Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Kevin Rudd says Sky News is using Fox model to radicalise politics in Australia
Rupert Murdoch’s Sky News will radicalise politics in Australia within a decade just as Fox News has undermined democracy in the United States, Kevin Rudd has told a parliamentary inquiry into media diversity.
“For those concerned about the cumulative impact of Fox News in America on the radicalisation of US politics, the same template is being followed with Sky News in Australia,” Rudd told the Senate in a written submission. “We will see its full impact in a decade’s time.”
The former Labor prime minister and his Liberal counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, will be called to give evidence at the Senate inquiry into media diversity set up last year. The inquiry will examine the dominance of News Corp Australia and its impact on democracy.
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young won support for the inquiry following the popularity of Rudd’s petition for a royal commission into the Murdoch media, which was unsuccessful but garnered more than half a million signatures.
The terms of reference for the Senate inquiry do not mention News Corp Australia or Murdoch but call for an examination of the “state of media diversity, independence and reliability in Australia and the impact that this has on public interest journalism and democracy”.
In his submission to the inquiry, which is due to report in August, Rudd says Fox News is a “legitimising echo-chamber for this increasingly far-right, extremist worldview” and is the model for News Corp’s Sky News Australia, which has a line-up of rightwing commentators, including Andrew Bolt, Peta Credlin and Alan Jones, at night.
Guardian Australia has reported Sky News videos are growing in popularity online on YouTube and Facebook, particularly with an international audience, as they pushed Trumpist conspiracy theories including that the US election was illegitimate.
Rudd says Murdoch’s “template for America”, which was to “demonise the agency of government”, is also his “vision for Australia” and that Sky News Australia is a vehicle for this radicalisation.
Rudd has clashed with Sky, recently winning a legal stoush with Credlin who had to apologise for saying his petition was a “data harvesting exercise”.
“It’s a template which Murdoch has believed would maximise his personal, business and ideological interests – by demonising the agency of government; undermining essential government regulation; and most importantly by minimising corporate and personal tax,” Rudd states in his submission.
Advertisement
“Trump achieved all three. It’s also Murdoch’s vision for Australia.”
Rudd outlines seven political and public policy areas that he believes are affected by the dominance of the Murdoch media, due to its ownership of major metropolitan mastheads in every major city except Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, as well as magazines and websites.
The areas are the National Broadband Network, debt and deficit, climate change, race, corruption, biased coverage of political parties and free speech.
“For those concerned about the cumulative impact of Fox News in America on the radicalisation of US politics, the same template is being followed with Sky News in Australia,” Rudd told the Senate in a written submission. “We will see its full impact in a decade’s time.”
The former Labor prime minister and his Liberal counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, will be called to give evidence at the Senate inquiry into media diversity set up last year. The inquiry will examine the dominance of News Corp Australia and its impact on democracy.
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young won support for the inquiry following the popularity of Rudd’s petition for a royal commission into the Murdoch media, which was unsuccessful but garnered more than half a million signatures.
The terms of reference for the Senate inquiry do not mention News Corp Australia or Murdoch but call for an examination of the “state of media diversity, independence and reliability in Australia and the impact that this has on public interest journalism and democracy”.
In his submission to the inquiry, which is due to report in August, Rudd says Fox News is a “legitimising echo-chamber for this increasingly far-right, extremist worldview” and is the model for News Corp’s Sky News Australia, which has a line-up of rightwing commentators, including Andrew Bolt, Peta Credlin and Alan Jones, at night.
Guardian Australia has reported Sky News videos are growing in popularity online on YouTube and Facebook, particularly with an international audience, as they pushed Trumpist conspiracy theories including that the US election was illegitimate.
Rudd says Murdoch’s “template for America”, which was to “demonise the agency of government”, is also his “vision for Australia” and that Sky News Australia is a vehicle for this radicalisation.
Rudd has clashed with Sky, recently winning a legal stoush with Credlin who had to apologise for saying his petition was a “data harvesting exercise”.
“It’s a template which Murdoch has believed would maximise his personal, business and ideological interests – by demonising the agency of government; undermining essential government regulation; and most importantly by minimising corporate and personal tax,” Rudd states in his submission.
Advertisement
“Trump achieved all three. It’s also Murdoch’s vision for Australia.”
Rudd outlines seven political and public policy areas that he believes are affected by the dominance of the Murdoch media, due to its ownership of major metropolitan mastheads in every major city except Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, as well as magazines and websites.
The areas are the National Broadband Network, debt and deficit, climate change, race, corruption, biased coverage of political parties and free speech.
more... https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/10/kevin-rudd-says-sky-news-is-using-fox-model-to-radicalise-politics-in-australia
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
