Hello UK readers. The whole News of the World thing has been fun, hasn’t it? But it isn’t over yet. Just because King Rupert and his cronies have been exposed as a bunch of criminals, that doesn’t mean that our elected representatives won’t vote to give them a lot more power. Allowing News International to take full control of BSkyB will, I suspect, lead to the creation of a local version of Faux News, with all that entails, and give Murdoch even more influence over British politics. Our MPs need to be encouraged to stand up for democracy. It really doesn’t matter which party you support, it is in the interests of all of us to have our government doing what we want, not just what Rupert Murdoch wants. If you want to write to your MP, there’s a handy website to help you do so. Editing the message to make it personal will help.
Sorry, I don’t normally get this preachy. But this is a unique opportunity, and I’d hate to see the country miss it.
Thank heavens we don’t have anyone like Rupert Murdoch in the US!
Oh, wait…
I’ve been wishing I still had a subscription to the Wall Street Journal so I could cancel it in protest. At least now, from reading about the inner workings of the Murdoch newsprint division, I finally understand why it changed from a cornucopia of interesting and unique articles to a pale imitation of the New York Times after he took it over.
Guess all I can do from over here is root for the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation.
Strange to think that ” The Times ” was once considered to be the ” Newspaper of Record ”
I haven’t read the Times since they the Pay-wall was erected but it is worth looking at the history of the paper – in wikipedia, say, – whose reputation the Murdochs have pretty well destroyed.
Of course the newspaper industry in the U.K. was in a dire state before Murdoch swept in, but even a natural death might have been better than this sad Zombie like husk of greatness that staggers about muttering ” Brains, Brains “
Seems the tide might be turning in favour of press responsibility. Go Miliband!
Talk about shooting your company in the foot.
And there’s still the libel suit against the New York Post to factor into this lovely brew. As well as whispers of a Congressionally ordered investigation……. My,my,my ….. what fun.
Fantastic developments! But we need to remember, Murdoch has been around a long time, and he seems to me to have used the UK as a pilot/test bed for developing his media empre.
The ruthless approach to shaping the government of the day by influencing and/or frightening politicians via newspapers like The Sun or tv like Faux News means we can’t be certain that MPs will stay resolute long enough to curb News Corp’s power in the UK.
Even now, the Times, Sun and Sunday Times hacks are probably scouring the gutter for stuff to print – or put on the Net- about Milliband and any politicos making a noise…
Still, for the first time in a long time, we have a chance to improve the health of our society in the UK. The atmosphere of rampant cynicism, lack of faith in institutions, short termism, purience, vulgarity…Murdoch and his ilk didnt create it, but did feed it in Britain.
Time to show the bugger the door. Let’s hope we manage to do it.