Right Wing Media: congratulations Rush Limbaugh on three full years of sobriety!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Right Wing Media: congratulations Rush Limbaugh on three full years of sobriety!

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

computer parts posted:

It's not like Europe is that much different these days anyway.

(to tie this into the topic, are we only discussing American media or would UK/Euro stuff also be fair game?)

In some ways, the global situation, but particularly the UK and Australia, provide plenty of context. It was only about 15 years or so ago when News Limited newspapers actually supported the major left wing party in Australia. Turns out their policies weren't so billionaire-friendly and the Murdoch papers changed their tune.

The relationship between Murdoch and the Labor Party of Australia is fairly complicated, as this article from 1994 when they were still bedfellow shows:

quote:

Since he established himself as a newspaper proprietor in Sydney 30 years ago, Rupert Murdoch has unashamedly used such flattery to back political winners, only to dump them when he was convinced that they were washed up or that his newspapers might be left dangerously stranded on the losing side of politics.

The most notorious example was his brief flirtation with Gough Whitlam, who led Labor to power in 1972, displacing the Liberal(conservative) government after 23 years. The circumstances were roughly analogous to those in Britain in 1994: a tired, ailing conservative administration with which voters were disenchanted, and a revamped Labor opposition with a personable, intelligent leader offering new ideas.

A year before the 1972 campaign, Murdoch invited Whitlam to dinner at the Hungry Horse, an aptly titled Sydney restaurant where Murdoch was a habitue. 'How do we get rid of this government at the next elections?' he asked his guest. Murdoch donated money to Labor's campaign and even helped design its press advertisements. When Whitlam won, Murdoch claimed he had 'single-handedly put the present government into office' - a grandiose claim echoed by the Sun after John Major's victory last year.

But just 3 years later...

quote:

When the Whitlam government disintegrated three years later, amid scandals and economic mismanagement, Murdoch turned his newspapers vitriolically against it. Although public opinion against Whitlam was already running high, the impact of the Murdoch campaign contributed to Labor's crashing 1975 election defeat.

quote:

For the next eight years, Murdoch supported the federal conservative government under Malcolm Fraser, who, like him, came from the heart of the Melbourne establishment. Simultaneously, the state Labor government of New South Wales, in 1979, awarded the licence to run a lucrative gambling game, Lotto, to a consortium in which Murdoch and Packer had strong interests.

quote:

The present cross-media ownership rules, which Keating pushed through parliament in 1986, were aimed squarely at the main Murdoch-Packer competitors, the former Fairfax and Melbourne Herald empires, which the Labor government regarded as its real enemies.

The new rules enabled Murdoch in 1987 to take over the vast Melbourne Herald group, which his father once ran, and to achieve an unprecedented domination of Australia's newspaper industry. To the continuing discomfort of centre-left Labor MPs, who still remember his turncoat tactics against Gough Whitlam, Murdoch and Packer became embraced as business 'mates' of the Labor government during the Eighties.

That was the last time the Murdoch press really backed the Labor government, and the Labor party had moved firmly to the right just to get a suck at the Murdoch teat. As the conservatives in Australia continued to support Murdoch through legislation over the past 15 years or so, Murdoch continued to move to the right.

The reason I'm posting this in a thread about US media is because I'm convinced that the demise of Murdoch's shaky relationship with the Australian Labor party and increased support from the right is the reason he shifted towards the right side of politics, and therefore why a significant portion of the media in North America and the UK is right-leaning.

duck monster posted:

I always find myself wanting to appologize to americans and brits for inflicting Rupert Murdoch on you guys. Sorry, this is australias fault

Just wait until Gina Rinehart becomes the richest person in the world. :negative:

Her whole thing is buying the media to promote Milton Friedman style Libertarianism.

Edit: added clarity.

Vladimir Poutine fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Oct 17, 2012

# ¿ Oct 17, 2012 01:58

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 15:05

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Sydney Bottocks posted:

I'm still shaking my head at the knowledge that the man who owns Fox News has called for more gun control. Ailes must have literally shat his pants when he saw that tweet.

It's a very typical reaction for an Australian. Another right-wing Australian actually dropped an :iceburn:

on that post:

# ¿ Dec 16, 2012 13:14

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Right Wing Media: congratulations Rush Limbaugh on three full years of sobriety!