Bloomberg News reports today (h/t Daily Kos’ KingOneEye) that News Corp. — the media giant which owns Fox News and The Wall Street Journal — has donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, the GOP organization that helps coordinate Republican gubernatorial campaigns and pays for independent ads in support of their candidates.

Media Matters has confirmed Bloomberg’s report using publicly available IRS filings. We also found no evidence of corresponding donations to the Democratic Governors Association in the current political cycle. News Corp. wants Republicans elected to office, and they’re willing to spend money to make it happen.

According to the article, News Corp. is actually the RGA’s ‘biggest corporate donor.’ Bloomberg suggests that News Corp. has made these donations due to their opposition to ‘proposed federal rule changes that would weaken the position of its Fox network in negotiations with cable companies,’ stating that ‘Governors may have a stake in the issue.’

Whether or not that is the case, this large corporate donation to the GOP underscores News Corp.’s role as an appendage of the Republican Party.

UPDATE: Politico’s Ben Smith has received the following quote from a News Corp. spokesman: ‘News Corporation believes in the power of free markets, and the […]