Accessibility links
David Folkenflik Folkenflik is NPR's media correspondent and is the host and editor of On Point from NPR and WBUR.
David Folkenflik 2018 square
Stories By

David Folkenflik

Media

Media Get Health Care Ruling Wrong, At First

A number of media outlets reported Thursday morning that the Supreme Court overturned the individual mandate in the health care law, even as the Supreme Court was announcing that the law was upheld.

Media Get Health Care Ruling Wrong, At First

Listen · 2:55
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/155936595/155947833" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Media

Murdoch Considers Split For News Corp.

News Corp. executives have confirmed they are considering dividing the company in two. One new company would hold all of News Corp.'s profitable entertainment and television outlets. The other would hold all of its newspaper and publishing outlets. The move is seen as a way for the Murdoch family to hang on to its less profitable and troubled newspapers while pleasing investors with a newly independent and far more profitable entertainment company.

Murdoch Considers Split For News Corp.

Listen · 2:18
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/155823920/155823897" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
News Corp. Contrite In Wake Of Scathing Report

An influential group of British lawmakers says Rupert Murdoch, shown above with his son James (left) last July, is unfit to lead his global media empire. The scathing report also says his company misled Parliament about the scale of phone hacking at one of its tabloids. Sang Tan/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Sang Tan/AP

Media

News Corp. Contrite In Wake Of Scathing Report

The Murdochs find themselves bloodied at a time they are seeking to restore calm and show they still can assert control over the international corporation. And Tuesday's report concluding that News Corp. misled Parliament about the scale of phone hacking is not the final word. The likelihood of consequences in the U.S. hangs on the horizon.

Media

Murdochs, News Corp Face Big Week Of Investigations

This is a big week for Rupert and James Murdoch. The father and son face more questions from a wide-ranging judicial investigation into press abuses at British units of News Corporation: tabloid phone hacking, computer hacking and a police bribery scandal. Monday marked yet another embarrassing day for News Corp and the Murdochs as Sky News acknowledged it had hacked into the email of the target of two stories, despite explicitly telling the inquiry in September it had not been involved in any hacking.

Murdochs, News Corp Face Big Week Of Investigations

Listen · 3:16
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/151231557/151231546" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Media

Murdoch's News Corp. Faces New Legal Threats

Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper division is accused of phone hacking and bribing police officers. That scandal has already cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars. Now News Corp. is fending off media reports that a specialized unit engaged in industrial espionage on behalf of the company's global satellite and cable TV operations.

Murdoch's News Corp. Faces New Legal Threats

Listen · 4:20
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/151017971/151017966" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Media

Lawyer Follows News Corp. Hacking To U.S.

British attorney Mark Lewis was the driving force in lawsuits that cracked open the News Corp. phone hacking scandal in the U.K. Now he's in the U.S. pursuing similar cases against the company here.

Lawyer Follows News Corp. Hacking To U.S.

Listen · 4:47
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/150516907/150516889" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Huckabee Pledges More Civil Alternative To Limbaugh

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says his new radio show will be more "conversation and less confrontation." Gary Kline hide caption

toggle caption
Gary Kline

Media

Huckabee Pledges More Civil Alternative To Limbaugh

Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has a new radio talk show, and he tells NPR "it's going to be more conversation and less confrontation." That would be a marked departure from the other man who broadcasts in the noon to 3 p.m. slot -– Rush Limbaugh.

Huckabee Pledges More Civil Alternative To Limbaugh

Listen · 4:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/150365244/150474893" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Veteran Newsman Mike Wallace Of '60 Minutes' Dies

60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace died on Saturday night, according to a CBS spokesman. Peter Freed/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Peter Freed/AP

Obituaries

Veteran Newsman Mike Wallace Of '60 Minutes' Dies

No question was too pointed during Mike Wallace's storied and notorious television career. The ambush interview. The gotcha. That trademark inflection conveying disbelief. Was there ever a more entertaining American television interviewer than Wallace? He died Saturday at 93.

Veteran Newsman Mike Wallace Of '60 Minutes' Dies

Listen · 8:06
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/150236176/150247060" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
How Murdoch's Aussie Papers Cover Climate Change

News Limited is the Australian arm of Rupert Murdoch's newspaper empire. Tim Winborne/Reuters /Landov hide caption

toggle caption
Tim Winborne/Reuters /Landov

Media

<div>How Murdoch's Aussie Papers Cover Climate Change</div>

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. sells an overwhelming majority of all newspapers read in his native Australia and holds a controlling interest in the leading cable news channel. With such dominance, the Murdoch press there draws careful scrutiny of how it covers sensitive issues.

How Murdoch's Aussie Papers Cover Climate Change

Listen · 5:25
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/150142277/150152774" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Murdoch's 'Australian': A Powerful Player

The Australian is the country's only general-interest daily, and it commands an unrivaled influence despite its modest circulation. AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
AFP/Getty Images

Media

Murdoch's 'Australian': A Powerful Player

Rupert Murdoch's companies sell a clear majority of all newspapers in his native Australia. Among them is The Australian, the country's only national general-interest newspaper, which commands an unrivaled influence despite a modest circulation.

Murdoch's 'Australian': A Powerful Player

Listen · 5:49
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/150088026/150063945" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Media

Murdoch's Unrivaled Hold On The Australian Press

Between 6 and 7 of every 10 copies of national and metro papers sold in Australia are owned by News Ltd., News Corp.'s Australian newspaper arm. There is pride in the global success of a local boy, but cynicism, too.

Murdoch's Unrivaled Hold On The Australian Press

Listen · 5:43
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/150024750/150085272" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Roots Of An Empire: Rupert Murdoch's Australia

Rupert Murdoch takes over the Daily Mirror, a Sydney tabloid, in May 1960. Sometimes soft-spoken, but invariably hard-driving, Murdoch acquired major papers in every Australian state. He bought TV stations and established the first truly national daily. Keystone/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Keystone/Getty Images

Media

The Roots Of An Empire: Rupert Murdoch's Australia

News Corp., one of the world's major media powers, owns The Wall Street Journal and Fox News. In Britain, its powerful newspaper arm is at the heart of phone hacking and police bribery scandals. The driving force behind the company is its octogenarian chairman and CEO, Rupert Murdoch, whose story began in Australia.

The Roots Of An Empire: Rupert Murdoch's Australia

Listen · 5:38
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/150014435/150041990" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Media

James Murdoch Steps Down From British Broadcaster

James Murdoch is stepping down as chairman of British Sky Broadcasting or BSkyB. News Corp has long sought control of the very profitable broadcaster. But the involvement of News Corp executives in the tabloid phone hacking and police bribery scandals has called into question the company's fitness to run BSkyB.

James Murdoch Steps Down From British Broadcaster

Listen · 3:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/149937085/149937348" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Media

James Murdoch Steps Down From BSkyB

Britain's tabloid phone-hacking scandal has plagued the Murdoch family and its News Corp. media conglomerate. Now Rupert Murdoch's son, James Murdoch, is stepping down as chairman of the British broadcasting giant BSkyB.

James Murdoch Steps Down From BSkyB

Listen · 3:46
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/149911757/149912284" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Media

News Corp. In The Spotlight Again

James Murdoch sent an apology letter to the parliamentary select committee investigating him. Also in the headlines is Tuesday's arrest of Rebekah Brooks and her husband in connection with Operation Weeting, the Scotland Yard investigation of illegal press activities.

News Corp. In The Spotlight Again

Listen · 3:36
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/148617395/148624169" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript