp. admitted to the Associated Press that discussions about money had taken place but that "there were no strings attached." So News Corp. obviously knew what to expect.

The negative publicity around the project would pretty much have guaranteed viewers and readers, because, like the saying goes, all publicity is good publicity. However, with the major outcry, even from Fox News hosts like Bill O’Reilly, the scale tipped over to the wrong side for News Corp. No longer was the potential viewer boost, during the important sweepstakes time period no less, enough to justify the inevitable boycotting by some viewers and cautious sponsors.

The story about the cancellation of the book and the interview has already gathered over 1,700 news stories indexed by Google News. Clearly there is still a major public interest in learning more about the truth about the O. J. story. This whole debacle also exposes an interesting difference between “old media” and “new media”. With old media, it appears that there is still a public code that dictates what you can do and what you can’t do. As the lines between the established media companies and the new, consumer generated media, keeps on blurring, I wonder what will happen to a debate like this in the future? Moreover, mark my words, no matter what people say, they can’t stop this kind of content from getting out, if there is an audience for it. It won’t surprise me if the interview and the contents of the book will leak out and be available on websites such as YouTube, etc. in a near future.

Joakim Baage

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Comments

Where are the Real Men (and Women) in this Country????

Submitted by Daphne (not verified) on November 21, 2006 - 10:40am.

Although I recognize that the majority of the public found Fox’s intent to broadcast the interview and publish the book to be distasteful, canceling both are tantamount to censorship! Where in the hell are Murdoch’s cojones? As an intelligent person, I know that OJ is guilty, but this does not mean that I am not interested in the psychological aspect of this content. The problem with America is that there are not enough heroes who believe in the free speech and freedoms granted to us by our founding fathers. We have become a nation of PC cowards!