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Murdoch strikes at democracy

By Stephen Fitzgerald

The first German chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, said there were two sights the public should not see: The making of laws and the making of sausages. To this list of enduringly nauseating spectacles we should add one more: The political machinations of media moguls. It’s called “one-sided censorship.” So, it only goes halfway towards removing freedom of speech but, it goes all the way to undermining democracy.

The headlines read: “Murdoch press a threat to democracy: Cameron”. Senator Cameron said he would take a motion to Labor caucus seeking to widen the existing inquiry into the media to look specifically at News Limited’s “absolute hatred” of Labor.

Going after Labor leaders is one of Rupert’s favourite pastimes. Rather than hunting lions in Africa or tigers on the Punjab – That’s way too dangerous and way too hard and goes nowhere towards right wing corporate control and exploitation of society.

As an example, the response from the average bucko in the street is that Bill Shorten is an idiot. Oh really, on what do you base that powerful observation? The response is always the same – “Because he is.” Whereas, the truth would be: “Because Rupert Murdoch told me so.” It only takes a little tiny bit of observation to work out who the idiots are in politics and, it’s not Bill Shorten, as the polls are now showing.

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd launched an incendiary attack on Tony Abbott and News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch, who he claims have undermined Australian democracy and contributed to the “orgy of political violence” that led to Malcolm Turnbull’s ousting.

Murdoch blew in to take a swipe at Turnbull for being too conservative and usher in the extreme right wing of the LNP. Right-wing media have given a megaphone to reactionary forces in the Liberal Party. ABC political editor Andrew Probyn outlined what look like the very plausible entrails of the evident involvement of Rupert Murdoch in the recent Liberal Party leadership spill.

I vaguely remember, somewhere back, Turnbull having a go at Murdoch. Now, would Murdoch really be that vindictive, that he would make a concerted effort, to get rid of our elected Prime Minister, because Malcolm wouldn’t play ball? Yes, it’s diabolical.

In the U.S. the headlines read: “Corruption? Is Rupert Murdoch Hacking our Democracy?” Reagan exempted Murdoch from foreign ownership rules and eliminated the “Fairness Doctrine.” Rupert Murdoch then became the propaganda recruit for Reagan. A Reagan bitch or, was it the other way around?

Rupert Murdoch bought the Rockefeller mansion in New York for $44 million in cash. The fact that the house used to belong to a Rockefeller shows that Murdoch understands his spiritual ancestors and his role in the world. Every era needs an evil, heartless elitist it can blame its problems on and Rupert foots the bill for the James Bond villain.

If there’s one man in the world who might ever possibly build a device to control the weather and freeze us all unless the governments of the world pay him several hundred billion dollars and recognize Fox News’s copyright of the phrase “Fair and Balanced,” it would be Rupert.

The man has amassed a giant fortune and news empire through consistently pandering to the lowest common denominator and relentless shock journalism, in true William Randolph Hearst fashion. He got big in Britain by putting topless girls on page three of The Sun and the Daily Mirror. If you recall, he was unable to use this tactic in the U.S. They are not so easily titillated so he had to latch on to stuff like the non-existent killer bee threat to get a foothold.

Of course, he also owns the Fox networks, which have given the world some great TV shows, but mostly tasteless sitcoms and horrible reality shows about gold-digging idiot whores. And then there’s Fox News. Rupert must have gotten up one day and said, “I don’t like Labor, so I’m going to start my own news channel where I can hang shit on them all day. Excellent. It’s not really the politics of Fox News that are entirely objectionable as much as Murdoch’s ability to start up his own blatantly obvious propaganda news network.

With all the talk about evil corporations around today, and yesterday, even those clowns at Enron and the drop kicks on Wall Street couldn’t compete with a good old-fashioned robber baron like Murdoch. He’s a super-rich, selflish jerk who doesn’t even attempt to hide it. The only constant for Murdoch is power, money and self-interest.

“Thanks, Rupert. What, you don’t have enough already! You feel the need to suck the life out of society along with the rest of your parasitic cronies. We have independent and social media now and we see straight through you. Leave our democracy alone or we will switch you off.”

‘Click,’ Murdoch’s gone. It’s that easy.

 

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26 comments

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  1. Ill fares the land

    You would be appalled, nay, utterly appalled to read of Murdoch’s shenanigans in the UK to promote his political allies and to denigrate those he chose or chooses not to annoint. He pilloried Neil Kinnock (Labor) and glorified David Cameron. He also glorified Tony Blair, a scum-sucking weasel who was, in truth, a bigger Tory than Margaret Thatcher. He was perfectly happy for Murdoch to gain even more control over the UK media. Blair holidayed with Murdoch and got quite close to the Murdoch family. All perhaps part of ensuring that Blair never became a Murdoch target, but that only perpetuated the downward spiral that results from a person who so desperately seeks to cast the world according to his own commercial interests and views. Embedding those views in the fabric of our society requires a conservative government who trend towards authoritarianism (a mad dystopian view perhaps, but there are many signs of how the LNP pass legislation to quell free speech and dissent – except when it is free speech supporting right-wing views). It is a widely held (albeit dissident) view, that it was Murdoch who strongly encouraged Blair’s decision to involve Britain in Iraq – allegedly because Murdoch saw a Middle East open to US influence as a result and an opportunity to expand his media empire.

    This is also the guy who sees himself as the “king maker” in Australia and he, as well as the rich “establishment” (i.e., those who fear their control over wealth and privilege will be diminshed under Shorten/Labor), will stop at nothing to demonise anyone who becomes a target. He destroyed Turnbull, more or less, out of churlishness and he fears therefore is trying to destory Shorten. When 41% of those polled think Morrison is doing a good job, you can be sure most of that group also detest Shorten – and hold neither view based on fact and a proper assessment of performance – it is simply because Morrison is a conservative and Shorten is Labor and “they”, including Jones, Bolt, Kenny and Savva (or pretty much anyone who writes for the Australian or the FInancial Review) keep telling us Shorten is evil. We are, predictably, so stupid that we believe media claptrap, even when the facts are conveniently ignored.

  2. New England Cocky

    The origin of Rupert Goebbels dislike for the ALP goes back to about 1974/5 when the Whitlam ALP government summonsed him before the Bar of the Senate to answer questions about his news reporting bias against the ALP. The ALP was never forgiven to this day.

    News Ltd, the collection of about 70% of Australia print media mastheads, received favourable financial treatment from major US banks after Rupert agreed NOT to publish the outcome of a JFK interview also attended by then The Australian editor, the late Zel Rabin, in about 1961. JFK had expressed doubts about the Vietnam imperialist intervention, the Cuba missile crisis and the real need for a Cold War against the USSR.

    After “requests” from an increasing number of US State Department officials at every stop-over on the flight from Washington to San Francisco, to Hawaii, then Sydney, Rupert agreed …. and, after the assassination of JFK, gained privileged access to discounted loan rates from the big US banks, often as much as 1% below market rate.

    Subsequently, thanks to leaked documents from The Australian, that paper has never recorded a profit in the 50+ years of publication.

    Now Rupert Goebbels is the Minister for Misinformation and Fake News in the Trumpery Republican misgovernment of the USA (United States of Apartheid).

    HIs vendetta against the ABC is often attributed to his reported poor relationship with his illustrious father, Sir Keith Murdoch, the journalist who accompanied Billy Hughes to London and exposed the incompetence and lies of the British High Command and the waste of too many young Australian lives at ANZAC Cove, forcing the withdrawal of ANZAC troops from that position for re-deployment on the Western Front where more were senselessly slaughtered due to the continuing incompetence of British High Command and British officers.

    Sir Kith objected long and loudly against the formation of the ABC in 1932, claiming that it gave the government a unfair advantage in news gathering because the funding for the ABC came from radio licences and later TV licences. The Whitlam ALP government abandoned licences and brought in proper direct government funding that has frustrated Australian and foreign US citizen media moguls ever since.

  3. Coralie Naumann

    Despite the toxic fumes leaking out of old Rupert, the thing that disgusts me even more, is our government representatives prostituting themselves on Rupert’s alter.

    You have to ask yourself, where the hell are their principles? Why would any voter, vote for a person who only has their own interests at heart?
    Yes I know it isn’t always that obvious to some, but to most it’s so blatantly obvious, yet they continue to turn a blind eye to the shocking behaviour.

    If our representatives in government started voting against bad policies by crossing the floor or at the very least, calling for more debate on the topic, I do believe that Murdoch’s power would be diminished. Corporate sponsored lobbyists/groups or dinner dates at the round table of “cash for comment”, should be illegal in Australia.

    It’d be great to see representatives actually getting out there and meeting the people who might actually vote for them.

    Another thing that’s been getting stuck in my claw, is the small number (?) of representatives who are entitled to buy & sell properties and get to vote on negative gearing and capital gains tax when they obviously have a pecuniary interest in the outcome. They are in a position to know where new developments or infrastructure are on the radar & so they buy up big when they see potential to make a killing. Yes they may divest themselves of property by putting it in a trust or partner’s name, but when it’s all said & done, they are profiting from their position.

    ▪it’s the equivalent of insider trading.

    In the real world that is a crime.

    Coralie.

  4. jim

    Weaseling into all the highest positions of Governments and High Courts, is this why they were booted out of 109 countries? eg ………The Israeli Lobby UK
    In the first of a four-part series, Al Jazeera goes undercover inside the Israel Lobby in Britain. We expose a campaign to infiltrate and influence youth groups, including the National Union of Students, whose president faces a smear campaign coordinated by her own deputy and supported by the Israel Embassy.
    PT1……..www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceCOhdgRBoc

    In part two of The Lobby, our undercover reporter joins a delegation from the Israeli Embassy at last year’s Labour Party Conference. The programme reveals how accusations of anti-Semitism were made against key Labour Party members – and how a former official at the Israeli Embassy was upset when her background was revealed
    PT2 ……www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuk1EhkEctE

    In part three of The Lobby, our undercover reporter travels to the Labour Party Conference, revealing how accusations of anti-Semitism by group within Labour targeted Israel critics and saw some investigated
    pt3…../www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3dn-VV3czc

    In part four of The Lobby, the senior political officer at the Israeli Embassy in London discusses a potential plot to ‘take down’ British politicians – including a Minster of State at the Foreign office who supports Palestinian civil rights.
    PT4…….www.youtube.com/watch?v=pddH2sfNKNY

  5. David Bruce

    You didn’t mention his two other cronies in zionist evil, Dick Cheney and Lord Jacob Rothschild?

    Between them, they own the oil company which expects to get exploration rights in the Golan Heights. At the moment the Heights are owned by Syria, so it will be necessary to balkanize Syria into smaller parcels so that Israel can take control of the Golan Heights.

    What is also missing is that Nutty Benny’s wife is up on fraud charges and Benny maybe added to the list of defendants unless Israel can deliver on the Golan Heights deal.

    We live in a very complicated world, yet it becomes easier to join the dots, once you know where to look!

  6. SteveFitz

    Thanks NEC brought back fond memories – During the Vietnam war, to boost the numbers Billy McMahon introduced conscription for 18-year old’s. Back then we didn’t have the vote until age 21. So, we had no say in the matter, which seemed a bit undemocratic, to the average kid who just wanted to go for a surf. Two years in the armed services or two years in prison, if you objected, was the choice. Yes, we are in Australia.

    I was called up, so I remember 1972 when Gough promised to save young boys from the war, release us from prison and give us the vote. With that national wave of support Gough would have won the election hands down without Murdoch and, Gough could see that.

    Murdoch had hated Menzies. He also hated McMahon, who was in the pocket of the Packers. He campaigned for Whitlam in 1972, with all the emerging power of his newspapers and expected rewards in return. From Whitlam he got nothing and, fair enough.

    Miffed by that and, Whitlam’s failure to accept the Murdoch view on how to run the country, Rupert began his ugly, ruthless campaign to bring Whitlam down. In 1975 Murdoch came back from England where he had just purchased The News of the World. He came back expressly to destroy a government which three years earlier, he believed, he had helped to elect.

    At the behest of a furious, jilted, Rupert Murdoch it was the most savage attack on an elected government in the history of this country – with the possible exception of the attacks on Julia Gillard and Labor’s reforms in the last term of Parliament.

    As pointed out – Murdoch’s hatred for Labor continues to this day. So, how do we get around that. For the sake of higher ideals and, that would be protecting democracy, as already suggested – Switch him off.

    Mr Murdoch – There is a wave of protest rising up against corporate interference in Australian politics. If you interfere with our democracy we will boycott your News Corp products: For starters that would be: news.com.au, Chanel 10, Nova radio, Foxtel, Fox News, Sky News, The Australian, The Telegraph and The Herald. I’ve already done it.

  7. SteveFitz

    David – Imagine a world without fossil fuel – And nothing to fight over. We will run out of it one day so, we have something to look forward to. If we still have a liveable planet.

    Jim – There is political activism coming from all sorts of minority groups – Being aware of it puts us in a better position to respond accordingly.

    Coralie – “Just as they are ready to do anytime free men anywhere waver in their defence of democracy”. We need a collective conscience where good people don’t let bad people get away with it.

  8. SteveFitz

    @ IFTL – The merger of Fairfax Media and Nine Entertainment will create Australia’s largest media company, trumping Fairfax Media’s long-time rival Murdoch’s News Corp for the title. Politicians allow these media giants to grow and expand and create their own problems, in terms of political interference, down the track.

    Fairfax and Nine are not Murdoch although, it would be prudent to have an independent body keep an eye on them to subdue political bias without impacting freedom of speach. It’s a toiugh one and, I think it must come back to our choice – Who do we watch and who do we believe. We already have the guts on Murdoch.

  9. Zathras

    SteveFitz,

    As I recall (perhaps from from Menadue’s memoirs?), after Whitlam’s win Murdoch wanted Whitlam to appoint him High Commissioner to London in return for his media support.

    Whitlam refused and called Murdoch “a shonky slob” into the bargain.

    The rest, as they say, is history.

    I vividly recall the media campaign that followed where “Dole Bludgers” were being paid $350/week in the early edition of The Daily Mirror but $700/week by the Late Edition and the subsequent strike by journalists.

    That’s what drove me to alternative sources like The Nation Review and I’ve never looked back so I’m grateful to Murdoch for that.

    I now know who the real enemies are and have been wary ever since.

  10. SteveFitz

    Thanks Zathras – I have a vague spark of a memory of that now. Whitlam owed Murdock nothing and it shows the arrogance of Murdoch. Something that seems to echo in the character of the LNP. Birds of a feather I guess.

  11. James Lawrie

    The only way the world will ever be free of this ghouls if democratic forces in the US, UK and Australia launch a coup and simultaneously split up his companies.
    If you left him somewhere to retreat to he’d simply bring down your government from there.

    Yes, it’s that bad

  12. Paul

    Hmmm Murdoch, well I have this ‘better off dead list’ and……………

  13. Henry Rodrigues

    As I have long believed and expressed in words many times, there is a hole in the ground with that bastard’s name on it, waiting to be filled.

    Are you listening , crinkled old scrote ?

  14. SteveFitz

    Henry – The average life expectancy for the Australian male is 82.5 years. Murdoch is 87. Knowing that they should have been dead 5 years ago, most people pull their horns in. Not demi-gods, they believe they will live forever. They don’t and, then we will have Lachlan Murdoch. We can only hope he doesn’t worship false idols.

  15. Ross in Gippsland

    All you have to do is have a rock solid black ban on all things Murdoch. Don’t give them one second of your time nor one cent of your money. Anything and everything the Murdoch’s have their greasy fingers in black ban. It’s that easy. A visit to Dorothy Parker at the Loon Pond will re-enforce the reasons why you have the black ban solidly in place without having to swim in the sewer that is Murdoch. http://loonpond.blogspot.com/

  16. MikeW

    Why was Fox given $30 million of tax payers money? And when did Newscorpse last pay tax in Australia?

    As for their journalists(?) Jump… How high Rupert?

  17. Kampbell

    In my local paper, in regional Queensland, every editorial cartoon shows Shorten as a small, buck-toothed dope flanked by a large hulking union thug carrying a stick. Talk to most up here about Shorten and they say he is a union puppet/idiot. On the opposite page on the editorials is a column by Andrew Bolt. And this is considered normal,….. Gah!

  18. guest

    It is interesting to see how the Murdoch media project themselves as “Heart of the Nation” , “Fair and balanced”, “For the informed reader”…etc.

    Yet they rabbit on against other people as employing “identity politics” or “virtue signalling” when they themselves are the very champions of those vices which they see only in others. The hypocrisy is beyond belief.

  19. ChristopherJ

    Hard to boycott the bugger. News owns my town’s only newspaper Cairns Post.

    Still, what kind of Australia do we live in where we allow anyone to own more than say 20 % of newsprint, radio, tv, or cable… Blind F can see higher percentages lead to too much power

    We should be ordering him to divest. I mean, we do make the rules around here, don’t we?

  20. SteveFitz

    Your right Christopher – Murdoch holds about 70% of the regional news papers – It’s called clout. When someone hangs shit on someone else there is always an agenda of self interest or revenge. We should always look for motive and, the unprovoked attacker is generally the bastard with the most to gain. Wiser country folk understand the concept.

    Still, if we didn’t collectively fall for the brain washing, they would probably aim to do what China does. Set up vast re-education camps with giant photos of embracing LNP and corporate leaders hanging along the walls. And nationalistic songs of pride and glory playing all day. Just give them half a chance.

    I like this one: “Let us go children to the Fatherland – Our day of glory has arrived”.

  21. SteveFitz

    Even with media backing, extreme right-wing politics don’t get much support from thinking people. That’s when they seduce the church to pick up the sheep vote.

    So, what we have is the LNP coalition with corporates, the media and now the church. It’s a winning combination that has been woven together over eons. For the sake of democracy, it needs to be unpicked occasionally. With the LNP falling apart, I think we could be seeing that.

  22. ChristopherJ

    Cheers, Steve – seriously though, successive fed govts have been unable to do stuff in our interest while they accept the money… you only need to look at how they carved up the cable tv industry at our considerable cost (higher subscription costs, often only one provider etc. etc.) and it’s taken the higher bandwidth we can now get at home to disrupt their business model and bring in competition.

    Regional towns get their local news from the radio, tv and paper and, oftentimes, people aren’t even aware, or care, if their ‘news’ all comes from NewsC.

    Thinking people come on line to get national or global events, but we turn back to local sources when we have to. Time this country told him and other media power brokers to divest. Only competition and a ban on political donations can fix what is a nasty, brutish way for a non US citizen to operate multiple businesses in a country and provide what goes for news (and whatever version of social responsibility they have (make out like bandits??))

  23. Andreas Bimba

    Rupert undermines the world’s democracies, his political agenda has led to a massive transfer of national wealth to the wealthiest few percent and neoliberalism and government austerity being forced upon the world’s populations step by step over the last forty years. Millions have as a consequence endured miserable lives of poverty or unemployment and being deprived of adequate government services like healthcare. Hundreds of thousands of people must have died prematurely and needlessly over this period.

    Labor has also implemented Rupert’s wishes and the destructive neoliberal agenda but to get elected they also needed to chase the brainwashed or brain dead part of the electorate that got what they wanted.

    Public guillotining is long overdue.

  24. Angry Old Man

    @Andreas Bimba

    No! I do not agree with public guillotining. Even horrible scrotes like RM deserve a modicum of decency in death. Mind you, I’m okay with the display of their heads on pikes, as a warning to the others. It’s only fair.

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