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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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 Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2010 6:46 pm Post subject: The malign influence of Rupert Murdoch on British life |
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Rupert Murdoch and the future of British media
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| As angry MPs agree witnesses should be called to account over the phone-hacking affair, Henry Porter and Will Hutton examine the wide influence of the media empire behind the scandal |
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News International acts as if it is above the law and has contributed to the coarsening of society's values, writes Henry Porter
When Rupert Murdoch appeared on his own Fox News Channel last week and was, astonishingly, asked about the News of the World phone-hacking scandal � "the story that was really buzzing around the country and certainly here in New York", as the anchorman put it � Murdoch cut him off with the words: "I'm not talking about that issue at all today. I'm sorry."
Seen against the background of Sun Valley, Idaho, and in short sleeves and sunglasses, Murdoch appeared more like a gangster fighting extradition proceedings than the attendee of a media conference. For some reason, the vicious agility of the elderly Hyman Roth in The Godfather, Part II came to mind. Naturally, the Fox News anchor didn't challenge the man he called Mr Chairman and the matter of the mass hacking of phones belonging to MPs, public figures and celebrities was dropped as Murdoch moved to praise his own organisation for its robust criticism of the Obama administration, delivering one swift jab at a competitor, the Financial Times, in the process.
Murdoch is a problem for British society and the News of the World phone-hacking story � given further impetus over the last 10 days by the New York Times and the Guardian � is a symptom of the chronic malignity of his power. In the last 40 years, we have grown used to News International (NI), so that it is difficult to imagine Britain without Murdoch's occupation, without, for instance, the leaders of the main parties humiliating themselves and our political system to gain his endorsement, or News International journalists and executives treating the law, national institutions and Parliament with disdain.
Murdoch has become one of the political issues of our time, as menacing in his own special way to democracy and conduct of politics as many other threats our society faces, only we do not see it, because his power is used behind the scenes to extend his commercial influence and so his grip on the flow of so much of the information in Britain. He and his equally unappealing son, James, (probable salary �1.3m) may bellyache about the BBC, but when you set the advertising spend and income of BSkyB alongside those of ITV and the BBC and add his newspapers and websites into the equation, you realise that Murdoch is by far the greatest force. |
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| His overriding concern is that the government remains covertly in step with his plans for expansion and that the flow of profits to News Corp remains uninterrupted. It is as though we had handed over a huge chunk of British agricultural land or given up our food distribution networks to a relentless foreign corporation. |
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I'm sick of Murdoch having so much extraordinary power in my country. I recall as an undergrad reading that Tony Blair had had dinner with Murdoch. Suddenly, my Tory voting Times reading friends were all gushing over Blair and the suitability of the Labour party to run the country. I knew Blair would win the next election. Murdoch had decided it would be so. And so it was.
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| No British political party has succeeded at an election in the last 30 years without Murdoch's blessing and the drumbeat of his papers can make life extremely difficult for a government when he withdraws his support, as he did from Labour last year. This ability to intervene decisively in general elections gives him immediate access to the prime minister and power to his editors to dictate laws, such as Sarah's Law. |
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| Blair's deputy director of communications, Lance Price, called Murdoch the 24th member of the cabinet. "His presence was always felt," he wrote. "No big decision could ever be made inside Number 10 without taking account of the likely reaction of three men � Gordon Brown, John Prescott and Rupert Murdoch. On all the really big decisions, anybody else could safely be ignored." That is almost certainly true of the new government and Andy Coulson is seen as the key facilitator of Rupert's habitual privilege. |
A friend of mine (a gentle and highly respected member of the community - living in a safe Tory electorate) once surprised me with his calm announcement that if he had only 5 minutes to live and a gun - he'd walk up to Rupert Murdoch and blow his head off. A duty to his country. |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2010 7:13 pm Post subject: |
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Murdoch is trying to strenthen his grip on the UK.
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These next few months are crucial for the future of the British media in a way in which MPs, exercised by Andy Coulson, have simply not registered. The review is the last line of defence in preventing News International (NI) from controlling half of Britain's television revenues � and half its newspaper revenues � by the middle of the next decade. The company would then represent the single largest concentration of media power in any large democracy, a practice outlawed in Australia and the US, with huge implications not just for British politics and culture, but also for the structure of the media and the information industry. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2010 7:47 pm Post subject: Re: The malign influence of Rupert Murdoch on British life |
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| Big_Bird wrote: |
| I'm sick of Murdoch having so much extraordinary power in my country. |
I know the feeling. |
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Louis VI
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
Location: In my Kingdom
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| Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2010 8:52 pm Post subject: |
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| the man he called Mr Chairman |
Mao? |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 3:35 am Post subject: |
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| His Fox news is a cancer eating at the life of the U.S. He is utterly ruthless and has used media to become a powerbroker. Britain is leader of the commonwealth cant the queen send him to the tower or something. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 10:27 am Post subject: |
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| He ruined the WSJ. |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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Read all about it: The secret dossier of lawbreaking that spells trouble for Rupert Murdoch...and David Cameron
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The News of the World paid a private detective to provide hundreds of pieces of confidential information, often using illegal means, a confidential document obtained by The Independent on Sunday has revealed.
The "Blue Book", a ledger of work carried out by Steve Whittamore for News International titles, including the NoW and The Sunday Times, details a series of transactions including obtaining ex-directory phone numbers, telephone accounts, criminal records checks and withheld mobile numbers. It reveals the itemised details of checks on public figures, including Peter Mandelson, ordered and paid for � at up to �750 a time � by reporters working for the redtop. Staff from a number of other national newspapers made similar requests, and their details are contained in further dossiers held by the Information Commissioner, the privacy watchdog.
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The disclosure of the extent to which the NoW and its sister titles used the services of private investigators to obtain personal information by questionable means will add to the controversy threatening to engulf News International (NI), whose bosses have consistently denied any wrongdoing over the affair.
The wide-ranging extent of the phone hacking and other activities could damage NI's share price in the long run � and reduce the fortune of its boss, Rupert Murdoch. |
Oh, if only! |
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ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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| mises wrote: |
| He ruined the WSJ. |
He, and the fools that sold it to him  |
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Jeonmunka
Joined: 05 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 5:25 am Post subject: |
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| I read Rupert Murdoch's biography. It was the saddest thing because nothing in it mentioned anything of a personal note. There was nothing about his deeper thoughts for people in his life, no thoughts about the social future or his philosophy. The whole book was all money - figures of takeovers, the mergers and acquisitions ... prices paid for companies and stock. Except for a brief look at his schooling, of which it just mentioned the team he played rugby for, there was absolutely nothing personal in it. It was sad. HE must be sad if that is the measure of his life. |
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ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:56 pm Post subject: |
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Have you seen his hot Chinese wife?
That man can buy happiness or a reasonable facsimile  |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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Murdoch's Watergate
The U.K. phone-hacking scandal will undo the media mogul. |
http://www.slate.com/id/2267468/ |
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