politicalowl

Sydney's Daily Telegraph  dose it best this morning. It fills page one with an "exclusive" yarn about something that allegedly happened three or so years ago. See The Owl's earlier post : Shock! Horror! Probe! Bid! - Abbott makes Turnbull swear for the details. The other Murdoch tabloids have dutifully followed along on their websites. Malcolm Turnbull dropped ‘midair C-bomb’ on Tony Abbott 14 months before taking prime ministership >> https://t.co/kqRRqZ3TsV pic.twitter.com/Xypa6DcqZ9 — Herald Sun (@theheraldsun) September 4, 2017 Brisbane's Courier Mail  preferred a local version of old news. The Queensland Senator and Attorney General George Brandis is reported as strongly arguing "against world-first laws banning pedophiles from travelling overseas for child sex holidays during 'robust' Cabinet meetings that left colleagues questioning his political judgment." In a rare Cabinet leak, three ministers present confirmed Senator Brandi...

Cruz bets uniting white conservatives/evangelicals enough, Meanwhile Trump appealing across party lines. Surely the winning strategy. — Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 16, 2016 24 hours and many influential Republicans see Trump inevitable and get ready to switch. United by horror of Hillary whose campaign staggers — Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 16, 2016

Will the Fairfax papers follow suit?

And now for an election designed to be about entertainment. Rupert was feigning disinterest this morning but his Fox Searchlight Pictures does distribute Birdman – the favourite for Best Picture. Good to see the boss man being impartial and not trying to influence the voters. Just the same as he is with those editorial writers at  The Wall Street Journal. I really must apologise for the innuendo in my earlier post  Echoes of his master’s voice – Credlin should go

28 January 2015 10 February 2015 –  The Australian  editorial: 10 February 2015 – Melbourne  Herald Sun  editorial:

The Rupert Murdoch I have known (and sometimes worked for as both journalist and lobbyist) is politically astute enough to know that calling for the dismissal of Peta Credlin ensured that Tony Abbott would keep her in the job as his chief of staff. A Prime Minister would not survive being seen to cave in to the public advice of his tweets. No. The cunning old fellow actually has Tony in his sights not Peta. As I  wrote on Tuesday : Be afraid Tony Abbott, be very afraid. The News Corp empire has determined that a Coalition government led by you will put Labor back in office and that would never do.

So where was ABC managing director Mark Scott referring us? To “The pervasive power of Rupert Murdoch: an extract from Hack Attack by Nick Davies” where you will find: … they say that his primary interest in politicians is not political; it’s commercial. He may be a highly political animal, they say – obsessed with the details of life in the corridors of power and personally possessed of some extremely right-wing opinions – but what he most wants from politicians is favours for his business. He’ll betray his own principles, he’ll embrace politicians for whom he has very little respect, just as long as they have the power to help the company get bigger. … The man’s character, in turn, is at the heart of his approach to business. Rupert Murdoch is a man who will crush an opponent like a beetle beneath his boot, and he will do it for one simple reason – for News Corp. One of the guests who is closest to him says: “Rupert does not discriminate – he does not care about anybody more tha...

The blatant political partisanship of the Murdoch tabloids is spreading. The Sydney  Daily Telegraph  led the way with distorted coverage of the Labor Party and the Brisbane  Courier Mail  joined in last year. And now it’s the turn of Melbourne’s  Herald Sun. The biased prejudice that once was confined to those hysterical columnists Andrew Bolt and Terry McCrann has now reached the front page   - as in this morning's early edition . The good news is that the combination of declining readership and the good sense of voters is confirming that tabloid hysteria now just preaches to the converted. A win by Labor in the forthcoming Victorian state election will confirm the approaching death of the political influence of newspapers.

(Click to enlarge) Attempt to split Commons clerk role is no ‘power grab’  – “Since he did not have Commons approval to split the post, Mr Bercow advertised the job of clerk in its traditional form and hired recruitment consultancy to conduct a national and global search. A panel of senior MPs conducted interviews and ended up nominating Carol Mills, a senior official from the Australian senate. Ms Mills is a respected administrator but a person with scant knowledge of Westminster procedure. Mr Bercow admits there was “something a tad incongruous about expecting one person to be both the procedural expert and the top-flight manager/chief executive”. The panel decided to go for someone with the latter experience.” Sandhurst’s sheikhs: Why do so many Gulf royals receive military training in the UK?  – “Four reigning Arab monarchs are graduates of Sandhurst and its affiliated colleges – King Abdullah of Jordan, King Hamad of Bahrain, Sheikh Tamim, Emir of Qatar, and ...

How can we measure media power?  – “The potential for political influence is what most people think of when they talk about the power of the media. A new media power index, proposed in this column, aggregates power across all platforms and focuses not on markets but on voters. It measures not actual media influence but rather its potential. Using the index, the author finds that the four most powerful media companies in the US are television-based and the absolute value of the index is high. This indicates that most American voters receive their news from a small number of news sources, which creates the potential for large political influence.” (Click to enlarge) MH370 search faces tough next phase  – “The next phase of the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 will be very challenging in places. Detailed information being gathered about the shape of the ocean floor west of Australia confirms the seabed in some locations to be extremely rugged.” The Con...

The Sydney based duo of Murdoch dailies are having a great time highlighting reports of readers cancelling subscriptions to  The Sydney Morning Herald.  Believe this morning’s editorial and you might think that old granny has hardly a reader left. Now I am very much in the camp of those who found the Glen le Lievre cartoon offensive and  made that clear  soon after it was published. And I was surprised that my old colleague Mike Carlton (he once was a star on a Mike Willesee current affairs program where I was an abject failure) did not add a note to his last column expressing his regret at the illustration accompanying his words the previous week rather than leaving it to the  Herald’  editor to do it yesterday. But be that as it may, I have no doubt that if people buy newspapers on the basis of the views they contain that the Herald  will be winning the circulation battle over the  Tele.  Public opinion, as I see and hear it in, ...

A conspiracy involving not just the tabloids but their readers  - The  News of the World  was a unique and, for more than a century, highly successful British institution. Its longstanding success rested on a simple premise: that of hypocrisy. … We would all pretend to be shocked by what we read, in exchange for the pleasure of reading about it. In a country that, more than most, operates as an organised hypocrisy, that made the News of the World very British indeed. Scott Morrison’s foul bet on torture  - Asylum seekers at 50:50 risk of torture can be sent home. Libya holds elections to end post-Gaddafi instability Believe it or not: Karl Marx is making a comeback  – “It’s true. The ‘Communist Manifesto’ co-author has gotten a second life — and he has some advice for progressives. France seeks to shed reputation for rudeness to woo tourists  – “The Socialist government, desperately seeking ways to inject new life into the stutteri...

So you thought there was something unique about the way  The Australian  treated opinion polls. Have a look at this morning’s  London Times  as it decides to strengthen the anti-Labour message after the first edition:

Another vintage day at the Oz for journalists talking about each other. Even the cartoonist got into the act. (click to enlarge) And another tedious lot of reading it all was. And I should add that even Rupert Myer, chairman of the Australia Council for the Arts, made a contribution with an op-ed containing some veiled chiding of “our national broadcaster” and a reference to an unnamed paper (it was, yes, those dreaded Fairfax tabloids again) that “in a recent clumsy attempt relying on unnamed sources to raise doubts about the fairness of federal government support towards the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne”, wrote about it as being “a creche for some rich kids”.

This Is How Fox News “Saved” The GOP?  - From Government Shutdown To The Bundy Debacle, Fox Keeps Damaging The GOP Brand – “If Fox News really “saved” the Republican Party, as Murdoch insists, it’s possible Democrats are so pleased with the results they’ll beseech the media chairman to keep letting Fox rescue the GOP for many years to come.” Window Dressing — China’s Massive Trade Union Isn’t Standing Up for Worker Rights Excerpt from The Battle for Justice in Palestine  - By Glenn Greenwald “Like most of what he writes and says, Ali Abunimah’s new book,  The Battle for Justice in Palestine , is provocative, erudite, impassioned, aggressive, and certain to make even some political allies uncomfortable with their tacitly held beliefs (beginning with the book’s very first sentence: ‘The Palestinians are winning’).” Chinese journalist disappears ahead of June  – “The disappearance of a renowned Chinese journalist ahead of the 25th anniversary of the bloo...

This morning's Terry McCrann column in the  Daily Terror: And today's editorial from the same paper: Who said there was no room tfordiverse opinion at News Corp?

How thoughtful of the  Daily Telegraph  team this morning to recognise the beauty of the boss’s wife. But what happened to Lachlan on the male list? And for a more serious comment on the media have a read of  Back to the future – the return of the partisan press

Last April's gossip this April is the best I can say for this morning's offering by the Sydney  Daily Telegraph.  The story of a retired politician who took his partner on an approved trip when he was a Cabinet minister hardly seems news to me even if the partner was an ABC news reader. Yet the  Tele's  headline suggests there was something untoward about Greg Combet and Juanita Phillips doing what other ministerial couples do regularly. It has taken News Corp attacks on the ABC to a new low point.

The succession planning in the Murdoch empire has reached a new stage with dad Rupert promoting sons Lachlan and James to key posts at News Corp and 21st Century Fox. Lachlan now has the titles of non-executive co-chairman at both companies. James becomes co-chief operating officer at 21st Century Fox. In a statement the proud dad had this to say about Lachlan’s elevation at News: “This appointment is a sign of confidence in the growth potential of News Corp. and a recognition of Lachlan’s entrepreneurial leadership and passion for news, digital media and sport. “In this elevated role, Lachlan will help us lead News Corp. forward as we expand our reach and invest in new technologies and markets around the world. We have many challenges and opportunities ahead, and Lachlan’s strategic thinking and vast knowledge of our businesses will enable me as executive chairman and the company as a whole to deliver the best outcomes on behalf of our stockholders, employees and ...