Author not stated. The document was found in the files of R.W. "Bill" Murray, who served as President and CEO of Philip Morris during his tenure.
This document was first posted on Doc-Alert on July 5, 2000.
Media magnate Rupert Murdoch served for several years on Philip Morris' (PM) board of directors. This relationship served PM well, as indicated by this document which shows that information that could negatively affect the tobacco industry's bottom line was routinely withheld from Murdoch-owned newspapers worldwide:
"As regards the media, we plan to build similar relationships to those we now have with Murdoch's News Limited with other newspaper proprietors. Murdoch's papers rarely publish anti-smoking articles these days."
Thsi week marked the public release of a film called "Outfoxed," which examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news. (www.moveon.org) This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public's right to know.
A book about newspaper mogul Rupert Murdoch (Murdoch: The Making of a Media Empire, by William Shawcross) credits Murdoch with nothing less than having "invented the modern media empire." A synopsis of the book on Amazon.com says (of Murdoch's extensive ownership of media outlets worldwide),
"Now [Murdoch's] reach includes two thirds of the Earth's population."