The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > Amid the Murdoch scandal, there is the acrid smell of business as usual > Comments

Amid the Murdoch scandal, there is the acrid smell of business as usual : Comments

By John Pilger, published 22/7/2011

Murdoch's critics are smaller, but no different in kind from Murdoch himself.

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. All
Let’s have a reality check here.

Employees of News of the World broke the law. Charges have been laid.

MORE SERIOUSLY, police officers accepted bribes. I say “more seriously” because, really, you expect villains to try and bribe the constabulary. But you now have to ask the question:

IF POLICE ARE TAKING BRIBES FROM NEWS CORPORATION WHO ELSE’S MONEY ARE THEY TAKING?

What other deals are being done with law breakers?

That’s why the fact of police corruption is more important than News Corporation’s crimes much as we may love to hate Rupert Murdoch.

But is Rupert Murdoch really the arch-villain of the world?

--Nobody compels you to lend your eyeballs and eardrums to Murdoch’s media. People CHOOSE to read his newspapers, watch his TV stations and listen to his radio stations. You may not like it but many give their money to Murdoch voluntarily.

--Unlike the “too big to fail” (TBTF) banksers*, Murdoch has not trashed the global economy.

--Some News Corporation employees aside, nobody lost their jobs, their livelihoods and their homes because of News Corporation. This is in marked contrast to the consequences of the banksters’* antics.

--News Corporation has never received bailouts running into hundred of billions and trillions of dollars.

--Nobody died.

If you want to see real villains look at the TBTF banksters and their misdeeds. WHY IS THERE NO INVESTIGATION OF THEIR SHENANIGANS?

The REAL story should not be the misdeeds of Murdoch.

It should be the misdeeds of Wall Street and European banksters.

Why haven’t the banksters been hauled before parliament and forced to answer questions? Yes there was a brief US Congressional enquiry but no in depth probe. In Europe the banksters seem to be immune.

The scandal is NOT Murdoch.

The scandal is the free ride given the banksters.

*bankster = banker + gangster
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Friday, 22 July 2011 9:56:41 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/21/phone-hacking-scandal-live-coverage
I have been reading British news papers.
And posting links.
For two reasons, first my fears about Murdock owned things, all of them, controlling my country's fate.
And in horror, true horror, that it is far worse than even I have thought for 45 years.
A further matter that has to be highlighted,Abbott/Murdock press/ and sundry fellow travelers are saying we do not need to look closer at this.
In the case of my party ALP, it may well be fear, Murdock's dislike for us, and an Aussie fair go, is already extreme, call them to account? danger there.
An issue arises, in posts here some say such as I am blind to? Fairfax press?
FAIR that part of the name, compared with Murdock's is unchallengeable surely.
How can we Australians let our political biases,we all have them blind us to the fact others run our country?
Conservatives, this morning Turnbull offers you truth/electoral victory and yet he is being dragged down by your side?
Abbott watch this space, is going to be entangled in this press barbed wire and now is the time to dump him.
Whispers soon will become shouts Australia will be seen as part of this mess all too soon.
Posted by Belly, Friday, 22 July 2011 10:16:16 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
It's all very well to point the finger at the Media owners and managers but journalists were the willing minions carrying out the dirty work. It seems to me media commentators all to often overlook this facet.

It is an aspect the British enquiries are taking very seriously.

After listening to the broadcast of the Parliamentary questioning of David Cameron this week it became very apparent the movement of journalists into political spinmeisters and vice versa and how politicians and journalists have, to use the parliamentary term, 'sucked up' to each other to gain either publicity and stories is a major focus of enquiry.

It is the transfer of ethics, or lack of them, between Government and Journalist practice, that is the major area of concern.

It is apparent the British public are tired of the spinmiesters and their tactics just as much as they are all sickened by the journalistic immoral and illegal 'hacking'. What seems to be of concern is how far the journalistic inspired criminality and corruption extends into political offices and what it is that affords much of the pointedly and obviously favourable (Political Party or individual Member) media content.

Once/if, this is ever reported upon in Australia I doubt many politicians, any spinmiester or ABC employee or many of the press and tv commentators in this country will welcome such aspects of any enquiry in Australia.

They will all run for cover.
Posted by imajulianutter, Friday, 22 July 2011 10:45:06 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Yes business as usual has always been the way things work, but perhaps some minor changes will occur.

Media Lens at http://medialens.org has been reporting on this phenomena.

Rupert is of course a key and integral player in the now worldwide right-wing noise-machine and the right-wing stink tanks that essentially create and manipulate the "news". And of course the owner of the Wall Street Journal.

The connections of which are described here:

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/lynde-and-harry-bradley-foundation

As such he is very closely connected to, and a principal mouthpiece for all the captains of commerce and industry that rule America, and thus by extension much of the rest of the world. Their activities are described in great detail here: http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com

Their applied politics are also described in The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.Including the invasion of Iraq, which was perhaps the single largest organized theft (in the shortest possible time) of a nation's resources. All backed up the "force of law" as put in place by Paul Bremer.
Posted by Ho Hum, Friday, 22 July 2011 10:54:59 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Well said, John.

Too many strident voices have been parroting similar distortions of the truth.

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity
-Yeats

Why was there so little criticism of the decision to invade Iraq?
Why do people who have sincere doubts get pushed aside when one or two nations decide to go to war for questionable purposes?

We need more doubters and people who ask awkward questions.
And why do we get a united voice from the shock jocks, the Murdoch press and Tony Abbott? That smells bad.

Thanks for such a searching article. And thanks too for the Guardian's relentless pushing of the questionable antics of police, politicians and press.
Posted by Bronte, Friday, 22 July 2011 1:17:22 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
belly, I can only take so much of the sanctimonious sneering and preaching .. your precious Age was caught red handed hacking emails http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/age-poll-story-relied-on-hacked-emails/story-e6frg6nf-1226095577892 but since it wasn't reported in the Age, you wouldn't know .. and of course, they protect you from harmful things that might make you doubt their message (which is pure and true!)

News limited has not been caught doing any phone or email hacking in Australia .. so surely, they are an Australian pariah?

So put your Murdoch hatred aside, what John is saying is something you have completely missed .. all the media do things like this, and all of them shriek horror at others, right up till they are caught themselves.

Someone said it, this is schadenfreude so thick you could carve it, and you appear to have a full bowl of it mate.

On Turnbull, no you misunderstand conservatives completely, as most ALP voters do, since you have no opinion outside what they tell you.

Turnsbull's message is that he is different, not a team player and like Rudd valiantly hopes he will be leader again one day .. the only people who seem to like him, are rusted on ALP voters, who saw him in their own reflection.

Abbott is toasting the ALP, like him or not as an ALP voter, we don't care - the bottom line is, we, the Coalition voters like him and that's all that matters.

You like Turnbull because he knows exactly what to pitch at you, we don't like him because he is duplicitous and tries to play both sides of the fence .. we can see that, but clearly it fools the stupid minions of the ALP.

At least in the Liberal Party, you can speak your mind .. can you do that in the ALP? Or has Juliar got a lockdown on everyone?

Who do you think is running Australia, please, no links to ho hom's conspiracy sites, no one bothers.. it's like reading the Age, predictable garbage.
Posted by Amicus, Friday, 22 July 2011 1:50:10 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy