Peter Chernin has been Rupert Murdoch's right-hand man for more than a decade. A well-known Democrat, Mr Chernin, 56, is as famously liberal as his boss is right-leaning. Based on the west coast, Mr Chernin presides over News Corp's vast entertainment assets, which include the Twentieth Century Fox movie studios and Fox television business. Two years ago, he spearheaded the acquisition of MySpace. This month, News Corp plans two big launches: the unveiling of Fox Business Network and also Hulu.com, a new website for professionally produced video content it is creating with NBC Universal.

In a video interview with FT.com, Mr Chernin talks about the threat from Facebook, News Corp's $5bn acquisition of Dow Jones and its Wall Street Journal newspaper and the outlook for the US economy. Edited highlights are given below.