The legacy print media is more powerful than most activists give it credit for. In Australia and substantial parts of the world, Murdoch’s propaganda sheets masquerade as sources of news and non-partisan commentary, if you believe that I’ve got the titles to some land in a mangrove swamp you may want to build your dream home on.
The legacy media, especially Murdoch’s rags, in every capital city in Australia and in Murdoch’s sheltered workshop for failed neo-conservatives, The Australian, is powerful because it sets the national agenda for the day. Television and radio, both the government gelded ABC and the corporate owned television and radio world, take their lead from Murdoch’s rags. Many of the people politically masturbating in the digital world – on Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets, respond to the words and sound bites published in the legacy media that day. Murdoch’s legacy media may be old but it is still powerful.
I keep an eye on Murdoch’s rags for one very good reason – Dear old Rupert has a very bad habit of using his legacy media and digital platforms to increase the power he wields and the wealth he squirrels away. The public flagellation of the Federal Health Minister, Sussan Ley, in the Murdoch media is a departure from the strategy he has been using to keep the Coalition in power. Leading the charge on behalf of “the community” to expose corruption in Parliament he and his editorial teams have decided Turnbull is a dead man walking. He has no chance of being re-elected at the next election. Faced with the prospect of a mildly reformist ALP, under Bill Shorten, winning the next election, the Murdoch media has turned its gunsights on Turnbull’s supporters in the Coalition. In the past when a government Minister stumbled, the Murdoch media would ignore what happened, hoping it would all go away.
Murdoch’s plan is devilishly simple. Pull the rug from under Turnbull’s feet, support the reactionary/conservative members of the Liberal Party, work towards a leadership spill within the next 6 months which will result in Abbott or an Abbott parliamentary supporter becoming the next Australian Prime Minister. This will give Murdoch and the sycophants he employs, 18 months to embark on a President-elect Donald Dee Groper divide and conquer campaign.
Dog whistling 24 hours a day, they will cultivate a divisive political, social and cultural agenda that they hope will steer those wavering Liberal/National Party voters who are attracted by Hanson’s divided Nation Party back towards the Coalition delivering Abbott and his cohorts a victory fed by the fires of division, fear and loathing. Don’t believe me, have a look at what’s happening in Australia today. Talk to your neighbours and workmates and you’ll see Rupert has done his homework. Dog whistling can pay huge dividends if we don’t take the time to expose and stand up to what Murdoch’s media empire, both in the legacy media and on the multimedia platforms he owns in this country, are doing.
Dr. Joseph Toscano / Secretary / Convenor PIBCI www.pibci.net