"By contributing $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, Fox has crossed a bright line. Fox can no longer pretend that it is a 'fair and balanced' news organization when Rupert Murdoch greenlights a million dollar contribution to defeat Democratic governors.

"Time and time again, Fox News has defended itself against accusations that it is nothing more than a tool of the Republican Party. We know now that the reality is so much worse: they're bankrolling the GOP. FOX's news division is ignoring the fact that its own parent company made a direct and unprecedented partisan contribution to defeat Democrats. This is hypocrisy at its worst, and is a sad day for all of us who believe that an independent and impartial media is vital to our democracy.

"Not only does this contribution severely compromise Fox's news reporting, but it even breaks Fox's own promise to its shareholders that it won't give money to benefit officeholders.

"While it might be naive to think this will ever happen, we can only hope that Fox will own up to the activities and that its stable of opinion hosts like Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly will do the right thing and call on their company to return the contribution."