Sunday 25 August 2013
Bloody Nora! Rupe's excelled himself
Rupert Murdoch knows the power of images and he's so determined that his mate Tony Abbott will be the next PM that his Shakespeare-quoting henchmen depicting present Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as a straight jacketed, serial killing cannibal is par for the course.
Source: TheAustralian
"That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain
Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5"
Sunday 18 August 2013
This is the man who is using his media empire in support of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's bid to become Australian Prime Minister..... Part 2
Saturday 17 August 2013
Australian Federal Election 2013: backlash against Murdoch's political tactics
Tuesday 13 August 2013
Murdoch's minions labour to produce a little undergraduate humour
Saturday 10 August 2013
TheFinnigans take Murdoch's measure
Thursday 18 July 2013
Hartsuyker jumps on Murdoch misinformation bandwagon and rest of mainstream media fall in line behind him
Tuesday 9 July 2013
This is the man who is using his media empire in support of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's bid to become Australian Prime Minister.....
Invading people’s privacy by listening to their voicemail is wrong. Paying police officers for information is wrong. This is why News International is co-operating fully with the police, whose job it is to see that justice is done. [Rupert Murdoch 2011]
"We're talking about payments for news tips from cops: that's been going on a hundred years, absolutely...But why are the police behaving in this way? It’s the biggest inquiry ever over next to nothing. " [Rupert Murdoch 2013]
US media mogul Rupert Murdoch mocks police and the investigation into News of the World telephone hacking.
Wednesday 19 June 2013
Tuesday 9 April 2013
In the days when Rupert didn't pretend he wasn't about regime change
Sunday 24 March 2013
A pinch of perspective for the Australian media and political commentators in March 2013
ESA and the Planck Collaboration
Description
The anisotropies of the Cosmic microwave background (CMB) as observed by Planck. The CMB is a snapshot of the oldest light in our Universe, imprinted on the sky when the Universe was just 380 000 years old. It shows tiny temperature fluctuations that correspond to regions of slightly different densities, representing the seeds of all future structure: the stars and galaxies of today
Sunday 17 March 2013
Take a look at the News Media (Self regulation) Bill 2013 for yourself
Thursday 8 September 2011
Ouch! That's gotta hurt News Corp
Sunday 24 July 2011
The Australian publishes for the lulz
Hold on to your hats, good folk in the media! opens The Australian newspaper's Media Blog article on 12 July 2011 titled The little crap sheet that could, as News Corporation was preparing to front a U.K. parliamentary committee.
It went on to say:
Crikey says today that it’s going to draw up a Code of Conduct - for itself!
Of course it won’t be some wanky document it uses to fan its face.
Once it’s done, you can expect:
a) to get a call from Crikey staff, each and every time they intend to smear you;
b) no more using the answers you give, in good faith, to sneer and giggle at you a second time; on the contrary, you’ll get a fair, honest, mature hearing;
c) no more quoting from cheap-shot anonymous emails which, whether they believe it or not, most media outlets get, and most choose to ignore;
d) no more nastiness, in the putrid swamp that is the Crikey comments thread;
e) no more publishing, verbatim, the emails from PR flaks that yes, everyone gets, but no-one else goes near (Did you see this mistake, on Nine?! Did you see that mistake, on Seven!) not least because it makes them look cheap, nasty and lazy;
f) a celebration from Crikey, each and every time one of their enemies (none of which they’ve ever met) does something good, as opposed to piling on the bile;
g) some original reporting for a change, instead of endless raking over what other media are doing;
h) no more carping at successful media companies that employ many staff, do many good things, try new ideas, and who occassionally [sic] fail but at least give it a go, when the best Crikey can do is put out a dicky little newsheet, 90 per cent of which is recycled, bitchy, or wrong;
i) pigs, flying.
Now I've stopped uncontrollably laughing at The
The anonymous journalist sarcastically writing in Media Diary unintentionally furthers the case for removal of the media's right to self-regulate its own behaviour through that tame and toothless body, the Australian Press Council.
Sunday 17 July 2011
One Man's Opinion: News Corporation is sorry.....
Advertisement placed in The Guardian newspaper in Britain and other media
during the week ending 16 July 2011
Click to enlarge
Rupert Murdoch and his sons Lachlan and James in happier days
What is the Murdoch family and the News Corporation media conglomerate it dominates sorry for?Why, for being caught of course.
Who will the family and corporation blame for the unfolding scandal? Inevitably, everyone and anyone other than members of the Murdoch family.
Is this the end of Rupert Murdoch's political influence?
Only if Britain, the United States and Australia all refuse to support the argument that the international media empire he heads is too big to be allowed to fail.
Who or what will be the losers if Murdoch's political balls aren't removed?
Without a doubt, democratic institutions in every county in which News Corp, its subsidiaries and affiliates, operate.
But News Corp isn't behaving badly in Australia is it?
Oh yes it is. In the absence of world war, widespread civil conflict, country-wide famine or desperate national financial crisis driving a need, the Murdoch press has broadly stated an aim of destroying one minor democratic political party and repeatedly calls for an early election (beginning within days of the 2010 ballot results) with the aim of regime change at federal level.
It deliberately misquotes and misrepresents those public figures or scientists who do not support its skewed views.
It is known to have attempted to charge at least one political party for favourable published comment (Page 1 & Page 2) by its journalists during an election campaign and patently wouldn't recognise its own (or indeed any other) Professional Conduct Policy if it fell over a tattered copy on the footpath.
A bit of background courtesy of The Guardian UK and Granny Herald AUS:
Phone hacking: Murdoch goes on defensive over 'total lies' by MPs
Les Hinton sacrificed, but the worst is yet to come for News Corp
Rebekah Brooks's resignation letter
Phone hacking: Met police put pressure on Guardian over coverage
Phone hacking: Murdoch paid US anti-bribery law lobbyists
Rebekah Brooks's belated resignation intensifies spotlight on James Murdoch
News of the World phone hacking - interactive timeline
Murdoch's strange hunt for a handout
Pics found at Google Images
UPDATE:
Staying true to the lack of ethics displayed by its parent company, News Ltd's Herald Sun published this incitement to murder in a comment section, according to @heraldsunreader:
Saturday 16 July 2011
Can Australia Afford The Murdochs? A brief look at some players in the Australia Network tender
News Corporation already owns a controlling 39.1 percent stake in British Sky Broadcasting
Rupert Murdoch is Chairman/CEO and Elisabeth and Lachlan Murdoch are directors of News Corporation
News Corporation is one of the world's largest media conglomerates
News Limited operates as News Corporation's Australian brand
News International Chairman/CEO is James Murdoch
Lachlan Murdoch's private company holds 9 per cent of Prime television
Lachlan Murdoch is acting acting CEO and a substantial shareholder in Ten Network
In 2006 News Ltd controlled 68 percent of the Australian metropolitan and regional newspaper market
Sometime in February 2012 the Australian Government intends to grant a contract to operate its overseas media service, Australia Network
British Sky Broadcasting and the public broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation are both participating in the competitive tender.
Given the recent disclosures of alleged widespread wrongdoing within the News Corporation Group, can the nation afford either the risk to international reputation or domestic democratic processes by allowing the Murdoch family any more media influence than it already has?
* Phone hacking: both Murdochs agree to face MPs following jail threat
* FBI probe puts pressure on News shares
* News of the World phone hacking - interactive timeline, 6 November 2005 to 15 July 2011
Cartoon from Google Images
Saturday 9 July 2011
The three amigos who dragged international jouralism ethics through the lowest of noisome gutters
The two editors and owner of Britain's 168 year-old News of the World online and print newspaper Andy Coulsen (top left)Rebekah Brooks (top right) Rupert Murdoch (centre) in church in 2005 - during a period in which they allegedly oversaw sytematic unlawful hacking of the phones of public figures and ordinary people, as well as alleged suspect payments to police, and who between them managed to close the 168 year-old Sunday tabloid this month as the scandal broadens and more arrests are expected.
If old Sir Keith were still alive even he would probably give his son a right-old bollocking.
Thank heavens Rupert renounced his Australian citizenship - officially he's not our blacksheep now!
http://youtu.be/v1AJjnl2y8U
And then there's young James.......
From Granny Herald on 8th July in "The wrong redtop goes"
"There were a few noble politicians prepared to go where others would not and criticise the News of the World despite the likelihood of offending Britain’s most powerful media companies.
But there are plenty of villains. Andy Coulson, who replaced Brooks as editor and was there when the paper appears to have been its most hack-happy; after resigning twice over the affair, once from the Prime Minister's office, he is reportedly close to being arrested. Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who did much of the hacking and served time in jail for it. The many others who surely knew what was going on, sanctioned it and so far have gone unpunished.
And there is still Rebekah Brooks. As then editor and now chief executive, the buck stops with her. As long she keeps her job, her immediate boss, James Murdoch, is a villain too. Without her departure, he will be the man who sacked scores who had no responsibility, and saved the neck of one who did."
UPDATE:
The Guardian UK Friday 8 July 2011 13.16 BST
Andy Coulson arrested over phone-hacking allegations
"Andy Coulson, the prime minister's former press spokesman, has been arrested and is being held in custody at a police station in south London.
Scotland Yard said that at 10.30am on Friday officers from Operation Weeting – the phone-hacking inquiry – and a team investigating illegal payments to police officers within the Metropolitan force arrested a 43-year-old man who had arrived by appointment.
Scotland Yard said he was being held in custody and would be questioned in connection with allegations of corruption and phone hacking.
The arrest came after Operation Weeting officers were handed further information from News International three weeks ago which detailed allegedly illegal payments to a handful of officers at the Yard.
It is understood Coulson, a former editor of the News of the World, will be held for several hours for questioning. Officers will take him through documentation, much of it handed over by his former employer News International.
He will be questioned on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to Section 1 (1) Criminal Law Act 1977 and "on suspicion of corruption allegations" contrary to Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906."
Friday 8 July 2011
Fox News dissected
From 14 Propaganda Techniques Fox "News" Uses to Brainwash Americans
Saturday 2 July 2011 by: Dr. Cynthia Boaz, Truthout | News Analysis
1. Panic Mongering. This goes one step beyond simple fear mongering. With panic mongering, there is never a break from the fear. The idea is to terrify and terrorize the audience during every waking moment. From Muslims to swine flu to recession to homosexuals to immigrants to the rapture itself, the belief over at Fox seems to be that if your fight-or-flight reflexes aren't activated, you aren't alive. This of course raises the question: why terrorize your own audience? Because it is the fastest way to bypasses the rational brain. In other words, when people are afraid, they don't think rationally. And when they can't think rationally, they'll believe anything.
2. Character Assassination/Ad Hominem. Fox does not like to waste time debating the idea. Instead, they prefer a quicker route to dispensing with their opponents: go after the person's credibility, motives, intelligence, character, or, if necessary, sanity. No category of character assassination is off the table and no offense is beneath them. Fox and like-minded media figures also use ad hominem attacks not just against individuals, but entire categories of people in an effort to discredit the ideas of every person who is seen to fall into that category, e.g. "liberals," "hippies," "progressives" etc. This form of argument - if it can be called that - leaves no room for genuine debate over ideas, so by definition, it is undemocratic. Not to mention just plain crass.
3. Projection/Flipping. This one is frustrating for the viewer who is trying to actually follow the argument. It involves taking whatever underhanded tactic you're using and then accusing your opponent of doing it to you first. We see this frequently in the immigration discussion, where anti-racists are accused of racism, or in the climate change debate, where those who argue for human causes of the phenomenon are accused of not having science or facts on their side. It's often called upon when the media host finds themselves on the ropes in the debate.
4. Rewriting History. This is another way of saying that propagandists make the facts fit their worldview. The Downing Street Memos on the Iraq war were a classic example of this on a massive scale, but it happens daily and over smaller issues as well. A recent case in point is Palin's mangling of the Paul Revere ride, which Fox reporters have bent over backward to validate. Why lie about the historical facts, even when they can be demonstrated to be false? Well, because dogmatic minds actually find it easier to reject reality than to update their viewpoints. They will literally rewrite history if it serves their interests. And they'll often speak with such authority that the casual viewer will be tempted to question what they knew as fact.
5. Scapegoating/Othering. This works best when people feel insecure or scared. It's technically a form of both fear mongering and diversion, but it is so pervasive that it deserves its own category. The simple idea is that if you can find a group to blame for social or economic problems, you can then go on to a) justify violence/dehumanization of them, and b) subvert responsibility for any harm that may befall them as a result.
6. Conflating Violence With Power and Opposition to Violence With Weakness. This is more of what I'd call a "meta-frame" (a deeply held belief) than a media technique, but it is manifested in the ways news is reported constantly. For example, terms like "show of strength" are often used to describe acts of repression, such as those by the Iranian regime against the protesters in the summer of 2009. There are several concerning consequences of this form of conflation. First, it has the potential to make people feel falsely emboldened by shows of force - it can turn wars into sporting events. Secondly, especially in the context of American politics, displays of violence - whether manifested in war or debates about the Second Amendment - are seen as noble and (in an especially surreal irony) moral. Violence become synonymous with power, patriotism and piety.
7. Bullying. This is a favorite technique of several Fox commentators. That it continues to be employed demonstrates that it seems to have some efficacy. Bullying and yelling works best on people who come to the conversation with a lack of confidence, either in themselves or their grasp of the subject being discussed. The bully exploits this lack of confidence by berating the guest into submission or compliance. Often, less self-possessed people will feel shame and anxiety when being berated and the quickest way to end the immediate discomfort is to cede authority to the bully. The bully is then able to interpret that as a "win."
8. Confusion. As with the preceding technique, this one works best on an audience that is less confident and self-possessed. The idea is to deliberately confuse the argument, but insist that the logic is airtight and imply that anyone who disagrees is either too dumb or too fanatical to follow along. Less independent minds will interpret the confusion technique as a form of sophisticated thinking, thereby giving the user's claims veracity in the viewer's mind.
9. Populism. This is especially popular in election years. The speakers identifies themselves as one of "the people" and the target of their ire as an enemy of the people. The opponent is always "elitist" or a "bureaucrat" or a "government insider" or some other category that is not the people. The idea is to make the opponent harder to relate to and harder to empathize with. It often goes hand in hand with scapegoating. A common logical fallacy with populism bias when used by the right is that accused "elitists" are almost always liberals - a category of political actors who, by definition, advocate for non-elite groups.
10. Invoking the Christian God. This is similar to othering and populism. With morality politics, the idea is to declare yourself and your allies as patriots, Christians and "real Americans" (those are inseparable categories in this line of thinking) and anyone who challenges them as not. Basically, God loves Fox and Republicans and America. And hates taxes and anyone who doesn't love those other three things. Because the speaker has been benedicted by God to speak on behalf of all Americans, any challenge is perceived as immoral. It's a cheap and easy technique used by all totalitarian entities from states to cults.
11. Saturation. There are three components to effective saturation: being repetitive, being ubiquitous and being consistent. The message must be repeated cover and over, it must be everywhere and it must be shared across commentators: e.g. "Saddam has WMD." Veracity and hard data have no relationship to the efficacy of saturation. There is a psychological effect of being exposed to the same message over and over, regardless of whether it's true or if it even makes sense, e.g., "Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States." If something is said enough times, by enough people, many will come to accept it as truth. Another example is Fox's own slogan of "Fair and Balanced."
12. Disparaging Education. There is an emerging and disturbing lack of reverence for education and intellectualism in many mainstream media discourses. In fact, in some circles (e.g. Fox), higher education is often disparaged as elitist. Having a university credential is perceived by these folks as not a sign of credibility, but of a lack of it. In fact, among some commentators, evidence of intellectual prowess is treated snidely and as anti-American. The disdain for education and other evidence of being trained in critical thinking are direct threats to a hive-mind mentality, which is why they are so viscerally demeaned.
13. Guilt by Association. This is a favorite of Glenn Beck and Andrew Breitbart, both of whom have used it to decimate the careers and lives of many good people. Here's how it works: if your cousin's college roommate's uncle's ex-wife attended a dinner party back in 1984 with Gorbachev's niece's ex-boyfriend's sister, then you, by extension are a communist set on destroying America. Period.
14. Diversion. This is where, when on the ropes, the media commentator suddenly takes the debate in a weird but predictable direction to avoid accountability. This is the point in the discussion where most Fox anchors start comparing the opponent to Saul Alinsky or invoking ACORN or Media Matters, in a desperate attempt to win through guilt by association. Or they'll talk about wanting to focus on "moving forward," as though by analyzing the current state of things or God forbid, how we got to this state of things, you have no regard for the future. Any attempt to bring the discussion back to the issue at hand will likely be called deflection, an ironic use of the technique of projection/flipping.
Tuesday 12 January 2010
Fox News: what more can be said?
Still chortling over this NYT knifing of Fox News CEO Roger Ailes:
"I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes's horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to," said Matthew Freud, who is married to Ms. Murdoch and whom PR Week magazine says is the most influential public relations executive in London.
Hat tip to Larvatus Prodeo for tweeting a link.
Friday 10 July 2009
Tells us what you think invites News Limited. Oh, the temptation!
Tuesday 7 July 2009
Oops! Where did that soldier come from? Another reminder that News Ltd is not quite the bastion of journalistic integrity it likes to proclaim it is.
In the wake of News Ltd CEO John Hartigan's attack on blogs and praise of newspapers, a number of bloggers have pointed out that newspapers from this stable are not renown for factual reporting of late if one remembers the Steve Lewis-sanctioned 'scoop' report on that government email (quickly proven to be faked) and publication of those equally fake revealing photographs of a certain political candidate.
Here is another little gem to add to the list. The Herald-Sun getting rapped over the knuckles by the Australian Press Council for doctoring a photograph - Adjudication No. 1420 (May 2009).