The 92-year-old Aussie who changed the world – but would we have been better off without Rupert?
So Rupert Murdoch has finally pulled the pin. I think I speak for many former workers in saying thanks, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Murdoch would not have expected applause for his years at the helm and he didn’t get it from the market. Shares in News rose following his announcement (on a day when the market fell), which could be seen as a none-too-subtle way of investors breathing a sigh of relief.
Murdoch leaves a trail of wreckage and strident enemies in his wake.
In his book Spare, Prince Harry who was on the wrong end of Murdoch media, wrote of Murdoch that he didn’t care for his politics “which were just to the right of the Taliban’s”.
“And I didn’t like the harm he did each and every day to the truth, his wanton desecration of objective facts,” the Prince wrote.
Conman Peter Foster posted on Facebook today that: “The fact that Murdoch is even more despised than me in Britain says it all – that should be his epitaph: Rupert Murdoch was even more hated by the Poms than Conman Foster.”
I took a wage from Murdoch for almost 30 years so I hesitate when I criticise, but I believe he has done more to divide communities than anyone else, even Facebook and Twitter. The fact that I was a small part of that is a lifetime regret, but big mortgages make you ignore a lot and we have never been spoiled for choice of employers in Brisbane.
In fact, had it not been for the horrible way some of Murdoch’s henchmen operated I would not have become a strong advocate of unions. So, there’s that.
It wasn’t always like that. For many years the company’s media operations in Australia were on the right, but not divisive. They had influence but that was balanced by the power of other media operators, like Fairfax.
The bias adopted by his company became worse after the internet fragmented audiences and newspapers and electronic media had to become even more strident to find an audience. It’s happened on the left, as well.
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But at News it was when someone loosened the hinges and we got Sky After Dark.
Bias is hard to avoid and is sometimes necessary, but grabbing it with both hands and using it as a guiding light does everyone a disservice.
And that sums up Murdoch’s media arm. It is a disservice. It is divisive and the world would be a better place without it.
While there will no doubt be cheering among the Left at Murdoch’s departure, it may be a little early. His son Lachlan, who takes control of the company, is regarded as even more right-wing than his father.
