The board of News Corp. has formally approved the motion to split the company in two. News Corp.’s newspaper and publishing businesses, along with its Australian businesses, will become the new News Corp., while the company’s TV, film and studio businesses (including Fox News Channel) will now be part of 21st Century Fox.

“Today’s announcement is a significant step in creating two independent companies with the world’s leading portfolios of publishing and media and entertainment assets,” said Rupert Murdoch, who will serve as Chairman and CEO of the proposed 21st Century Fox, and Executive Chairman of the new News Corporation. “We continue to believe that the separation will unlock the true value of both companies and their distinct assets, enabling investors to benefit from the separate strategic opportunities resulting from more focused management of each division.”

The company also announced the board members for the new companies. More information here.

Attorney General Eric Holder personally gave the OK for the Department of Justice to search Fox News correspondent James Rosen‘s emails and phone records, NBC News reports. The FBI pursued Rosen’s information as though he were a “co-conspirator” in the leak investigation.

The law enforcement official said Holder’s approval of the Rosen search, in the spring of 2010, came after senior Justice officials concluded there was “probable cause” that Rosen’s communications with his source, identified as intelligence analyst Stephen Kim, met the legal burden for such searches. “It was approved at the highest levels– and I mean the highest,” said the law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said that explicitly included Holder.

Holder had recused himself in the AP leak investigation because he was interviewed as part of the process. The news comes as Fox News CEO Roger Ailes sent a memo to staff accusing the administration of trying to “intimidate” Fox News.

Fox News CEO and Chairman Roger Ailes sent a note to Fox News employees about recent revelations of DOJ investigations involving members of the press, including FNC correspondent James Rosen. “To be a Fox journalist is a high honor, not a high crime,” Ailes writes.

The administration’s attempt to intimidate Fox News and its employees will not succeed and their excuses will stand neither the test of law, the test of decency, nor the test of time. We will not allow a climate of press intimidation, unseen since the McCarthy era, to frighten any of us away from the truth.

In an interview soon after Pres. Obama’s re-election in November, Ailes told us Fox News’s often chilly relationship with the Obama White House was “day-to-day.”

“I don’t mind praising the guy and I don’t mind questioning the guy.”

The full memo after the jump…

(h/t Playbook)

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Following the devastating tornado in Oklahoma this week, Fox News put one of its new assets to work: a “quick response” vehicle designed specifically to cover the aftermath of disasters, where cell service is often spotty or nonexistent. While every news organization has some sort of vehicle-based mobile transmission system, the technology that distinguishes FNC’s truck from its competition is its Raysat Satellite Antenna.

Backpack-based systems like LiveU are tremendously useful, but in places like Moore, OK where there is limited or no cell service, they become much more challenging to use. BGAN satellite antennas have become the standard for these sorts of vehicles, though FNC and RaySat say their antenna can carry 10 times the bandwidth of a BGAN, resulting in substantially higher picture quality (see video shot from the vehicle, after the jump).
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Bill O’Reilly went on “The Daily Show” last night to publicize his new book “Keep it Pithy.” The conversation began with the scandals in Washington, specifically the DOJ searches into reporters, including Fox News correspondent James Rosen, but moved on to racial profiling and ended with O’Reilly suggesting Jon Stewart should bring in a Muslim host as he takes leave from the show this Summer. Stewart: “You know it hurts me to say this, but some of the emails that the Department of Justice is finding from Fox News are probably between you and I.”

WATCH:

ABC’s “Good Morning America” and NBC’s “Today” aren’t the only morning shows with summer concerts. “Fox & Friends” kicks off its “All American Summer” concert series tomorrow morning with a performance by Michael Bolton.

Other performances slated for this summer include Lonestar, Eddie Money, Foreigner, the Doobie Brothers, Blues Traveler, Cody Simpson and Sugar Ray. See the full schedule here.

The “F&F” concerts will take place on the News Corp. plaza, which is just a block away from Rockefeller Plaza, the site of the”Today” show’s concerts.

The Department of Justice didn’t just examine Fox News correspondent James Rosen‘s email records, they acquired his home and cell phone records, as well a number of phone records from Fox News Channel offices. The New Yorker‘s Ryan Lizza has those records.

In addition, Bret Baier revealed that the phone records of Rosen’s parents were also acquired by the FBI in the investigation.

The news of the full extent of the investigation comes as editorials take aim squarely at the Obama Administration for valuing secrecy over freedom of the press.

The New York Times editorial page writes that “the administration has gone overboard in its zeal to find and muzzle insiders.”

Obama administration officials often talk about the balance between protecting secrets and protecting the constitutional rights of a free press. Accusing a reporter of being a “co-conspirator,” on top of other zealous and secretive investigations, shows a heavy tilt toward secrecy and insufficient concern about a free press.

The Washington Post‘s Dana Milbank writes that the investigations are “as flagrant an assault on civil liberties as anything done by George W. Bush’s administration, and it uses technology to silence critics in a way Richard Nixon could only have dreamed of.”
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The Committee to Protect Journalists is adding its voice of concern about the U.S. Justice Department’s investigation into Fox News correspondent James Rosen.

“U.S. government efforts to prosecute leakers by obtaining information from journalists has a chilling effect domestically and sends a terrible message to journalists around the world who are fighting to resist government intrusion,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.

On Sunday, the Washington Post reported on an affidavit that described Rosen as “an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator” in a 2010 DOJ investigation into the leak of classified information regarding North Korea. The Justice Department tracked Rosen’s State Department comings and goings through his security badge and also tapped into his personal email and phone records.

Fox News told TVNewser yesterday they will “unequivocally defend [Rosen's] right to operate as a member of what up until now has always been a free press.”

Photo via

The Department of Justice says that it is unlikely to bring charges against Fox News correspondent James Rosen, who had his email searched by the FBI in relation to a leak investigation.

A warrant was executed against Rosen’s email, accusing him of being a “co-conspirator” to the individual accused of leaking information related to North Korea.

The implication that Rosen was complicit, as well as the apparent breach of a free press, drew a sharply worded critique from Fox News yesterday.

The Washington Post has more on the DOJ decision:

In response to questions about how Rosen was characterized in the affidavit, the Justice Department said in a statement Monday: “Saying that there is probable cause to believe that someone has committed a crime and charging the person with that crime are two different things.”

“No reporter has been charged in this case,” the statement added. “And, at this time we do not anticipate bringing additional charges against anyone.”

Fox News executive VP of news Michael Clemente released the following statement to TVNewser with regard to James Rosen being targeted by the Department of Justice.

“We are outraged to learn today that James Rosen was named a criminal co-conspirator for simply doing his job as a reporter. In fact, it is downright chilling. We will unequivocally defend his right to operate as a member of what up until now has always been a free press.”

Clemente’s statement comes as The New Yorker‘s Ryan Lizza uncovers the full warrant application, which makes it seem as though the FBI is interested in investigating Rosen as much as it is interested in investigating Rosen’s source. Chilling indeed.

On “America Live,” Megyn Kelly revealed that two other Fox News staffers were targeted for investigation by the DOJ on stories unrelated to Rosen’s. Videos after the jump.
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