Another reason to detest Rupert Murdoch

[Kelmadfan]

1 hour ago, Ciccone's Cheeks said:

His irresistible looks, package and brains. Nothing else comes close. 

I think it was the cash.

[Guest jamesshot]

22 minutes ago, Kelmadfan said:

I think it was the cash.

It wasn't his crypt keeper looks that is for sure. 

Rick Perry has said Trump is the chosen one sent by God. You cannot make this insane shit up. He said God often uses imperfect people. That is putting it mildly in this case.

Russia has so much dirt on GOP politicians that is obvious. Ol Rick is rumored to be GAY GAY GAY. No doubt he has compromising pics. The Russians have been working GOP pols for decades. 

[Kelmadfan]

Seems it all harkens back to “The Family”. I saw a doc about these nuts on NETFLIX. It covers these Christofascist wack jobs who pervert the person who was Jesus and corporatizes his teachings as some cultish political organization to inflict these edicts onto everyone else. It’s disgusting and evil. It mixes church & state under the guise: hey we mean well. And they don’t. 

[ctg12]

3 hours ago, Kelmadfan said:

Seems it all harkens back to “The Family”. I saw a doc about these nuts on NETFLIX. It covers these Christofascist wack jobs who pervert the person who was Jesus and corporatizes his teachings as some cultish political organization to inflict these edicts onto everyone else. It’s disgusting and evil. It mixes church & state under the guise: hey we mean well. And they don’t. 

May I ask which documentary? I’d be interested in watching. 

[Ciccone's Cheeks]

10 hours ago, Kelmadfan said:

I think it was the cash.

Um...was JOKING...like *seriously! 

[Kelmadfan]

10 hours ago, ctg12 said:

May I ask which documentary? I’d be interested in watching. 

It’s called “The Family”. 

[Kelmadfan]

4 hours ago, Ciccone's Cheeks said:

Um...was JOKING...like *seriously! 

Yes. So was I.  

[Jazzy Jan]

How Rupert Murdoch Is Influencing Australia’s Bushfire Debate

Critics see a concerted effort to shift blame, protect conservative leaders and divert attention from climate change.

 

WOMBEYAN CAVES, Australia — Deep in the burning forests south of Sydney this week, volunteer firefighters were clearing a track through the woods, hoping to hold back a nearby blaze, when one of them shouted over the crunching of bulldozers.

“Don’t take photos of any trees coming down,” he said. “The greenies will get a hold of it, and it’ll all be over.”

The idea that “greenies” or environmentalists would oppose measures to prevent fires from ravaging homes and lives is simply false. But the comment reflects a narrative that’s been promoted for months by conservative Australian media outlets, especially the influential newspapers and television stations owned by Rupert Murdoch.

And it’s far from the only Murdoch-fueled claim making the rounds. His standard-bearing national newspaper, The Australian, has also repeatedly argued that this year’s fires are no worse than those of the past — not true, scientists say, noting that 12 million acres have burned so far, with 2019 alone scorching more of New South Wales than the previous 15 years combined.

And on Wednesday, Mr. Murdoch’s News Corp, the largest media company in Australia, was found to be part of another wave of misinformation. An independent study found online bots and trolls exaggerating the role of arson in the fires, at the same time that an article in The Australian making similar assertions became the most popular offering on the newspaper’s website.

It’s all part of what critics see as a relentless effort led by the powerful media outlet to do what it has also done in the United States and Britain — shift blame to the left, protect conservative leaders and divert attention from climate change.

“It’s really reckless and extremely harmful,” said Joëlle Gergis, an award-winning climate scientist at the Australian National University. “It’s insidious because it grows. Once you plant those seeds of doubt, it stops an important conversation from taking place.”

News Corp denied playing such a role. “Our coverage has recognized Australia is having a conversation about climate change and how to respond to it,” the company said in an email. “The role of arsonists and policies that may have contributed to the spread of fire are, however, legitimate stories to report in the public interest.”

Yet, for many critics, the Murdoch approach suddenly looks dangerous. They are increasingly connecting News Corp to the spread of misinformation and the government’s lackluster response to the fires. They argue that the company and the coalition led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison are responsible — together, as a team — for the failure to protect a country that scientists say is more vulnerable to climate change than any other developed nation.

Editors and columnists for News Corp were among the loudest defenders of Mr. Morrison after he faced blowback for vacationing in Hawaii as the worst of the fire season kicked off in December.

In late December, the Oz, as the News Corp-owned paper is known here, heavily promoted an interview with the government’s energy minister, Angus Taylor, warning that “top-down” pressure from the United Nations to address climate change would fail — followed by an opinion piece from Mr. Taylor on New Year’s Eve.

Other News Corp outlets followed a similar playbook. Melbourne’s Herald Sun, for example, pushed news of the bushfires to Page 4 on New Year’s Eve, even as they threatened to devastate towns nearby and push thick smoke into the city.

Days later, residents in a town nearly flattened by the fires heckled and snubbed Mr. Morrison during a visit to assess the damage. A new hire for Mr. Murdoch’s Sky News channel, Chris Smith, branded them “ferals” — slang for unkempt country hobos.

But a search for “climate change” in the main Murdoch outlets mostly yields stories condemning protesters who demand more aggressive action from the government; editorials arguing against “radical climate change policy”; and opinion columns emphasizing the need for more backburning to control fires — if only the left-wing greenies would allow it to happen.

The Australian Greens party has made clear that it supports such hazard-reduction burns, issuing a statement online saying so.

Climate scientists do acknowledge that there is room for improvement when it comes to burning the branches and dead trees on the ground that can fuel fires. But they also say that no amount of preventive burning will offset the impact of rising temperatures that accelerate evaporation, dry out land and make already-arid Australia a tinderbox.

Even fire officials report that most of the off-season burns they want to do are hindered not by land-use laws but by weather — including the lengthier fire season and more extreme precipitation in winter that scientists attribute to climate change.

Still, the Murdoch outlets continue to resist. “On a dry continent prone to deadly bushfires for centuries, fuel reduction through controlled burning is vital,” said an editorial published Thursday in The Australian. It went on to add: “Changes to climate change policy, however, would have no immediate impact on bushfires” — a stance that fits hand in glove with government officials’ frequent dismissals of the “bogey man of climate change.”

 

 

[Jazzy Jan]

Prepare to feel sick.  Rupert and Jerry Hall "frolicking "  in Barbados this week.  

[ThomasW]

I think she convinced him to go so he could get eaten by sharks , I bet he didn't even sign a prenup

[Jazzy Jan]

Leaked email from an employee at Murdoch's publication company News Corp that has been circulating everywhere online and in other publications not owned by Murdoch. .  

[Camacho]

@Jazzy Jan

 

[Jazzy Jan]

17 hours ago, Junior said:

@Jazzy Jan

 

spot on Linda. Only thing is we don’t want him back ! 

[Jazzy Jan]

Apparently Rupert and Jerry Hall are getting divorced.  Being reported everywhere but not confirmed yet.  

[Jazzy Jan]

Rupert Murdoch and his US news empire are at a crossroads

Back in 2021, Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch was described by President Joe Biden as the “the most dangerous man in the world,” such was the raw power his cable news network had in shaping public opinion.

Flash forward to now, where a more diminished figure emerges from court filings revealed last week as part of a $US1.6 billion ($3.4 billion) defamation suit against Fox by Dominion Voting Systems, one forced into an uncomfortable admission: He could have stopped the promotion of the false idea that the 2020 election was rigged against Donald Trump, but feared the network would lose loyal viewers and irritate the then-president.

Asked if he could have stopped producers and hosts from booking guests like Sidney Powell who propagated the election myth, Murdoch said, “I could have, but I do not run Fox News that way. I appointed Ms. Scott to the job,” referring to Suzanne Scott, the chief executive officer of Fox News. “And I delegate everything to her,” he added.

Just how influential Murdoch remains, whether he still has the ability make or break political careers, looms large in Republican circles ahead of what portends to be a contentious 2024 presidential primary race. The party is split between a zealous base still devoted to Trump and those hankering for a less controversial challenger in the form of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

 

Fox News has shown a clear preference for DeSantis, according to Trump, who has spent recent days attacking the network. “Fox is working overtime for DeSanctus, but they are failing—Look at the Polls. We are MAGA!” the former president posted this week on Truth Social, his social media platform.

The problem is that Murdoch’s admission under oath could damage the credibility of the conservative news network as it faces another Trump-centric presidential primary season.

Murdoch’s outsized ability to influence the political landscape was the stuff of legend from his native Australia to both sides of the Atlantic. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair went so far as to say in an official inquiry a decade ago that he was afraid to stand up to him.

Dominion, a voting machine maker, accuses Fox News and Fox Corp. of helping to promote false claims that the company flipped millions of electronic ballots away from Trump in the election as part of a vast conspiracy.

 

The network and its parent deny wrongdoing and say Fox News was merely reporting “newsworthy” allegations being made by a sitting president, and that Fox is protected by the First Amendment.

The company says Dominion “took an extreme, unsupported view of defamation law that would prevent journalists from basic reporting.”

The lawsuit not only put Murdoch’s media empire under scrutiny, but also reveals that he doesn’t have complete control of some his most high-profile on-air commentators who remain loyal to Trump.

The Murdoch-owned New York Post and the Wall Street Journal have decidedly soured on the former president, pointing out in editorials that he has lost most of the elections he has played a role in since 2018.

 

That puts the network at a cross-roads — to follow in the footsteps of unabashedly conspiracy-driven outlets like One America News Network or to be a conservative but fact-based news organisation.

Political journalists and other experts say the credibility crisis at Fox might not have happened under Roger Ailes, the former Fox executive driven out over allegations of sexual harassment.

 

They say he kept a tighter rein on the talk show hosts, particularly during key moments like election night coverage and maintained a stronger distinction between opinion and news, even as the network promoted Trump’s upstart candidacy in 2015 and 2016.

“Our job as reporters and producers was to beat CNN on stories and the only way to do that was to get the story right and get it before them,” said Carl Cameron, who worked at Fox News for more than 20 years before leaving in 2017, a year after Ailes’s departure. “Making stuff up was not part of the process.”

 

Dominion’s filings reveal that Fox leadership was concerned that acknowledging that Biden had won the 2020 election would alienate fans and advertisers.

On January 5, 2021, Murdoch discussed with Scott whether Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Laura Ingraham should convey some version of “the election is over and Joe Biden won,” according to the filing. None of them made a statement, Dominion said, with Scott telling Murdoch that “we need to be careful about using the shows” and turning off viewers

 

Asked why Fox News hosted MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, who was spreading false claims of election fraud, Murdoch testified that Lindell “pays us a lot of money” in advertising.

And when asked why Fox continues to give a platform to Lindell, Murdoch agreed that “it is not red or blue, it is green,” according to the filing.

 

[Jazzy Jan]

 

Fox News gave its Trump-leaning on-air personalities wide latitude to discuss Trump’s grievances for weeks by hosting the former president’s surrogates and hinting at evidence of massive election fraud that never materialised, according to Dominion.

With Newsmax and OAN going all-in on false reporting about the results, Fox “knew that they had to ‘straddle the issue’ and continue allowing the stolen election narrative featuring Dominion to be pushed on Fox News in order to avoid angering — and losing — their Trump supporting viewers,” Dominion said.

For example, Dominion said, Hannity told his viewers that the hand recount in Georgia “would be critical regarding the questions about Dominion,” but then didn’t report when the recount proved Dominion’s machines worked properly and counted Trump’s votes accurately. Instead, Hannity had Powell, a lawyer and one of the chief promoters of the conspiracy theory, on “to spread lies about Dominion,” according to the Dominion filing.

The network is unlikely to change its programming formula, even after the explosive revelations in the case, said Jon Klein, former president of CNN’s US network.

“Their basic outlook on the world will not change,” Klein said. “It’s core to their business model to say anything, do anything, allow anything so long as they’re not outflanked by the even crazier outlets to their right like OAN.”

[Camacho]

 

[Sanctuary1995]

On 9/21/2023 at 6:18 PM, Camacho said:

 

So some other wanker will take his position? 

[jonski43]

8 hours ago, Sanctuary1995 said:

So some other wanker will take his position? 

His son Lachlan is taking over and I think someone here said he's as bad, if not worse, than daddy

[cardiganstarlet]

Yeah Lachlan is even more conservative and toxic. If that’s even possible!

[acko]

Rupert Murdoch!? I thought that whore was dead. 

[Camacho]

 

[Raider of the lost Ark]

For some reason Youtube is recommending Sky News Australia to me recently. Especially videos with Rita Panahi. WTF. This is Fox News level shit and sometimes even worse. This woman is downright nasty and the things she says are often completely unacceptable, which made me wonder if there is no controlling board for media in Australia. Think of Meghan Markle what you want, but the treatment she gets from them is truly despicable. How do they get away with such behaviour?

I'm so happy Sky News or any other Murdoch News organization never managed to set foot into Germany. I remember they did try many years ago but ultimately back out out because they realized that there is a strict line in Germany between news and commentary and that their way of "reporting" would not fly in Germany. Viewers would not accept it and they would be constantly called out by the German media controlling board for breaking certain standards. They understood, they would lose their license sooner than later. They probably decried the lack of freedom of media and free speech (what they understand of it), the truth is they didn't do their homework. A little historical context would have made them realize they are walking on very thin ice. A country that has experienced what propaganda can lead to is especially sensitive to so called news. Especially the "news" they are reporting, not only contentwise but also in tone. From my perspective many of the commentators on Murdochs publications would have made a "great" job for Joseph Göbbels back in the day. 

[cardiganstarlet]

4 hours ago, Raider of the lost Ark said:

For some reason Youtube is recommending Sky News Australia to me recently. Especially videos with Rita Panahi. WTF. This is Fox News level shit and sometimes even worse. This woman is downright nasty and the things she says are often completely unacceptable, which made me wonder if there is no controlling board for media in Australia. Think of Meghan Markle what you want, but the treatment she gets from them is truly despicable. How do they get away with such behaviour?

I'm so happy Sky News or any other Murdoch News organization never managed to set foot into Germany. I remember they did try many years ago but ultimately back out out because they realized that there is a strict line in Germany between news and commentary and that their way of "reporting" would not fly in Germany. Viewers would not accept it and they would be constantly called out by the German media controlling board for breaking certain standards. They understood, they would lose their license sooner than later. They probably decried the lack of freedom of media and free speech (what they understand of it), the truth is they didn't do their homework. A little historical context would have made them realize they are walking on very thin ice. A country that has experienced what propaganda can lead to is especially sensitive to so called news. Especially the "news" they are reporting, not only contentwise but also in tone. From my perspective many of the commentators on Murdochs publications would have made a "great" job for Joseph Göbbels back in the day. 

Yes, this was a very deliberate tactic done by the Murdoch company in regards to Sky News Australia. They realised some years ago that international audiences believed our news to be fair and less divisive than say Fox News, so they set this up but mainly focused on YouTube. The actual people who watch it on tv is very small compared to the online presence. Anyhow it’s just a mother mouthpiece for Murdoch to then justify his/their toxic views and there take someone on a never ending vortex.