Freedom of Tweet: Rupert Murdoch Continues to Light Up Twitter With Jibes
All his drastic corporate rejiggering and continued phone-hacking controversies do not seem to have stopped News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch from continuing to tweet up a storm.
And by storm, I mean some pretty controversial Twitter tornadoes of late. It’s highly unusual for a sitting CEO, since many well-known people arrive on Twitter with a lot of noisy sparkle and then follow with hardly a whimper.
But Murdoch, who first appeared on the communications service in January, remains very active and pot-stirring.
Previously, targets were Google and President Barack Obama, but Murdoch recently added more to his digital target practice.
On Saturday, July 1, particularly — he appears to go wild once every week or so, mostly on weekends — the media mogul took aim at Tom Cruise’s divorce and Scientology, as well as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign performance and his favored punching bag, the New York Times, as you can see below:
First, a smack upside the head to the NYT:
London again. 8 lively, different Sunday papers. Some great writing, some fun, some hysterical but happy change from boring Sunday NYT.
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012
Then, a slap attack at Scientology:
Scientology back in news. Very weird cult, but big, big money involved with Tom Cruise either number two or three in hiearchy.
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012
Now it’s time to deliver a fresh one to Mittens, whom Murdoch has recently been ragging on relentlessly on Twitter:
Met Romney last week. Tough O Chicago pros will be hard to beat unless he drops old friends from team and hires some real pros. Doubtful.
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012
And, back to the doomed TomKat:
Watch Katie Holmes and Scientology story develop. Something creepy, maybe even evil, about these people.
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012
Finally, not backing down, more on the creepy-evils:
Since Scientology tweet hundreds of attacks. Expect they will increase and get worse and maybe threatening. Still stick to my story.
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012
Things calmed down by Sunday, with decidedly more sage civic advice:
Do not forget July Fourth and remember to read the Declaration of Independence aloud. At least once!
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 2, 2012
In Murdoch’s case, perhaps a plug for the Constitution would be more apt, what with the freedom of tweet — oops, speech — part.
(Full disclosure: Murdoch essentially owns this Web site, but so far has not aimed his Twitter arrows at us. Yet!)