Is this the beginning of the end of Rupert Murdoch's media empire?

@georgeob1,

Quote:

I find that a remarkable stretch, and doubt that it could happen here.

You have your complacent head where ostriches put their's when they hear a paper bag being popped George.

They learned these techniques off your lot. Mr Murdoch is an American citizen. That one of the "Dirty Digger's" US channels trumpets a "No Spin Zone" is funny no matter how often we hear it.

From what I see on CBS and Fox your journalists are a department of government.

Not that I object to that. I do understand that business comes first in the US.

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@McTag,

I have no problem or issue with the possibility that Murdoch may be convicted of committing a crime or any of the concequences that may follow such conviction. However, to my knowledge, he has not yet been so convicted of any crime. My issue is with the sweeping and unqualified judgment of a special commission concerning his moral character and his fittness to engage in commerce. I have so far believed that one of the distinguishing virtues of the Anglo Saxon tradition in law has been that it did not allow governments to make such judgments. Despite Setanta's extraneous nit picking, I don't think that has yet happened here, and I earnestly hope it does not occur.

I will readily agree that the forces of contemporary "progressive" politics here are all-too-inclined to make such judgments in their pursuit of the perfect world that they know will be good for us all - no matter that many do not agree. The track record for such self-inflated orthodoxies worldwide in dealing with dissenters is generally not good. Lenin had his "irreconcilables" and Levinson has his Murdoch.

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@McTag,

Mac--did you see Mr Robert Jay QC do his dead-pan thesaurus routine on the word "brief". It was hilarious.

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@georgeob1,

It is Lord Justice Leveson Gorge. We can hardly allow much credibility to your posts on this matter when you can't even be bothered getting the main man's name right.

"We all know", he said last week, "that the problem with a free society is preventing people doing what they want to do."

That should resonate all along the Grand Canyon and from the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol.

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@spendius,

You are correct. The spelling I used has too many Jewish overtones for you. It was careless of me and I apologize for the error.

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@georgeob1,

Jeeze you live in fantasy land. It was the marital scumbag Gingrich who, as Speaker of the House lead the impeachment movement against Mr. Clinton. If you were honest, which you are not, you'd readily agree that it's the forces of contemporary reactionary politics who are attempting to block gay marriage, who want to create a perfect world they know will be good for all of us. You are such a hypocrite.

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@Setanta,

You are merely flailing about in your usual way. The impeachment of Clinton was for specific illegal acts including perjury. And, by the way, getting a blowjob in the office from a subordinate Federal government employee is indeed a violation of the law (though, I believe that was not the charge anyway). The issue under discussion was the ability of the legal system to make a sweeping judgment about the moral worth of an individual, as opposed to determining guilt or innocence relative to specific illegal acts. (In Murdoch's case there was no criminal conviction, but the sweeping moral judgment was made nonetheless.) You may imagine that such personal judgments were the motivation of some who advanced the Clinton impeachment case, but motivation wasn't the question being discussed here. Neither was the hypocrisy, or lack of it, of those involved.

Stuff it.

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@georgeob1,

Quote:

No detectable reaction here to the moral condemnation of Mr. Murdoch at all. We know better than to assume our media are anything other than self-serving and commercially oriented.

George, about a week ago, your US Senate Committee, which regulates the media, contacted the Leveson Inquiry asking it to share its evidence.
I think that's a reaction, yes?

And in response to this part of the Committee's request, Rupert Murdoch is a US citizen:
"I would like to know whether any of the evidence you are reviewing suggests that these unethical and sometimes illegal business practices occurred in the US or involved US citizens."

Quote:

US asks for News illegality evidence from Britain's Leveson Inquiry
Peter Wilson, Europe Correspondent
The Australian
May 04, 2012 12:00AM

THE US Senate committee that regulates the media industry has contacted Britain's Leveson Inquiry into phone hacking to ask it to share any evidence it has found of wrongdoing by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation involving US citizens.

Democrat senator Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the commerce committee, has written to Brian Leveson asking if he has uncovered any evidence of phone hacking against US citizens or proof any executives at News Corp's New York headquarters knew about wrongdoing such as phone hacking or bribing British policemen.

"I would like to know whether any of the evidence you are reviewing suggests that these unethical and sometimes illegal business practices occurred in the US or involved US citizens," Senator Rockefeller wrote.

The threat of an inquiry by Senator Rockefeller's committee, which oversees the broadcasting licences of News Corp's extensive US television interests, follows this week's accusation by a UK parliamentary committee that Mr Murdoch had turned a blind eye to illegal activities at his British newspaper operations. News Corp is The Australian's ultimate owner. ...<cont>

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/us-asks-for-news-illegality-evidence-from-britains-leveson-inquiry/story-e6frg6so-1226346171874

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@georgeob1,

Now, don't lose your temper, George, you have a hard enough time being coherent without that. What business did the House have appointing a special prosecutor to investigate alleged moral terpitude in the White House in the first place? What earthly good was done in spending many tens of millions of dollars on a flacid witch hunt? At any event, it blows your idiotic claim that it can't happen here out of the water.

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With all due respects...

I fully understand that the "Clinton issue" was controversial at the time, to say the least!
I have very strong opinions about it myself ...

BUT, this is not a thread about Bill Clinton ... so could we please stay on topic?
I'd really appreciate it if we could..

This is one of the few threads which address political & other issues not directly related to the US on A2K at the moment.

Unless posters have views which are directly related to the subject, could you please post elsewhere?

No problem at all with Murdoch issues related to the US, of course.

Thank you.

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@msolga,

Careful Chuck, you don't want to be accused of being shrill now.

I think this is a reflection of Pax Americana, GBob's obviously very upset that any country should have the temerity to criticise an American citizen.

The fact of the matter is the Murdoch press was incredibly corrupt, as has been pointed out at length, engaged in illegal activity and had a way too cosy relationship with both the police and the government.

It's the ordinary person that suffers most from corruption, the wealthy usually benefit from it, which is probably why he's so relaxed about the whole thing.

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@msolga,

Yeehaw.

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@msolga,

Can you please kiss my behind? Play school marm with someone else. The post of thread nazi is not very becoming. O'George was saying it couldn't happen here, and was pointing out that it could. That's relevant whether or not it meets your prissy standards.

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@Setanta,

There's absolutely no need for those sorts of petty comment, Setanta.

I am simply trying to keep the thread on track. The Leveson Inquiry is dealing with some very important issues right now. Let's focus on relevant issues (to the thread subject).

I fully appreciate your frustrations with George's comments.
But Bill Clinton is NOT what this thread is about.

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@msolga,

There's no need for you to play the bully. Why haven't you directed your comments at O'George? He was responding to your comments about the relevance for the U.S. Now you're whining that it's not about the U.S. Get a grip.

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@Setanta,

If you haven't noticed already, I HAVE directed a post to George.

Related to the the thread subject & how the issues are related to the US.

Are you following?

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Yes, i'm following--your post to O'George was a discussion of the relevance for the U.S., it certainly wasn't to wag your finger at him, telling him to stay on topic. You are a bully.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

You are a bully.

That's a bit rich coming from you. You're one of the most aggressive people on A2K, this is Felix's thread, and she's done a very good job with it.

Personally I couldn't give a **** whether or not something like this could happen in America. This is about Murdoch, not America.

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@Setanta,

I think facts are generally far superior to countering silly arguments with "wagging fingers".

Is it too much to ask that we stay on topic on one of the very few non-US related threads here at the moment?

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@msolga,

What's too much is that you introduced the U.S. angle, and are now getting on your high horse about it. You also cannot let it go--that's because, basically, you're a bully.

1 Reply

Is this the beginning of the end of Rupert Murdoch's media empire?

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