Rupert Murdoch

U.K. MEDIA IS ON ISRAEL’S SIDE

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[A young-looking] Rupert Murdoch, chairman emeritus of the group that owns The Times, is staunchly pro-Israel. (Photo: WEF / Handout)

A new report by the Muslim Council of Britain’s Centre for Media Monitoring highlights the UK media’s systematic bias in favour of Israel in reporting on the Gaza war.

The media’s role in the face of Israel’s aggression in Gaza – and plausible genocide – should be to responsibly report the news, validate facts, hold all powers to equal account and paint an accurate picture of events.

But whether this is actually so is the focus of a new, exhaustive report by the Muslim Council of Britain’s Centre for Media Monitoring. It reveals Britain’s worst kept secret: the systematic bias of the mainstream media in favour of Israel when it comes to reporting on its onslaught in Gaza.

The report analyses 176,627 television clips from over 13 broadcasters including the BBC, ITV, Sky and Channel 4. 

It also scrutinises 25,515 news articles from over 28 UK online media websites including the Guardian, Times, Express and Telegraph, between 7 October 2023 and 7 November 2023. 

The data was analysed for the framing of events, use of language and representation of Palestinian voices.

It finds that 76% of online articles frame Israel’s aggression as the “Israel-Hamas war” – rather than a war on Gaza – and that over 70% of the terms atrocities, slaughter and massacre in broadcast media were used exclusively in reference to attacks against Israelis. 

A notable absence of Palestinian voices is also detected: In TV reporting, Israeli perspectives have been referenced almost three times more (4,311) than Palestinian ones (1,598).

‘Right to self-defence’

Also identified is the willingness of many broadcasters to emphasise Israel’s supposed right to defend itself in Gaza. 

But as Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has said, Israel cannot claim the right of “self-defence” under international law because Gaza is a territory that it occupies.

Yet across TV, the insistence on this Israeli “right” is mentioned on 1,482 occasions. By contrast, mentions of the right of Palestinians to resist Israel’s onslaught in Gaza amount to just 278. 

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Rupert Murdoch met Rishi Sunak five times in 12-month period

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Media mogul met government representatives 12 times in 2022-23 when he was chair of News Corp

Meetings between Rishi Sunak and Rupert Murdoch have been analysed by the campaign group Hacked Off Composite: PA/Reuters

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/feb/11/rupert-murdoch-met-rishi-sunak-five-times-in-12-month-period

The media mogul Rupert Murdoch met Rishi Sunak five times over a 12-month period before he stepped down as the chair of News Corp in September last year, according to government records.

Official records of government meetings, analysed by the campaign group Hacked Off, show that the former head of News Corp – which owns the Times and the Sun newspapers in the UK – personally met government representatives 12 times between October 2022 and September 2023, including five meetings with the prime minister.

These include a dinner in December 2022 and a meeting the following day with Robert Thomson, the CEO of News Corp, Rebekah Brooks, the CEO of News UK, the Times editor Tony Gallagher, former Sunday Times editor Emma Tucker and Sun editor Victoria Newton to “discuss the PM’s priorities”.

The two men then met again in May 2023 for a “politician discussion” and again in June for the Times CEO summit and subsequent party, and in September last year for a “social meeting”. There are no publicly available minutes of the meetings.

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The actor and Hacked Off campaigner Hugh Grant, whose damages claim against the Sun publisher News Group Newspapers (a subsidiary of News Corp) is expected to go to trial next year, called for an end to “secretive” meetings between media barons and the government, after the records showed that there were 534 meetings between the press and the government over a 12-month period.

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https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/feb/11/rupert-murdoch-met-rishi-sunak-five-times-in-12-month-period

Image of InBedWithBigOil by Not Here To Be Liked + Hex Prints from Just Stop Oil's You May Find Yourself... art auction. Featuring Rishi Sunak, Fossil Fuels and Rupert Murdoch.
Image of InBedWithBigOil by Not Here To Be Liked + Hex Prints from Just Stop Oil’s You May Find Yourself… art auction. Featuring Rishi Sunak, Fossil Fuels and Rupert Murdoch.

Continue ReadingRupert Murdoch met Rishi Sunak five times in 12-month period

What does it mean to be a climate denier?

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In the ‘coming soon’ notice announcing this article I said that “[t]here aren’t any real climate deniers anymore”. I was mistaken and there are a very few people like Jeremy Corbyn’s brother Piers Corbyn. I’ve only met and spoken with him once but I’m satisfied that he’s genuine in his beliefs despite them being misguided. He and others like him have the right to believe whatever they like and he’s harmless enough – while he may persuade a few people the vast majority will understand that he’s mistaken and wrong.

Image of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reads 1% RICHEST 100% CLIMATE DENIER
Image of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reads 1% RICHEST 100% CLIMATE DENIER

So apart from Piers Corbyn and a few similar people, there is no such thing as a climate denier nowadays. The Capitalists profiting from climate destruction have known for 60 years of more that they were profiting from destroying the planet and were forcing future generations to endure intolerable climate conditions, annihilating many thousands of species of plants and animals and generally totally fekking everything.

Governments are controlled, directed, owned by a very few extremely rich and powerful people, the very people that are profiting and maintaining their wealth, power and influence from destroying the planet. According to this perspective we do not exist in a democracy and it is instead a pretence hiding the influence of the rich and powerful. We exist in a plutocracy – we have a wealthy ruling class that politicians serve.

It cannot be accepted that politicians like UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak or our expected next Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the like are mistaken true believers like Piers Corbyn believes. Rather they are climate deniers in the sense of the fossil fuel industries – Exxon, Shell and BP – who know fully well that they are destroying the planet but deceive and mislead to continue making a filthy profit. It’s obvious to see that these politician cnuts serve this rich elite’s interests – Tory and Labour UK governments have answered to media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, sucking up to him, grateful to accept his orders.

Image of InBedWithBigOil by Not Here To Be Liked + Hex Prints from Just Stop Oil's You May Find Yourself... art auction. Featuring Rishi Sunak, Fossil Fuels and Rupert Murdoch.
Image of InBedWithBigOil by Not Here To Be Liked + Hex Prints from Just Stop Oil’s You May Find Yourself… art auction. Featuring Rishi Sunak, Fossil Fuels and Rupert Murdoch.

Sunak, despite being fully aware of the climate crisis is continuing to destroy the planet. Announcing the go-ahead for the Rosebank oil field he said that he intends to get every last drop of North Sea oil.

All the media companies attacking climate activists – GB News, the Mail, Express, etc – represent filthy rich interests profiting from climate destruction.

Continue ReadingWhat does it mean to be a climate denier?

Rishi Sunak Meets Murdochs More than NHS Figures in Latest Lobbying Revelations

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Rishi Sunak Meets Murdochs More than NHS Figures in Latest Lobbying Revelations

Rishi Sunak met media representatives more than any other sector of the UK economy between July and September, analysis by Byline Times shows. 

The Prime Minister met senior executives from Rupert Murdoch’s media empire alone four times in the space of three months, compared to just once for NHS representatives. 

Sunak met Daily Mail editors twice in that time, while meeting housing sector figures once. Several of the meetings were listed as “social”, meaning they are unlikely to have been minuted. That includes meetings with the departing News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch, and separately, his son Lachlan who is taking over at the helm. 

Every single one of the PM’s eight media meetings in that time is with right-leaning media outlets. 

Journalism professor and Byline Times contributor Brian Cathcart said: “These depressing figures reveal just how close the connection is between the right-wing billionaire press and our multi-millionaire prime minister.

“Forget democracy and forget parliament: this is where the real power in this country resides, and worse still, what we see is just the tip of the iceberg. Contacts of this kind are maintained at every level of Government and are so intensive it’s impossible to say where press influence ends and Government begins.”

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https://bylinetimes.com/2023/12/20/rishi-sunak-meets-murdochs-more-than-nhs-figures-in-latest-lobbying-revelations/

Image of an iceberg
The tip of the iceberg
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‘Dangerous levels of concentrated ownership’ in UK media: Just 3 publishers control 90% of print reach

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/10/dangerous-levels-of-concentrated-ownership-in-uk-media-just-3-publishers-control-90-of-print-reach/

“A free, independent and plural media is essential to the functioning of a healthy democracy.”

Image shows UK newspapers.
Image shows UK newspapers.

Just three companies control 90% of the UK’s national newspaper market, in what’s been labelled a ‘dangerous level of concentrated ownership’ of UK media.

The “Who Owns the UK Media?” 2023 report, published by the Media Reform Coalition at Goldsmiths University, found that three companies – DMG Media, News UK and Reach – control 90% of the UK’s national newspaper market. The three companies also control 40% of online reach.

Press Gazette also reports: “The data suggests that if DMG Media were to succeed in its expected bid to acquire Telegraph Media Group it would increase its print market share from 42% to 47%.

“DMG Media’s share of the online news market is estimated at around 10% looking at just the top-50 UK newsbrands.”

The report warned that the dominance of the three publishers of print and online news, gave them “an unrivalled position for setting the news agenda”.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/10/dangerous-levels-of-concentrated-ownership-in-uk-media-just-3-publishers-control-90-of-print-reach/

Continue Reading‘Dangerous levels of concentrated ownership’ in UK media: Just 3 publishers control 90% of print reach