Octogenarian U.S. citizen, international media mogul and papal knight since1998 Rupert Keith Murdoch is a living example of the perils of concentrated media ownership.
For many in America, the United Kingdom and Australia his name is filed under 'arrogant' 'avaricious' and 'ruthless'.
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| Media mogul Rupert Keith Murdoch : Google Images |
The Guardian, 20 September 2018:
In his farewell speech
as prime minister last month, Malcolm
Turnbull pointed to “an insurgency” in his own party and “outside forces in
the media” as the architects of his demise.
If there was any doubt
at all who the media forces Turnbull was referring to during those final
minutes in the prime mister’s courtyard in Canberra, there is, after the events
of the past 24 hours, none now.
Rupert Murdoch is
the name firmly in the frame along with his ubiquitous News Corp empire – an
organisation which is accused of playing a major role in orchestrating the
removal from office of not just Turnbull but also Labor’s Kevin Rudd.
In the case of Turnbull
he believed his Liberal colleagues had been gripped by “a form of madness” so
the only way they could see to end the unrelenting internal turmoil and
negative coverage in the media was to cave into it and replace him as leader…..
But the details
that have emerged over the past 48 hours of the role the US-based
Murdoch played during last month’s visit to his Australian assets raise serious
questions about how Australian politics can be swayed by a concentrated media
industry where News Corp dominates.
Turnbull certainly
believes he was the target of a News Corp campaign. When he narrowly fended off
Peter Dutton in a party
room spill on Tuesday 21 August, Turnbull phoned Murdoch to ask him
why he was trying to replace him with the home affairs minister.
Rupert Murdoch intends to transform Australia into a conservative
nation and he wants to put it on the Trump road
Associate Professor David McKnight
Turnbull had watched
horrified as shortly after Murdoch’s arrival in Australia, News Corp, the most
powerful media organisation in the land, turned on him. The Daily Telegraph
warned of “a toxic brawl” over energy policy and that Dutton was preparing to
challenge him. On Sky the night-time commentators Peta Credlin and
Andrew Bolt ramped up their negative coverage of the national energy guarantee
and Turnbull’s performance.
“There was no doubt there was a marked shift
in the tone and content of the News Corp publications once Rupert arrived,” one
of Turnbull’s former staff told Guardian Australia. “And there was no doubt in
our minds that News was backing Dutton.”
The prime minister had
another reason to believe the octogenarian media mogul was driving the negative
coverage – Turnbull had been warned by another media mogul that Rupert wanted
him replaced.
According
to both the Australian Financial Review and the
ABC, Murdoch had told fellow media billionaire Kerry Stokes, owner of
the Seven Network, a few days before that Turnbull should be replaced. Guardian
Australia also reported that Turnbull was warned in a phone call from Stokes
that Murdoch and his media company News Corp were intent on removing him from
power.
Stokes is said to have
replied that the likely result of such a campaign would be to deliver
government to Labor and Bill Shorten. But Murdoch is reported to have brushed
aside such concerns, saying it would only be for three years and he made money
under Labor in the past.
By that week’s end the
deed was done. Turnbull was out as prime minister, replaced
by Scott Morrison after Dutton’s much hyped candidacy failed to get
the numbers....
Read the full article here.
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