It Should Be Called Bad News Corp.

No matter where the blame rests in the decision by Sandy Koufax to sever relations with the Dodgers for as long as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is the owner, this much is certain:

It is merely the latest chapter in a tumultuous ownership saga that has made even Donald Sterling look like a smooth operator.

This is not to suggest that contributions be sent to the David Checketts Ownership Fund (What’s that about being careful what you wish for?), but in only five years, News Corp. has turned tradition to turmoil, stability to stagger.

Not all of it can be laid directly on the owner, of course.

There are always complicating factors.

But then, where does the buck stop?

Who else but Murdoch and Peter Chernin and the top News Corp. executives are the ultimate watchmen on the wall, in the words of Isaiah?

Who else could be said to have run a parlay of going behind their general manager’s back to trade Mike Piazza, the most popular player in franchise history, and so angering Koufax, the most acclaimed pitcher in franchise history, that the almost mythical left-hander now wants nothing to do with the organization?

Yes, maybe News Corp. can’t be held responsible for every item in each of its publications -- Should it be noteworthy that Murdoch’s son, Lachlan, is publisher of the New York Post? -- and maybe Koufax overreacted to the item in that paper that ran in December. It might have continued to draw scant national attention if news of Koufax’s boycott hadn’t leaked in Vero Beach on Thursday.

Yes, maybe Koufax would have been better leaving it alone, but there is no question as to whom the unattributed item was pointing at as a homosexual -- as a similar item had seemed to point at Piazza last year -- and there is also no question that such items are common in Murdoch’s papers around the globe.

The Post -- perhaps under pressure from Murdoch sensing a fan and media uproar over the schism between Koufax and the Dodgers -- issued a statement Friday, saying that the item had been incorrect. That, of course, did not change the fact that it had run. Nor did it change the perception that News Corp.’s journalistic tone and style have become that of the Dodgers. Certainly, no one would suggest that it is similar to the tone and style under Peter O’Malley.

Consider:

* There was the trading of Piazza by Fox executive Chase Carey, who informed neither President Bob Graziano nor then-General Manager Fred Claire. Carey also was not aware that Gary Sheffield, among the five players acquired from the Florida Marlins, had a no-trade clause, so it was embarrassing to Fox and the Dodgers when Sheffield held up the deal until the Dodgers gave him $5 million more.

* There was the midnight firing of loyalists Claire and Manager Bill Russell. They were ordered to Dodger Stadium after returning with the team from Colorado -- on the day that former club executive Al Campanis died.

* There were the appointment of Tom Lasorda as interim GM and his decision to trade Paul Konerko for closer Jeff Shaw in an attempt to make the playoffs and keep his job.

* There was the firing of Graziano by Rick Welts, who was brought in by Fox to be the Dodger czar, among other duties, but wasn’t told that Chernin was negotiating with old friend and mentor Bob Daly to become Dodger chairman and 5% owner. Welts soon disappeared, and Daly subsequently rehired Graziano, as Chernin tried to say Graziano had never been fired.

* There was the signing of Kevin Brown to a seven-year, $105-million contract as the last big-name free agent at the time. Agent Scott Boras was able to hold the club hostage because of the criticism it had absorbed in trading Piazza and failing to sign Randy Johnson after offering him less than half of what Brown would be offered. Then-General Manager Kevin Malone was largely responsible for Brown’s signing, but other club and Fox officials endorsed it.

* There was Malone’s tumultuous tenure, including a three-year, $15-million signing of erratic Carlos Perez, who would do damage on and off the field; the forced resignation of longtime Dodger Mike Scioscia, who would subsequently lead the Angels to a World Series title; the feud with Manager Davey Johnson, which included Malone’s sniping at Johnson through the media; the $55-million signing of the oft-injured and inconsistent Darren Dreifort (a decision largely made by Daly), and ultimately the verbal exchange with a fan in San Diego, leading to his firing and subsequent news conference at which Malone portrayed himself as a victim of the media.

* There was, amid all that, the equally tumultuous and tense spring in which Sheffield carried out a daily and verbal personal assault on teammates and the club chairman over his failure to get a new contract. There were management’s denials near the end of the 2000 season that a decision had been made on Johnson’s status when, in fact, it had, as was revealed by a Times story before the final series in San Diego, making management look foolish. Johnson then forced the club to delay a news conference for several days while he went fishing.

Call it an embarrassing catalog that’s restricted here by space, and now, against that backdrop, there is the Koufax tumult as News Corp. tries to sell the club and it becomes clear that the Fox objective all along was to establish and enhance the value of the regional TV networks.

Lachlan Murdoch said just that during a recent appearance on the Charlie Rose television show.

“With the Dodgers, strategically it was the right thing to own the Dodgers while we were building our cable,” he said.

“I think that strategical imperative has passed now.”

Neither the Post nor News Corp. has issued a statement saying Rupert’s son was wrong.