Why Murdoch really matters

[mangerton]

er no guv i was not doing a deal with a tax dodging blackmailing bully who hacked phones and bribed officials ... we was just having a light snack ... the cut in the bbc license fees the restraint of ofcom and the supporting the bskyb thing are all just the purest of coincidences innit guv honest ... i am a good bloke would i do that i ask you ..... mind you i am getting an itch about my mate George .... seems he has fingers in pies if yer knows what i mean and i might have to reconsider his position after we do the deal on that nonce boy Hunt .... er no one told me about Andy C, bit unfortunate that .... expect he will go down and all ... what's it coming to when yer can't trust yer mates i asks yer

Comment for impartial balance purposes:

No doubt Mr Pee will be along in a minute.

[Serial_Apologist]

er no guv i was not doing a deal with a tax dodging blackmailing bully who hacked phones and bribed officials ... we was just having a light snack ... the cut in the bbc license fees the restraint of ofcom and the supporting the bskyb thing are all just the purest of coincidences innit guv honest ... i am a good bloke would i do that i ask you ..... mind you i am getting an itch about my mate George .... seems he has fingers in pies if yer knows what i mean and i might have to reconsider his position after we do the deal on that nonce boy Hunt .... er no one told me about Andy C, bit unfortunate that .... expect he will go down and all ... what's it coming to when yer can't trust yer mates i asks yer

A man got hanged for "let him have it" being misunderstood.

[amateur51]

Interesting piece on Murdoch, Cameron & *unt by Lord (David) Puttnam, chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Committee for the 2003 Communications Act.

"The prime minister, Jeremy Hunt and other cabinet ministers were simply the latest in a long line, reaching back over three decades, to find themselves seduced by the possibility of Murdoch's support, only to discover their fair-weather friend has a habit of turning nasty when things fail to go his way.

Indeed, as I once (unsuccessfully) tried to explain to Jeremy Hunt, vast quantities of political capital can be spent clearing up the unintended consequences of what might, at the time, have appeared politically expedient decisions."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/28/news-corporation-governments?intcmp=239

[Frances_iom]

I like the quote from

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...nts?intcmp=239

It should have been clear that the BBC and Channel 4 would in a relatively short time have become little more than publicly funded research-and-development operations for subscription services, in danger of following the trajectory towards irrelevance that's been the fate of the public broadcasting system in the US.

which is probably the most succint description of R3 under RW (who is in love with an expected gong) and his exPepsi boss who not only has drunk the cool-aid but actively plugged it

[Maclintick]

Interesting that Murdoch apparently attacked 'right-wingers' in one of his recent 'tweets' (and does anyone believe that that REALLY RM pummelling the keys of his blackberry?). Evidently, Keith Rupert thinks of himself as some sort of neo-liberal.

As always, the best motto in dealing with the rich and powerful is “Don’t listen to what they say. Watch what they DO ! “ Anyone who takes Rupert Murdoch’s risible neo-liberal tweet at face value is surely guilty of the most embarrassing naivete. Rupe has always presented himself as a man–of-the-people, trading on the stereotypical British view of the Ocker, corks dangling from his hat, doing battle on behalf of the patronized proletariat with the effete metropolitan media snobs of the old country.

Nonsense, of course. The reality is that he is the privileged scion of a Melbourne publishing dynasty, son of the wealthy newspaper magnate Sir Keith Murdoch, privately educated at the exclusive fee-paying Geelong Grammar School, whose main priority has always been to exploit his connections with those in power in order to expand his business empire. His media outlets ruthless cross-promote, regularly bashing a cowed and fearful BBC, which, since Greg Dyke’s sacking by Blair’s placemen has enjoyed a rabbit-and-stoat relationship with The Dirty Digger and his henchmen.

The high point of Murdoch’s anti-BBC campaign was junior’s 2009 MacTaggart lecture in which chip-off-the-old-block James characterised an “over-powerful” BBC as a “threat to democracy”, saying “the scope of the BBC's activities and ambitions is chilling”, conveniently forgetting that his father, seeking to expand into China in the 90s, had bumped the BBC World Service off his Asian Star satellite after Premier Li Peng had made known his displeasure at the corporation’s coverage of post-Tiananmen human rights abuses in the People’s Republic. This obviously squares with Rupe’s own assessment of himself as a promoter of democracy, and scourge of the anti-democratic forces in White City.

Another Chinese chicken coming home to roost at Wapping ( pace Ms Deng, whose films are doubtless every bit as good as the Times says they are ) is the advent of Fatty Patten as the Beeb’s Chair of Governors. The former has nurtured a grievance against the Murdochian imprint Harper Collins since Rupe attempted to suppress publication of his Hong Kong memoirs, again at the behest of his mates in Beijing.

After Murdoch’s fall from favour, we can only hope that Fatty can restore some stability & sense of purpose to the battered public service broadcaster.

BW

[Nick Armstrong]

What a great post, Maclintick!!

[amateur51]

What a great post, Maclintick!!

Seconded Caliban! :porkpieemoticon:

[Mr Pee]

What a great post, Maclintick!!

[Nick Armstrong]

:porkpieemoticon:

Annoying yet appropriate that one can't write a : followed by a p without getting a :p

We urgently need a porkpie equivalent of this:

[Nick Armstrong]

It would appear to be past your bedtime, Mr Pee!!

[amateur51]

Quite why our resident guppy-fancier is permitted to use these emoticons while the rest of us pine for the much-loved escapes me

[teamsaint]

As always, the best motto in dealing with the rich and powerful is “Don’t listen to what they say. Watch what they DO ! “ Anyone who takes Rupert Murdoch’s risible neo-liberal tweet at face value is surely guilty of the most embarrassing naivete. Rupe has always presented himself as a man–of-the-people, trading on the stereotypical British view of the Ocker, corks dangling from his hat, doing battle on behalf of the patronized proletariat with the effete metropolitan media snobs of the old country.

Nonsense, of course. The reality is that he is the privileged scion of a Melbourne publishing dynasty, son of the wealthy newspaper magnate Sir Keith Murdoch, privately educated at the exclusive fee-paying Geelong Grammar School, whose main priority has always been to exploit his connections with those in power in order to expand his business empire. His media outlets ruthless cross-promote, regularly bashing a cowed and fearful BBC, which, since Greg Dyke’s sacking by Blair’s placemen has enjoyed a rabbit-and-stoat relationship with The Dirty Digger and his henchmen.

The high point of Murdoch’s anti-BBC campaign was junior’s 2009 MacTaggart lecture in which chip-off-the-old-block James characterised an “over-powerful” BBC as a “threat to democracy”, saying “the scope of the BBC's activities and ambitions is chilling”, conveniently forgetting that his father, seeking to expand into China in the 90s, had bumped the BBC World Service off his Asian Star satellite after Premier Li Peng had made known his displeasure at the corporation’s coverage of post-Tiananmen human rights abuses in the People’s Republic. This obviously squares with Rupe’s own assessment of himself as a promoter of democracy, and scourge of the anti-democratic forces in White City.

Another Chinese chicken coming home to roost at Wapping ( pace Ms Deng, whose films are doubtless every bit as good as the Times says they are ) is the advent of Fatty Patten as the Beeb’s Chair of Governors. The former has nurtured a grievance against the Murdochian imprint Harper Collins since Rupe attempted to suppress publication of his Hong Kong memoirs, again at the behest of his mates in Beijing.

After Murdoch’s fall from favour, we can only hope that Fatty can restore some stability & sense of purpose to the battered public service broadcaster.

BW

Your first comment, "don't listen to what they say, watch what they do", is my default reaction these Days, Mac, so you offer wise words.

I recommend this way of looking at the world to everyone. It is very enlightening, and freeing.

[Mr Pee]

It would appear to be past your bedtime, Mr Pee!!

Oh no it isn't. I won't be off to bed until I've watched "Cappricio" from the Met- 8pm on Sky Arts 2- with Renee Fleming.

(And I shall of course be recording the brilliant "Homeland" at the same time, then I can watch it without the ads tomorrow.)

[MrGongGong]

It certainly lifts my spirits when I see the latest contribution to this thread is our resident cyclist and John Cage aficionado mrP (aidbynewsinternationaltopromoteskyateveryopportun itypossible)

[Mr Pee]

It certainly lifts my spirits when I see the latest contribution to this thread is our resident cyclist and John Cage aficionado mrP (aidbynewsinternationaltopromoteskyateveryopportun itypossible)

Why not accuse me of promoting Channel 4 as well? I did just plug "Homeland".