The Plot Thickens and Sickens

New revelations keep appearing in the Murdoch scandals. Indications are that the Murdochs might have known about the phone hacking that was going on, in spite of their denials. Murdoch might have thought that all he had to do was throw underlings Coulson and Brooks to the dogs, but the scandal refuses to go away.

The thing about Murdoch is that he came to prominence proffering a phony populism. He made a big show of taking on the "establishment;" politicians, celebrities, the royal family. In reality, though, he was trying to gain influence with that very same establishment. The fakery went both ways of course. Conservatives who are constantly yammering about "values" and "principles" hitched their wagons to Rupert Murdoch, who has neither values nor principles.

The End of Murdoch?

The phone hacking scandal in the UK which forced the Murdochs to shut down the tabloid The News of the World is a blow to the Murdochs, though much of the rest of their media empire appears safe for now. Their appears to be much public revulsion in the UK into how some Murdock staffers engaged in phone hacking; celebrities, politicians, members of the royal family, and even crime victims. These activities certainly are hard to justify.

The deeper problem is that of media monopolies, like that which Rupert Murdoch has created in the UK and US, and how he has used it to push a right-wing agenda. Even worse would be a situation like that in Italy, where Silvio Berlusconi bought up all the country's tv networks, and then took over the country. In order to preven this kind of thing from happening, we need to allow greater public access to media, and prevent big concentrations of ownership.