The power of Rupert Murdoch vs. the power of social media
Australian activist group GetUp! recently made a TV ad criticising the open bias of Rupert Murdoch's newspapers in Australia, which have given highly critical coverage of PM Kevin Rudd and painted a glowing portrait of arch-conservative would-be PM Tony Abbott. Given that Murdoch controls nearly 70% of all print media in this country, you could say he has considerable clout.
Supporters of GetUp! chipped in to put the ad to air, but the commercial networks, Channels 7, 9 and 10 refused to air it. As it's not pornographic, racist or offensive to anyone other than Mr Murdoch, it's a bit hard for the stations to justify. But according to GetUp!, some station representatives have admitted they "don't want to offend Rupert Murdoch". (I guess he might own them some day.)
But they can't ban Youtube, and the ad is going viral. I'm putting it up here, in case anyone on DU needs reminding of the power and reach of Rupert Murdoch, and the way he doesn't hesitate to use it to further his agenda. In this case? Kevin Rudd's National Broadband Network plan, currently rolling out in Australia, is a direct threat to the reach of Murdoch's Foxtel cable network (and Abbott has promised to cut the NBN program).
