Citizen Murdoch's critical grip on democracy

[elleng]

'This year will be an important year for three of the world’s oldest, continuing democracies - the United States, the UK and Australia.

The US will decide, post-Mueller, whether Trump’s presidency is terminal. The UK will decide whether to tear up a half a century of European integration. And Australia faces a general election.

It will also be an important year for the Murdoch media where its power in these three democracies is formidable, and in Australia’s case dominant.

In the US, Murdoch’s Fox News has been the great enabler of Donald Trump’s hostile takeover of the modern Republican Party. This has been a long project in the making. But because Fox has been the self-reinforcing echo-chamber of the American far right for 30 years, it has become the principal medium through which each generation of conservatives have outflanked each other by going further and further to the right.

We saw it in the 1990s with the highjacking of the Republicans by Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America”. Then we saw it in the 2000s with Gingrich being outflanked by Paul Ryan’s “Tea Party”. Then the Tea Party was in turn outflanked by the Trump Party. Watching Fox is like watching a revivalist meeting of evangelical fundamentalist preachers seeking to out-compete each other for the affections of “the base”.

The result is that the Grand Old Party of Lincoln has been ripped from its moorings, with profound consequences for the American democracy at home, and the American-led global order abroad. Well done Rupert.

Then there’s Murdoch’s political handiwork in Britain. . .

As a result, Britain has degenerated over the last two years into its worst political and constitutional crisis in 500 years. Once again, well done Rupert, and that’s despite the fact that his newspapers had already been found guilty of multiple breaches of the criminal law following the Leveson Inquiry into what became known as the “phone-hacking scandal” in 2011-12.

As for Australia, where Murdoch owns 70% of the country’s print media, unsurprisingly we read very little of the impact of Citizen Murdoch’s singular contribution to the political disembowelling of the American and British democracies.'>>>

https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/citizen-murdoch-s-critical-grip-on-democracy-20190104-p50pkw.html?

[hedda_foil]

1. Now this is one immigrant who should be stripped of his citizenship.

And his ownership stake in U.S. media companies sold out from under him!

[hedda_foil]

2. Holy crap! Murdoch was working in tandem with Russia on Brexit!

Dollars to crumpets he and Putin were working in close, personal cooperation. Damn! I hope the Brits are on it.

Then there’s Murdoch’s political handiwork in Britain. First he campaigned in support of Scottish separation from the rest of Britain, coming close to destroying the United Kingdom that had prevailed as a strong, unified state for over 300 years. But then he deployed his formidable media arsenal in full-throttled support of Britain leaving Europe during the 2016 referendum before finally hitting the Jackpot with Nigel Farage’s UKIP, the ever-opportunistic Boris Johnson and Brexit.

As a result, Britain has degenerated over the last two years into its worst political and constitutional crisis in 500 years.

[appalachiablue]

3. Murdoch's media dynasty is vast

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murdoch_family