Updates
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TOBACCO-FRIENDLY MEDIA
In the September/October Editor's Note, we reported the contents of a secret 1985 Philip Morris memo in which former CEO Hamish Maxwell detailed the tobacco giant's strategy to "exploit...ad agencies and media proprietors," noting that "[Rupert] Murdoch's papers rarely publish anti-smoking articles these days."
Since then, Mother Jones has uncovered yet another document that confirms Philip Morris' media strategy. In another 1985 memo, Maxwell wrote: "A number of media proprietors...are sympathetic to our position -- Rupert Murdoch and Malcolm Forbes are two good examples. The media like the money they make from our advertisements, and they are an ally that we can and should exploit."
RUPERT SCORES!
In other Murdoch news: As Zev Borow documented in "Rupert has the world by the balls!" (Mother Jones Extra, September/October), News Corp.'s global strategy begins and ends with sports. In September, Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting satellite network announced a $1 billion takeover bid for Manchester United, one of the world's most popular soccer clubs. At least one member of Parliament has opposed the deal, but government intervention seems unlikely, given Murdoch's cozy relationship with Prime Minister Tony Blair and his tabloids' influence in British elections. (Murdoch's political favors apparently extend to U.S. Supreme Court justices as well: In September, the New York Times reported that Murdoch canceled a planned Fox TV drama about Justice Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearings because the show was to be based on a book sympathetic to Anita Hill.)
SUPERWEEDS!
In "A Growing Concern" (January/February 1997), we reported predictions that biotechnology giant Monsanto's Roundup Ready seeds would pass herbicide resistance to nearby plants, creating "superweeds." Recent research offers evidence that superweeds may now be a reality.
American and Danish scientists have confirmed that weeds that have acquired resistance through cross-pollination can reproduce. In a different study in the journal Nature, scientists reported evidence that such weeds may be superior at pollinating other weeds and spreading their resistance.
