Qed » Murdoch

O’Neill, the visiting expert on free will

david — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 23:02:30 +0000

I wonder who paid for Brendan O’Neill to visit these fine shores and lecture us on the perils of censorship? He has appeared on two ABC shows while also penning his eloquent prose for the discriminating readers of the Oz. It’s curious. Did he or some agent spruke his credentials to various decision-makers at a [...]

On Murdoch’s testimony and US politics

david — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 23:28:04 +0000

British lawmakers on Friday demanded that James Murdoch clarify why testimony he gave to a parliamentary committee probing the phone hacking scandal conflicted with a statement from two former executives.

Sounds serious. I mean the whole idea of a testimony is to uncover some truth and when the testimony from one person doesn’t marry up with [...]

James Murdoch confirmed as BSkyB chairman | Reuters

david — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 01:09:32 +0000

Despite the fact that

Murdoch’s testimony given in parliament last week has already been called into question by two ex-News of the World executives, who say he was aware of evidence that showed the hacking was not limited to a couple of "rogue" individuals.

James Murdoch is unanimously re-confirmed as chairman of BSkyB. Maybe the possible [...]

Phone hacking | Media | guardian.co.uk

david — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:00:04 +0000

News of the World, part of Rupert’s empire has been well and truly caught out. On so many levels, but particularly with regard to their role in the Milly Dowler case we see the unfettered appetite for sensation and a complete absence any ethical or moral behaviour. Quoting Michael Wolff (via Crikey) who sums it [...]

Conroy checks the Sky move

david — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:05:04 +0000

In a fascinating quote Daniel Flitton claims

An independent panel of public servants set up to evaluate the competing tenders saw Sky’s as the better bid, only for the government to baulk at the prospect of stripping the contract from the publicly funded ABC to hand it to a company part-owned by Mr Murdoch’s News [...]

Unfair and unbalanced: how News failed to fell government

david — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 22:49:43 +0000

Rodney Tiffen writes in the SMH on the Murdoch press…

In Australia, News Ltd titles account for about two-thirds of daily newspaper circulation, far higher than any proprietor enjoys in any other established democracy. Whatever the company’s virtues, such domination is not healthy for democracy or for the development of professional excellence and media diversity. Increasingly, [...]

A thorny issue for Gillard

david — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 22:52:40 +0000

Laura Tingle’s article on the problem of News Corp for Gillard’s government in her Friday column of the AFR has provoked a fair bit of debate over at LP.

At the heart of the problem lies two seriously conflicting notions. On one hand, the idea of any government “doing” anything about the so-called free press immediately [...]

Climategate Scientists Cleared, But Media Slow To Report It

david — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 07:02:11 +0000

Rodney Tiffen writes on the last of three inquiries into the so-called Climategate emails however in his conclusion that the media created damage to popular support for action on carbon he fails to state the obvious question. Why?

Why did the mainstream media give so much credence and coverage to what was transparently a sensationalist stunt [...]

The Oz is an insult to the intelligence of its readers

david — Fri, 28 May 2010 03:54:39 +0000

For a newspaper that promotes itself as fit reading material for the intelligensia, you might think it would disengage its blatant neo-conservative rhetoric and treat issues with a degree of detachment. Now in case you might be wondering if it was the newspapers unashamedly pro-Abbott viewpoint, its slavish support for the mining industry in its [...]

Google and TV

david — Mon, 24 May 2010 00:21:47 +0000

Although Rupert and Micro$oft tried to steal the limelight last week with their joint venture on Foxtel the big story appeared in the NY Times months ago where it wrote

Google and Intel have teamed with Sony to develop a platform called Google TV to bring the Web into the living room through a new [...]