OPINION: Stuart Elliott in America.(Editorial)

Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rupert Murdoch?

For those familiar with the source of the quotation, the Edward G Robinson crime melodrama Little Caesar (1931), the answer must be no. But are there now finally some chinks in the armour of one of the fastest-growing Murdoch media mainstays, the Fox News Channel in the United States?

In a word, yes. And the delicious part is, the wounds were self-inflicted.

For the longest time, advertisers and agencies have been transfixed at the rapid, unexpected ratings growth of Fox News, which competes against CNN (Cable News Network), the AOL Time Warner all-news cable channel that since its inception had been the ratings and ad sales leader.

Suddenly, it seems, Fox News - with its bombastic approach to news coverage, eschewing objectivity for a pugnaciously opinionated, flag-waving, right-of-centre world view modelled after in-your-face American talk-radio stations - has emerged as the leader in viewership and so-called 'buzz', though still lagging in commercial revenues because CNN is still perceived as the leader in, for lack of a better word, class.

Fox News, mischievously promoted with the slogans 'Fair and balanced' and 'We report. You decide', seemingly could do no wrong, especially under the reign of George W Bush, as US popular opinion tilted rightward in the wake of 9/11. But as your Herman and the Hermits once so eloquently advised, 'This door swings both ways', and the portal suddenly has hit Murdoch, Roger Ailes, the chairman and CEO of Fox News, and Bill O'Reilly, its star anchor, in their posteriors.

The delectable element of the turnabout-is-fair-play story, as ...