Recently there has been a growing, common theme in the analysis of media commentators of all persuasions, observing the behaviour of Murdoch media operations, both locally and internationally.

In a recent edition of ABC’s Media Watch, Paul Barry described Sky After Dark as “getting more and more extreme, as it gets closer to Murdoch’s money-spinning Foxtel model.”

He was referring to presenter Liz Storer’s almost orgasmic celebration of the worldwide trend to far right politics, and her abusive commentary on progressives.

Barry also described Murdoch’s The Australian newspaper’s publication of an article by businessman Francis Galbally, comparing Adam Bandt’s Greens with Hitler’s Nazi’s, as “a new low for a once proud paper!”

Crikey.com, on the same matter said:

If Galbally’s silly article deserves attention, it’s because of the light it shines on the publication in which appeared.

John Hewson, previous Coalition Leader of the Opposition, knows all about the Murdoch approach to politics and thinks it is bad for democracy. He reminisced recently in The Saturday Paper about his time as Opposition Leader, meeting the editor of The Australian and being told “I needed to understand they had an agenda ... if I advocated off their agenda, I could expect to be chastised and criticised for doing so, and that was a certainty.”

And, as Hewson expanded, “As vague as their agenda was at that time, News Corp has certainly honed its processes since. That was clear in the run-up to the 2022 election, from their almost sycophantic support for the re-election of the Morrison government and fearmongering over a possible Albanese government, with criticisms of ‘each-way Albo’, and threats of a ‘crazy leftwing takeover’. The Sky News monsters were unleashed, particularly Andrew Bolt, Peta Credlin, Rowan Dean and Paul Murray. They have sustained these lines since Albanese's victory and are now telling Dutton, their new champion, how to win next time.”

“There is another disturbing layer to all this,” says Hewson. “Several key Sky News presenters also have day jobs running right-wing organisations such as Advance – which led the dishonest and racist ‘No’ campaign in the Voice to Parliament referendum — and the Australian edition of the rag The Spectator.”

Read the Hewson article in The Saturday Paper

Ex UK Conservative MP Rory Stewart, reflecting on Murdoch’s influence and the “deeply, deeply sick” coziness between the press and politicians, when asked how he saw the influence of Murdoch on politics and democracy in the UK, said, “I think it’s terrifying! Murdoch had a deeply unhealthy power over British politicians.” Stewart, interviewed on the ABC’s 7:30 recently, said that the UK was seeing a changing face of democracy, moving towards a ‘Trump’ish’ populist right, that may well be permanent.

A recent example of the Murdoch paranoia with the ABC was seen in the tirade directed at Laura Tingle, when she issued a critique of the Dutton-led strategy to lower house prices by severely reducing immigration. Despite Tingle’s analysis being supported by business leaders, who were reported as saying Dutton’s policy “will only make the problem worse, driving away desperately needed skilled migrants while damaging long-term productivity and economic growth”, The Australian’s Media Writer Sophie Elsworth joined Sky News host, the anti-ABC Chris Kenny, to discuss the remarks Ms Tingle made at the Sydney Writers Festival. “The ABC have a very serious problem on their hands,” Ms Elsworth said. “So this is an absolute nightmare for the ABC.”

A very serious problem? A nightmare? Are you kidding?

New ABC Chair Kim Williams, in an interview with RN’s Patricia Karvelas, said that the News Corp obsession with the ABC “at times seems almost unhinged.”

It would be tempting to dismiss the anti-ABC rants of News Corp journalists, but they are a prolific source of disinformation and they seem to getting worse. Rupert’s handover to son Lachlan might mean an even worse attitude to the ABC by the Murdoch media operations.

The ABC (and its friends) needs to hold firm against these peddlers of fake news.