On the 20th
October 2011, the world watched on YouTube as Libyan dictator General Muamar
Gaddafi was pulled from a storm drain and beaten before the self-proclaimed
‘King of kings’ executed corpse was dragged through the streets. The Arab
Spring uprisings brought about the fall of the last of those iconic, brutal
political leaders that came to power in the 1970s and 1980s in the region.
These are
horrible images but, unsurprisingly, for a man who instigated massacres of his
own people, supported international terrorism and protected the chief suspects
of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, the occasion was met with little sympathy. Similarly,
little sorrow was shown in the international media community for the death of
other such larger-than-life tyrants of those times such as Idi Amin, Pol Pot or
Saddam Hussein. These figures dominated the media of the 1980s and 1990s and
their passing marks the end of an era.
Well,
almost. There is one more tyrant who could soon be the next to fall, Newscorp
International founder, Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch. Comparing Murdoch to
those despots mentioned above may seem unfair but for the past twenty years, Rupert
Murdoch has commanded more power and influence over the western world than the
others combined. Admittedly, he has never ordered someone’s execution (so far
as we know) but his methods of control are more insidious. It has been
speculated that Murdoch owns close to 40% of the western global media market
and has used this power-base to affect control over both the British and
American media and political systems for two decades.
Through Murdoch’s
close relationship to Margaret Thatcher, his defection to Tony Blair’s New
Labour and the recent positioning of Andy Coulson as the Conservative Party
Communications Director in 2007, his ability to covertly affect governmental policy-making
has continued unabated. The most recent manoeuvrings to ensure that a full
takeover of BSkyB was accepted would have offered Murdoch an unprecedented level
of control over the British media landscape.
And for some
time this takeover looked inevitable. No political party or famous figure has
been able to risk upsetting the media mogul for fear of his political power or
the incriminating stories he can release if challenged. Yet it has been this
area, the invasive gathering of scandalous information that has finally proven
to be the Achilles’ heel to Murdoch’s empire.
The illegal
phone-hacking scandal, and in particular revelations on the hacking of murdered
teenager Millie Dowler’s mobile telephone sparked a media-storm which the
corporation could not escape or bully into disappearing, even forcing Murdoch to close The News of the World, a
tabloid of 168 years and one of the best-selling publications in the world. It
is the loss of advertising revenue due to the universal damnation of Newscorp’s
activities which has destabilised his and his lieutenants’ positions within the
corporation.
It does not
matter that it is financial rather than political pressures that have weakened the
business magnate’s position, Al Capone was not finally jailed for his criminal
underworld activities but on charges of tax evasion. Rupert Murdoch will
hopefully fall due to the universal condemnation of his tasteless and cruel
tactics.
We certainly
do not want to witness the horrible image of Rupert Murdoch being dragged from
a storm drain, beaten then executed, but maybe it would be ok to see the
journalistic equivalent? For a man who has presided over the public shaming and
ruination of so many, to have his political death played out across the very
tabloid newspapers he created might prove a fitting end.
