Steve Jobs told Rupert Murdoch iast year that he considered Fox News "an incredibly destructive force in our society," according to Walter Isaacson's new biography of the Apple visionary.
In June 2010, Isaacson writes, Jobs agreed to speak at News Corp.'s annual management retreat, violating a personal rule about never doing such appearances. He had recently collaborated with Murdoch on News Corp.'s iPad-only newspaper, The Daily.
Murdoch said Jobs was "very blunt and critical of what newspapers were doing in technology" at the retreat. Later, at dinner, Jobs told Murdoch, "You're blowing it with Fox News," according to Isaacson's book, "Steve Jobs."
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"The axis today is not liberal and conservative, the axis is conservative-destructive, and you've cast your lot with the destructive people," the book quotes Jobs as saying. "Fox has become an incredibly destructive force force in our society. You can be better, and this is going to be your legacy if you're not careful."
Jobs also said he did not believe Murdoch liked the network's direction.
"Rupert's a builder, not a tearer-downer," he told Isaacson. "I've had some meetings with James [Murdoch], and I think he agrees with me. I can just tell."
Rupert Murdoch shrugged off the criticism. "He's got sort of a left-wing view on this," he told Isaacson.
Jobs had planned to ask Jon Stewart's team at "The Daily Show" to assemble several Fox News moments for Murdoch to watch.
"I'd be happy to see it," Murdoch told Isaacson, when Jobs was still alive. "But he hasn't sent it to me."