Murdoch's WikiLeaks Cameo

The Wall Street Journal has been aggressively covering the WikiLeaks controversy. Turns out that Rupert Murdoch's newspaper also pops up in one of the secret cables.

In a May 2009 missive from the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh -- titled "IDEOLOGICAL AND OWNERSHIP TRENDS IN THE SAUDI MEDIA" -- there are indications that Murdoch wants to do more business with the kingdom. According to a source whose name was redacted, a Saudi (whose name was also withheld) "recently had a three-hour discussion with one of Rupert Murdoch's sons on a deal to publish an Arabic-language version of the WALL Street Journal." What's more, the cable says, the Saudi Research and Marketing Group -- the country's largest publisher, and said to be one-third owned by Prince Waleed bin Talal -- "is trying to win a contract to publish the International Herald Tribune (uncensored, he emphasized) in Saudi Arabia."