Murdoch's hunger for power is a looming threat to democracy

[marmar]

Murdoch's hunger for power is a looming threat to democracy
News International's dismissal of the parliamentary report on the News of the World phone scandal just shows their contempt for the law, MPs and other media

The Observer, Sunday 28 February 2010


One of the strangest themes of Rupert Murdoch's long relationship with Britain is his habit of expressing the pain of a persecuted outsider. It's a peculiar trait for someone who makes and breaks governments, who can ignore parliament and bypass British tax laws.

For as long as most of us can remember, this dynast posing as an anti-establishment newcomer, this patriotic Australian who became a citizen of the United States, this family-values diehard who went off with another woman, has been running things behind the scenes. We are used to his power and sardonic disdain for Britain but last week a line was crossed when Murdoch's News International dismissed a parliamentary committee's report on the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World by saying that the all-party membership of the committee had formed some kind of a conspiracy.

The accusation of persecution is typical – a gangster reflex made in the knowledge that the company can't be touched by MPs, or the media. Apart from the BBC, the FT, the Independent and the Guardian, the Observer's sister paper, which investigated these allegations of phone hacking and £1m paid in hush money, the media has remained shamefully silent. The hacking operation and use of inquiry agents, which for legal reasons has yet to be fully disclosed, is bad enough but the company's defiance represents a sharp new humiliation because it forces us to acknowledge the decline of national resilience and impotence of our institutions.

Even a paper such as the Daily Mail seems to tremble at the thought of what the 78-year-old mogul might do, and it is no exaggeration to say that what we've seen since the culture, media and sport select committee began investigating "the near industrial scale" of the hacking is the suppression by many news organisations of a story that Downing Street declared was "absolutely breathtaking and an extreme cause for concern". This is a matter of grave public interest.

It is inconceivable that any agency, party or commercial concern in Britain would be able get away with spying on the military, royals, celebrities, sports figures and government ministers and then react with the what the report identified as "collective amnesia" and "deliberate obfuscation" – in other words the default response of a crime family. The all-party members of Tory John Whittingdale's committee could not have been clearer. They say: "We strongly condemn this behaviour… News International in particular has sought to conceal the truth about what has really occurred." It is significant that they also criticised the metropolitan police for not broadening their 2006 investigation into Clive Goodman, the News of the World journalist who was jailed and caused the departure of the then editor Andy Coulson. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/28/henry-porter-news-international-murdoch

[bemildred]

1. Well, it's always good when someone notices these things. nt

[Zoeisright]

2. God, that pig is only 78? He looks 98.

Too bad he isn't 98. Although 20 more years of him will probably be the death of the world.

[Enthusiast]

3. I don't understand his motive.

Is he that much ideologically fascist or is he just a control freak the likes of which we have never seen? He is single handedly fucking up the world. I don't get it.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. As the article notes, Andy Coulson is now the Tories' communications director

And that shows that the Tories are willing to employ anyone, however tainted by illegality, if they think it will help them win the election (Murdoch papers subsequently dumped their lukewarm support for Blair, and announced their backing for the Tories). And then Murdoch will have a loyal lieutenant at the heart of government if they get in.