• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, February 9, 2007

Rupert Murdoch wants the forthcoming Fox Business Channel to be “more business friendly than CNBC.”  CNBC, he said, was quick to “leap on every scandal.” 

Yeah, who wants that. Why rush into things on Enron, for example, or those crazy guys at Adelphia Communications who used the company like it was their own golden piggy bank?

The bigger question is whether to move Fox News under a similar descriptor. Fox News could be “more welcoming than CNN” or perhaps “more gracious than MSNBC.”

At Fox, business news is obviously different from the general news of President  Bush’s low approval ratings, or the high financial and human life costs from the Iraq war.  Business guys should get a fairer shake.

Roger Ailes, chairman/CEO of Fox News, who will ultimately be in charge of the Fox Business Channel, rushed to do some damage control:

“We will be as ruthless in our coverage of business scandals as we have always been,” he told The New York Times. He added that while thousands of companies have publicly traded securities, “only 9 or 10 are in trouble” at a given time.

So which companies -- as a business investor  -- do you want to read about?

In any event, I’m confused. Was Ailes playing to the lack of journalistic savvy of his boss’ earlier remarks or did he mean that, apart from a few companies, there need not be any further journalistic digging?

It is just business, and it’s hard to argue with success. Fox News has plenty of that versus CNN and the rest. Even despite a recent dip, its ratings are still miles ahead.

We understand this: Any new network needs to zig when everyone is zagging. Otherwise, consumers will be zapping.

This is strange, in any event. The word “friendly” associated with news has never done anyone a bit of good. Fox should try another “f-word” -- fairness.