Rupert Murdoch's Victims

[bemildred]

The Life and Crimes of a Global Goebbels

The first death known to me, that was precipitated by a Rupert Murdoch headline, occurred in Sydney in March,1964, when a schoolboy committed suicide. More of that later. These days, the casualties resulting from military invasions championed by Murdoch are numbered in the thousands, though he is not the sole agent of destruction. One of his former TV producers in the Middle East, Serene Sabbagh, resigned from Fox recently because of its "bias and racism".

What tipped Sabbagh over the edge was the bombing of Qana. "As a mother of three, watching the images, the raw images of children being pulled out of the rubble and then I switched to Fox News to hear some of their anchors claiming that these little kids that were killed, these innocent victims that were killed, were human shields used by Hezbollah. And one of the anchors went as far as saying they were planted there by Hezbollah to win support in this war. And it was unbelievable. For me, that was the breaking point"

On August 6, Serene Sabbagh and a colleague sent a joint letter of resignation to Fox News: "Not only are you an instrument of the Bush White House, and Israeli propaganda, you are war mongers with no sense of decency, nor professionalism." A verdict which is widely echoed. "Fox News has had reporters running around northern Israel chronicling every rocket attack and every Israeli mobilization, but has shown little or no interest in anything happening on the other side of the border", noted Andrew Gumbel in the UK's Independent.

News Corp had "walked away from professional journalism and crossed over into dutiful propaganda", wrote another analyst," a dangerous new chapter even for Fox News". The whole organization had shifted beyond warmongering into deep censorship, where it "purposely cordoned off topics of discussion In fact, I could not find a single, authentic, independent expert on Arab politics and history who appeared on Fox News to discuss the roots of the escalating violence. Not one."

CounterPunch

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Wow

Great read.

K & R!!

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. This is chilling!

Murdoch's rise to power took off in Sydney in 1964, when he acquired an afternoon tabloid, the Daily Mirror. On March 12, the Mirror front paged a report on "promiscuity" among the pupils of a city high school, which was based on the contents of a young girl's diary. The resulting uproar led to the diarist and a fellow student being expelled from school. A job well done.

That's where the story ended as far the Mirror was concerned, though not for those involved. The 13 year old schoolboy named in the diary, Digby Bamford, was found hanging from his backyard clothesline, having committed suicide. This news was "cordoned off" from public consumption. Even rival papers kept the secret, until a disgruntled Murdoch journalist tipped off an independent magazine. The author of the "school sex" diary was examined by a doctor from the Child Welfare Department and found to be a virgin. During an interview years later, I reminded Murdoch of this event and his reaction was sharp: "Don't you ever make mistakes?" Of course I do. Many. After acquiring the News of the World in London in 1971, Rupert discovered another diary, while he was campaigning against a popular BBC TV show, Top of the Pops. His paper accused its stars of "promiscuity" with young dancers in the audience. One of these was Samantha MacAlpine, aged 15, whose "leatherette bound book", according Murdoch's news desk, "could well blow wide open the scandal at the BBC". The day after this report, Samantha MacAlpine committed suicide.

The News of the World tried to cover itself with the headline, THIS GIRL WAS A VICTIM NOW SHE IS DEAD, but the coroner stated that Samantha's diary was "pure fantasy. unconnected with reality", (like much Murdoch journalism). A Scotland Yard officer accused the paper of being "ludicrous and irresponsible". As is the Murdoch style, the evidence from the inquest was kept from the readers. Also suppressed was the statement of the forensic pathologist, that in his opinion, Samantha had died a virgin.

[w4rma]

3. Murdoch should have been stopped while he was a small fry. (nt)

[bronxiteforever]

4. Excellent post-shows the real evil of fox founder

born on the blood of a 13 year old and another child in 1971. How does he look at himself in the mirror. A must read

[MysteryToMyself]

5. There is a website that analyses Fox News daily

The link is https://www.newshounds.us/

We have been governed by deceit and the Media have enabled them, especially Fox News, which is the creation Murdock. With Fox's loud music and flashing screen displays, they are more than likely using subliminal messaging.

With a deceived, uninformed people no telling what the Bushites have done to us that won't show up for awhile.

If the Democrats regain power, they should start from scratch on everything. Don't take anything for granted they tell.

The biggest lie they tell is that the Media is liberal. BS!

The saddest lies they propagate are the ones that are causing death to so many innocents.

My guess is that many the Bushites call Terrorists are not Terrorist, but just citizens who don't want to be ruled or occupied by a Bush regime.

[Matilda]

6. Richard Neville is a very creditable journalist,

and his word is worth far more than any Murdoch hack.

As far as I'm concerned, Rupert Murdoch is evil incarnate. And he has
John Howard and Tony Blair in his pocket.

[LeftishBrit]

7. "Murdoch" is a swear-word as far as I'm concerned

His influence on UK politics has been truly poisonous. Maggie Thatcher would not have been able to stay in office so long if not for the support of Murdoch-controlled media. He has supported Blair for a while now (which tells you something about Blair!), and probably Blair would not have got away with moving so far to the right, if not for Murdoch's support.

Ugh!

ETA: And the tabloids are truly callous in their effects on people's lives. If most people had done something that resulted in a teenager committing suicide, they'd be overcome with remorse for the rest of their lives; but I expect that Murdoch is a psychopath and is unable to feel guilt. Or he could never have damaged so many lives.

[Matilda]

10. I've read - somewhere - that Blair credit's Murdoch for his winning office

Which could explain why he goes along with Murdoch to the extent that he does, not least Iraq.

I think Murdoch is quite sociopathic - anything and everything is justified if it leads to selling
more newspapers. Not quite human, IMO.

[afrosia]

8. Shouldn't media monopolism be illegal in a true democracy?

A free press isn't free when one guy controls it. Here in the UK this douche controls most people; the saddest thing being that they often don't realise it.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

9. My first exposure to Murdoch was back in 1981.

My husband and I went to Ireland for Christmas. I heard had stories about how bad the "News of the World" was, but the first time I ever read it, I told my mother-in-law, the only thing that "paper" was good for is wrapping up the garbage.

He's been a scumbag forever and will never change. I was appalled when I heard he had become an American citizen. :puke: :puke:

[Matilda]

11. I was also appalled when Pope John Paul made him a Papal Knight.

Although he was supposed to have donated large sums of money to the
Catholic Church, (a) he's not a Catholic, and (b) his newspapers are
probably the sleaziest in the world. I think JP must have already been senile.

And having been so honoured, he then shucked his wife of 30 years to
marry a Chinese girl less than half his age in order to try to gain
the entree into the Chinese media.

A total scumbag.