“The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of (the corporation), but to make all other modes of thought impossible”
– George Orwell, 1984
Rupert’s culture warriors are still circling the wagons, seeking to smear their critics and proving that there is nothing more viciously tribal than a News Ltd newsroom.
In an obviously coordinated move, Murdoch’s scribblers are seeking to ridicule what they have been told to say are misdirected and paranoid attacks by respected figures such as AFR columnist Laura Tingle and businessman John Menadue over News Ltd’s partisan news coverage.
A couple of weeks ago, Geoff Elliott, Mark Day and Caroline Overington sang from the same songsheet, declaring in one way or another that News Ltd was being assailed for doing its job in applying the unflinching scrutiny to the government demanded by its membership of the Fourth Estate.
Now it’s the turn of Janet Albrechtson, who predictably seeks to tag anyone campaigning for higher standards of journalism as a “leftist”. For someone accusing her critics as “Orwellian”, this is as about as close to ‘Newspeak‘ as it gets. There is only one planet in Janet’s universe and that is the one that sees any criticism of her proprietor’s standards as compromised in some way, as if Murdoch’s minions were the final arbiters of objectivity. Oddly, News Ltd’s histrionics grow ever stronger in direct proportion to the length of the list of those who believe it has abandonned any pretence of undertaking fair and balanced journalism.
Wouldn’t it be braver for Rupert’s scribblers – for once – NOT to put on their flak jackets and start fighting from their dug-in positions and entertain the possibility that their organisation’s overwhelming dominance of the news landscape in Australia and the aggressively partisan nature of its news coverage are working against the possibility of a properly functioning democracy?
Instead, true to News Ltd’s tribal form (see ‘Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism’), Albrechtson seeks to smear Menadue (funnily enough a man who spent seven years as general manager of News Ltd in Australia) as one of the feared “elites” so out of touch with The Australian’s noble causes that we are told sit “at the pragmatic centre” of Australian politics.
That’s how they construct reality at News Ltd. We’re normal. Everyone else is out of step:
6 Comments
Anonymous · September 22, 2010 at 12:53 AM
I notice Albrechtsen took aim at the ABC's 'Media Watch'. From that I take that the program is the last remaining bastion of true 'balance' on the ABC, the one session that does serve it up to both sides without fear or favour, as opposed to being an unctuous red carpet for the talking points of Albrechtsen's preferred side.
“Balance” has an Orwellian meaning all of its own these days at their ABC.
Mr Denmore · September 22, 2010 at 1:26 AM
Yes, you'll really know that the News Ltd has finally constructed the media world in its own image when it succeeds in killing off Media Watch.
Stop Murdoch · September 22, 2010 at 2:36 AM
Your piece seems to contain an assumption that Murdoch hacks actually care if people start to notice that they are nothing but propagandists. Normal human nature would dictate that shame curbs or prevents utterly dishonest journalism.
These people are not normal humans. They are, literally, shameless. Here is a quote from one of them commenting on a media-lens blog from 18/1/06-
We named it “Anguished Shill Wrestles With Inner Hypocrite”:
“…I don't know if you're old enough to remember The Pop Group's song 'we are all prostitutes' but that's what most of us wage earners are.
I'm a journalist working for a crappy, right wing corporate Australian newspaper. I do what I do because I cannot do anything else. Nothing I do makes one iota of a difference but there are millions of people like me in the world who need the money and will do whatever it takes to support our families.
We aren't bad people – even though I suspect you think we lack your ideological purity and revolutionary zeal and have, therefore, sided with the 'dark side' and probably deserve to die the death capitalism has invented for us.
Let's face it, man, most of us humans live in a f*cked world and we get f*cked every day. Whinging about it has never worked to our advantage. In fact, it's made matters worse.
People like me don't like the 'dark side' anymore than we like the 'right side' – simply because both sides can be found on the same coin.
Yours…”
That's how Murdoch hacks view themselves and the world.
Mr Denmore · September 22, 2010 at 3:42 AM
Mr Stop Murdoch, if you're a journalist trying to make a living out of the trade in Australia, it's pretty hard NOT to work for News Ltd.
Consequently, I know a fair few scribblers who earn their living from Rupert. And they seem pretty human to me.
The Australian has been known to produce some excellent journalism. The investigation into the Haneef scandal was an example.
My problem is with the editorial line that creeps into their front page news coverage.
Stop Murdoch · September 22, 2010 at 4:38 AM
At the risk of godwinning the whole thing:
I don't accept that argument. It's the “Good Germans” problem.
Haneef? Quite. Let's see, Hedley's last hurrah before he shuffled off to do PR for Qld Gas and Coal. Yay! Journalism….from the same shameless mob who brought you the front page undeclared photoshopped image of the Dr and his wife in terrrst muslim clothes in front of the Gold Coast's Q1 (the implication being obvious to Murdoch's moronic fans).
Unfortunately I do not accept that you can be a decent person and enable Murdoch simultaneously. You can rationalise it like our friend quoted above, you can say “what about the good journalism we sometimes do” but I still do not accept that there can be any excuse for helping the mob that actively undermine democracy and shamelessly lie in order to start illegal wars or deny science or any of their other projects. In fact, if you are a “good News Ltd person” you are actively giving undeserved legitimacy to that organisation.
Obviously you are a more generous soul, but I take the view that they are not innocent. Remember “Clerks”?:
Randal: Exactly. In order to get it built quickly and quietly they'd hire anybody who could do the job. Do you think the average storm trooper knows how to install a toilet main? All they know is killing and white uniforms.
Dante: All right, so even if independent contractors are working on the Death Star, why are you uneasy with its destruction?
Randal: All those innocent contractors hired to do a job were killed- casualties of a war they had nothing to do with. (notices Dante's confusion) All right, look-you're a roofer, and some juicy government contract comes your way; you got the wife and kids and the two-story in suburbia-this is a government contract, which means all sorts of benefits. All of a sudden these left-wing militants blast you with lasers and wipe out everyone within a three-mile radius. You didn't ask for that. You have no personal politics. You're just trying to scrape out a living.
(The Blue-Collar Man (Thomas Burke) joins them.)
Blue-Collar Man: Excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt, but what were you talking about?
Randal: The ending of Return of the Jedi.
Dante: My friend is trying to convince me that any contractors working on the uncompleted Death Star were innocent victims when the space station was destroyed by the rebels.
Blue-Collar Man: Well, I'm a contractor myself. I'm a roofer… (digs into pocket and produces business card) Dunn and Reddy Home Improvements. And speaking as a roofer, I can say that a roofer's personal politics come heavily into play when choosing jobs.
Randal: Like when?
Blue-Collar Man: Three months ago I was offered a job up in the hills. A beautiful house with tons of property. It was a simple reshingling job, but I was told that if it was finished within a day, my price would be doubled. Then I realized whose house it was.
Dante: Whose house was it?
Blue-Collar Man: Dominick Bambino's.
Randal: “Babyface” Bambino? The gangster?
Blue-Collar Man: The same. The money was right, but the risk was too big. I knew who he was, and based on that, I passed the job on to a friend of mine.
Dante: Based on personal politics.
Blue-Collar Man: Right. And that week, the Foresci family put a hit on Babyface's house. My friend was shot and killed. He wasn't even finished shingling.
Randal: No way!
Blue-Collar Man: (paying for coffee) I'm alive because I knew there were risks involved taking on that particular client. My friend wasn't so lucky. (pauses to reflect) You know, any contractor willing to work on that Death Star knew the risks. If they were killed, it was their own fault. A roofer listens to this… (taps his heart) not his wallet.
Stop Murdoch · September 22, 2010 at 4:52 AM
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