Murdoch's 'Jewish owned' press tweet causes furore

MUMBAI: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has landed himself in trouble for his tweet on "Jewish owned" press in America being anti-Israel.

"Why is Jewish owned press so consistently anti-Israel in every crisis?" Murdoch had tweeted.

Murdoch, whose media empire includes HarperCollins publishers, Fox television, BSkyB, The Wall Street Journal and the London Times, later apologised for the Tweet following widespread criticism.

"?Jewish owned press? have been sternly criticised, suggesting link to Jewish reporters. Don?t see this, but apologize unreservedly," Murdoch said in a tweet.

Earlier, Murdoch had criticised the media coverage of Israel?s military offensive of Palestinian territory Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas.

"I feel very strongly about the righteousness of Israeli?s cause, particularly when its citizens are under missile attack. So I do get very upset when I see coverage that I feel is unfair and biased," he said in a letter to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

"I should have stuck to the substance of the issue and not bring in irrelevant and incorrect ethnic matters."

Murdoch?s tweet drew sharp criticism from the press with Britain?s Guardian newspaper accusing Murdoch of "trying to channel the right wing?s ardent support of Israel by challenging the left wing?s more critical view of Israeli brinksmanship -- particularly as Israel appears on the verge of another invasion of Gaza".