Boycott Murdoch’s Media Monopoly
His influence today extends across the globe from Fox in the US to Star TV in Asia, and the Sun and Sky in the UK. He is courted by presidents and prime ministers, and his personal fortune is estimated at $7.8bn, or £4.53bn.
Born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 11 March 1931, Rupert Murdoch is an Australian global media executive and is the controlling shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation, based in New York City in the United States.
Murdoch began his career with newspapers, magazines and television stations in his native Australia, but soon expanded into the British and American media market. John Pilger’s film ‘Breaking the Mirror’ looks back on how Murdoch broke into the British market.
Breaking The Mirror by John Pilger*
1997 54 min. *Apologies for the picture quality
Over the last twenty five years his company News Corporation has become an omnipotent force in satellite television, the film industry, the Internet, and other forms of media. Murdoch is one of the few chief executives of any multinational media corporation who has a controlling ownership share in the corporation. In Murdoch’s case, it is via a family corporation. His power, control and influence is virtually unparalleled in the world today (see holdings listed below). Murdoch uses his media empire to promote his own view of the world – pro-war, anti-union, anti-Europe, anti-minorities. His biggest business interest is government and making sure that he is on the side of the winner.
Media Monopoly
News Corporation uses the combined power of its consolidated media assets to push out rivals and with its combined holdings worldwide has virtually a monopoly of control over the mass media. An ever tightening stranglehold on what people see, read, think and know about the world that they live in. Murdoch talks of a ‘level playing field’ but in fact has acted to set up monopolies and destroy diversity. For example, he has tried to destroy his competitors in British satellite broadcasting and some 5 years ago tried to destroy the British newspaper The Independent by selling the Times below cost.
The truth is the very nature of capitalism is to move towards monopoly if not regulated and the idea that markets function better without state interference is nonsense. Without interference, markets turn into monopolies. Murdoch’s power is literally out of control and there are no moral constraints at all.
An example of Sky’s reporting of world news: George Galloway interview 2006
His media advocate anything that will please the powerful – from baiting the left on Fox or Sky News (see above) to creating anti-asylum hysteria. News Corp manufactures politics and social values. Tabloids like ‘The Sun’ in the UK, condition the social values of children and adults alike. Murdoch’s media has been a major force in creating more conservative and far right politics across the globe. They have almost single-handedly in their radio and television dominance, produced a coarse and vulgar culture that celebrates the most demeaning characteristics in the human psyche — greed, deceit, and cheating as a legitimate way to win (as in the various “reality” shows).
The following interviews are taken from the film “Outfoxed”. They provide an in-depth look into how News Corp’s Fox News operates and expose the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public’s right to know. The film explores the impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person.
Media experts, including Jeff Cohen (FAIR) Bob McChesney (Free Press), Chellie Pingree (Common Cause), Jeff Chester (Center for Digital Democracy) and David Brock (Media Matters) provide context and guidance for the story of Fox News and its effect on society.
This documentary also reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it’s like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a “right-wing” point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said “There’s no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can’t be crossed.”
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism (Interviews)
The Outfoxed interviews are available under a Creative Commons license allowing anyone to sample them freely in their own works. Even Fox News.
Director Robert Greenwald
For more information See Outfoxed
An example of how Fox slant their news:
Boycott Murdoch’s
Media Monopoly!
Take note of and boycott all Murdoch’s media listed below!
Below is a country by country list of News Corporation’s holdings:
Books
HarperCollins book publishing company
ReganBooks now part of HarperCollins
Zondervan Christian book publisher
Newspapers
UK newspapers, published by subsidiaries of News International Ltd.
News Group Newspapers Ltd.
the tabloid The Sun
the tabloid News of the World
Times Newspapers Ltd.
the broadsheet The Sunday Times
the ‘ex-broadsheet’ (Now in compact form) The Times
the broadsheet The Times Literary Supplement
the free paper circulated in London – The London Paper
US newspapers and magazines
The New York Post
The Timesledger Newspapers in Queens, New York: Bayside Times, Whitestone Times, Flushing Times, Fresh Meadows Times, Little Neck Ledger, Jackson Heights Times, Richmond Hill Times, Jamaica Times, Laurelton Times, Queens Village Times, Astoria Times, Forest Hills Ledger, Ridgewood Ledger, Howard Beach Times
The Courier-Life Newspapers in Brooklyn
Caribbean Life
Australia
The Australian (Nationwide)
The Weekend Australian (Nationwide)
The Courier-Mail (Queensland)
The Sunday Mail (Queensland)
The Cairns Post (Cairns, Queensland)
The Gold Coast Bulletin (Gold Coast, Queensland)
The Townsville Bulletin (Townsville, Queensland)
The Daily Telegraph (New South Wales)
The Sunday Telegraph (New South Wales)
The Herald Sun (Victoria)
The Sunday Herald Sun (Victoria)
The Weekly Times (Victoria)
MX (Melbourne and Sydney CBD)
The Geelong Advertiser (Geelong, Victoria)
The Advertiser (South Australia)
The Sunday Mail (South Australia)
Messenger Newspapers (South Australia)
The Sunday Times (Western Australia)
The Mercury (Tasmania)
The Sunday Tasmanian (Tasmania)
Northern Territory News (Northern Territory)
The Sunday Territorian (Northern Territory)
The Tablelands Advertiser (Atherton Tablelands and the Far North, Queensland)
The Tablelander (Atherton Tablelands and the Far North, Queensland)
Fiji
Fiji Times (National)
Nai Lalakai
Shanti Dut
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea Post-Courier (National)(62.5%)
Magazines
SmartSource
TV Guide, via partial ownership of Gemstar-TV Guide
The Weekly Standard (Washington, D.C.)
Australia
Alpha Magazine
Australian Country Style
Australian Golf Digest
Australian Good Taste
Big League
BCME
Delicious
Donna Hay
Fast Fours
GQ
Gardening Australia
InsideOut (Aust)
Lifestyle Pools
Live to Ride
Notebook:
Overlander 4WD
Modern Boating
Modern Fishing
Parents
Pure Health
Super Food Ideas
Truck Australia
Truckin’ Life
twowheels
twowheels scooter
Vogue (Australia)
Vogue Entertaining & Travel
Vogue Living
Love it! (UK based Magazine)
InsideOut (UK Based Magazine)
The Travel Magazine (UK Based Magazine)
Dannii (UK Based Magazine)
Music / Radio
MySpace Records
India
Radio City (India radio station)(20%)held through STAR TV- commercial FM network with stations in 20 cities.
Netherlands
Radio Veronica
Russia
Nashe (50%)
Best FM (50%)
Sport
50% of National Rugby League (Australia and New Zealand)
Majority ownership of the Brisbane Broncos(68.9%), Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys rugby league teams.
Colorado Rockies (15%)
Studios
20th Century Fox film production company
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Fox 2000 Pictures
Fox Television Studios
Natural History New Zealand – natural world documentaries, non-fiction programming.
Fox Atomic – produces theatrical films, comics, and digital content targeting the 17-24 year olds. Aiming to produce/acquire eight films per year over a range of genres, specifically action and horror
Fox Faith – Promotion and distribution of Christian and family friendly movies on DVD and some theatrical release.
Fox Studios Australia, Sydney, New South Wales
Fox Studios Baja, Rosarito, Baja California
Blue Sky Studios
Fox Entertainment Group
New Regency Productions (20%)
Regency Television (50%)
Regency Enterprises (20%) – parent company of New Regency Productions (50%), and Regency Television (50%).
TV
Broadcast
Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX), a US broadcast television network
My Network TV, a US broadcast television network
Fox Television Stations Group, a group of owned and operated FOX television stations
ITV (17.5%), a British broadcast television network and the UK’s largest advertising revenue based broadcaster via BSkyB
News Corp Europe
bTV, a broadcast television network in Bulgaria
b1TV, a broadcast television network in Romania, in partnership with S.C. NEWS ROMANIA S.A.
Fox Televizija, a broadcast television network in Serbia
TGRT, a Turkish terrestrial channel (99%)
Imedi Media Holding, a Georgian radio and TV broadcaster part-owned by News Corporation (30%)
Imedi Television
Radio Imedi
TV Puls (49%) partial ownership through 50% stake in TV Investycje (in Poland)
Channel 10 in Israel (9%)
ANTV (20%), a private television station in Indonesia, under the administration and label of STAR TV
Prime TV NZ – commercial TV station, interest held through stake in SKY Network Television
Satellite television
BSkyB, United Kingdom (39.1% holding).
DirecTV Group, North and South America (38.6% holding) – traded with John Malone for his large stake in News Corporation.
DirecTV, the largest U.S. satellite TV provider
DirectTV Latin America
Sky+Directv (Brasil) (co-owned with Globopar)
SKY Latin America (Mexico)
Foxtel, Australia (25% holding),Australia’s largest satellite and cable pay TV provider, a joint venture with Telstra and Publishing and Broadcasting Limited
SKY Network Television , New Zealand (44%)
Sky Italia, Italian satellite TV service
STAR TV, an Asian satellite TV service
Phoenix Satellite TV (17.6%), satellite TV network with landing rights in Hong Kong, and select provinces on Mainland China
Tata Sky(20%), an Indian DTH TV service (in partnership with Tata Group)
Cable
CHANNELS
Fox College Sports, College Sports Network that consists of 3 regionally aligned channels
Fox Movie Channel, an all-movie channel that airs commercial-free movies from 20th Century Fox film library
Fox News Channel, a 24-hour news channel
Fox Reality, a ‘Reality TV’-themed channel
Fox Sports Net, a chain of US regional cable television networks broadcasting local sporting events linked together by national sports news programming. Local channels include “Fox Sports Southwest”, “Fox Sports Bay Area”, etc. (some affiliates are owned by Cablevision).
SportSouth,a regional sports network in the United States, with its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. SportSouth, formerly Turner South
Fox Sports International
Fox Soccer Channel, a United States digital cable network specializing mainly in soccer.
Fox Sports Middle East – English language sports network airing in Middle East countries including Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Labanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE & Yemen.
Fox Pan American Sports (37.9%) – joint venture with Hicks, Muse, and Tate & Furst.
Fox Sports en Español (50%), a Spanish-language North American cable sports network; its sports lineup is tailored to appeal to a Latin American audience.
Fox Sports en Latinoamérica, a Mexico-based Latin American satellite and cable sports network.
FX Networks, a cable network broadcasting reruns of programming previously shown on other channels, but recently creating its own programming, including the Emmy Award-winning program The Shield.
SPEED Channel
Fuel TV
The 101, DirecTV in-house channel on its satellite service, available throughout the United States
Big Ten Network, college football & basketball cable channel being launched Aug 2007 (49%)
National Geographic Channel (joint venture with National Geographic Magazine) 67%
National Geographic Channel International 75%
Fox International Channels, domestic cable channels offering different formats of Fox programming including FX, Fox Life, and Fox Crime amongst others. Countries of operation include Brazil, Bulgaria,Croatia, France, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Portugal, Singapore Serbia and Spain.
Latin America
Fox Latin American Channels – channels available in over 17 countries in Latin America
Canal FOX
Canal FX
Canal Fox Life
Canal Fox Reality
Canal Fox Sports
Canal Speed
Canal National Geographic Channel
Fox One-Stop Media – advertising sales for company owned and third party channels in Latin America
+ LAPTV (22.5%)(Latin American Pay Television) operates 5 cable movie channels throughout South America excluding Brazil.
Movie City
Cine Canal
Cine Canal 2
Cine Canal Classics
The Film Zone
Telecine (12.5%) operates 5 cable movie channels in Brazil.
Telecine Premium
Telecine Action
Telecine Emotion
Telecine Pipoca
Telecine Cult
Australia
Premier Media Group (50%)
+
Fox Sports One
Fox Sports Two
Fox Sports Three
Fuel
How To Channel
+ Premium Movie Partnership (20%) – movie channels, a JV between 20th Century Fox, Sony, Universal, Paramount and Liberty Media
Showtime 1 & 2
Showtime Greats
PLATFORMS
India
Hathway Cable & Datacom (26%), India’s 2nd largest cable network through 7 cities including Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai & Pune
Taiwan
Total TV (20%), Pay TV platform with JV partner KOO’s Group majority owner (80%). News Corp also has a 20% interest in the KOO’s Group directly
Internet
MySpace – Social networking website, general interest website acquired through purchase from Intermix Media
.grab.com/ Grab.com] – Entertainment/Games. (Acquired through purchase of Intermix Media)
IGN Entertainment – Internet entertainment portal (Includes the sites IGN, GameSpy, Rotten Tomatoes and Askmen.com)
Movielink (20%) – Online movie downloads joint Venture between – Fox, Viacom, Sony, MGM & Disney
Indya.com – India’s no. 1 Entertainment Portal
What if Sports.com
Scout.com
Sibeliusmusic.com and other Sibelius Software related forms of media.
Jumptheshark.com owned through stake in GemstarTVGuide
ROO Group Inc (5% increasing to 10% with performance targets)
News Digital Media
News.com.au – Australian-oriented news website
CareerOne.com.au
CarsGuide.com.au
HomeSite.com.au
in2mobi.com.au
TrueLocal.com.au
Realestate.com.au (69%)
Casa.it (59.4%), Sky Italia also holds a 30.6% share
Propertyfinder.com (50%), News Corp holds the remaining 50% directly
New Zealand
DVD Unlimited – leading online DVD subscription service (ownership through stake in Sky Network Television).
Other assets
(NDS) – Conditional access technology and personal digital video recorders (PVRs) (74%)
VISIONIK (51%)
ADSR (40%)
Jungo
ITE, publisher of Playstation and Mobile games, and interactive television
Broadsystem Ltd (UK) – Telephony provider for media companies, bought in 1991
Broadsystem Australia (Australia)
Broadsystem Ventures (UK) – provider of cheap-rate telephone calls, particularly for customers of Sky Television. Bought outright in 1999.
Jamba! – Mobile Entertainment/Mobile Handsets Personalization/Games. 51% majority stake acquired through deal with VeriSign in September 2006.
News Outdoor Group – Largest outdoor advertising company in Eastern Europe with over 70,000 ads including billboards and bus shelters, operating in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Israel, Poland, Romania, Russia (96 cities), Turkey & Ukraine.
Maximedia Israel (67%)
Mosgorreklama (50%) – Russia sign and marketing material manufacturer
Kamera Acikhava Reklamclik (?) – leading outdoor advertising company in Turkey
Australian Associated Press (25%)
Fox Sports Grill (50%) – Upscale sports bar and restaurant with 8 locations – Arizona, California, Washington, New York, Dallas TX, Houston TX, Charlotte NC and Georgia.
Fox Sports Skybox (70%) – Sports fan’s Bar & Grill at Staples Centre and 6 airport restaurants.
Sibelius Software and related forms of media.
For up-to-date listings of holdings go to the News Corporation website
See also: Inside the world of Rupert Murdoch
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Wow! Well you’ve certainly laid you case out well (though you’re preaching to the converted here). He’s just bought a stake in an ailing UK commercial channel (ITV1) which is being investigated for its legality.The UK government and prospective government is always keen to court Murdochs favour as his influence on the press here (& hence to a degree how people might vote) is so great.
emalyse - 18 February, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Yeah. Maybe I am a bit naive in laying all this out but I think people have a tendency to forget. Murdoch is a bastard and people need to be reminded of that.
Not many people know that Murdoch owns the free paper that is now being pushed down people’s throats on the streets of london every day – the london paper. Even I didn’t know that murdoch’s news corp had hoovered up myspace in 2005 for $580m. Or maybe I did! See this is what I am saying we forget.
Now why would News Corporation spend such a huge amount of money on myspace? that’s the real question I’d like an answer too… One things for sure… I wouldn’t use myspace for love nor money!
tío catire - 18 February, 2007 at 11:51 pm
I’m not sure that Murdoch has fully worked out how to dominate online media yet but it’d only sensible to be suspicious of this amount of power, influence and what media is in his portfolio .
emalyse - 24 February, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Its about time someone catalogued the vast empire Murdoch has established. It seems the only thing that can stop him now are national governments, yet despite this they would rather court his favour. This illustrates just how much power the man has. Keep up the good work!
Rob - 2 March, 2007 at 5:20 pm
[...] people are so confused by the media today, that they fail to see that capitalism is now a gigantic holocaust of injustice that is anti-human in virtually every respect [...]
ParEcon: Life After Capitalism « Bala Fría - 4 March, 2007 at 1:13 pm
[...] the last two decades have seen unprecedented corporate media consolidation. The U.S. media was already fairly homogenous in the early 80s: some fifty media conglomerates [...]
Democracy Now! « Bala Fría - 9 March, 2007 at 10:18 am
Nice site!
“Murdoch is a bastard and people need to be reminded of that.”
Couldn’t have put it better.
“Even I didn’t know that murdoch’s news corp had hoovered up myspace in 2005 for $580m. Or maybe I did! ”
Ditto.
The reason he bought into ITV was to stop NTL/Virgin Media in their alleged attempts to buy it out. They are desperate to buy into content provision, to add to their cable tv and broadband delivery systems. Murdoch won’t allow that – there’s only room for one media controller.
Keep up the good work!
Nigel - 17 March, 2007 at 10:22 pm
If you do visit this page, please do take a moment to watch the videos here. The John Pilger film, ‘Breaking the Mirror’ is well worth an hour of your time. Apologies for the quality as it is taken from VHS. Thanks for your kind words Nigel.
Regards
tío catire - 17 March, 2007 at 10:56 pm
SKY vs Virgin Media – Following the recent breakdown in negotiations between the two companies, the tactics employed by SKY to ‘poach’ Virgin Media customers and the immediate ‘Don’t Lose LOST’ advertising campaign implies that they have no real desire to share their channels, thus leaving them in a monopoly situation. They are not prepared to allow any other provider a share of the market or allow a position where a rival could challenge SKY’s dominance of the market.
This is not news. This is how News Corporation have operated for years! The aim is to destroy the opposition.
We like to believe that here in the West we have choice. I think this demonstrates that there is no real choice and our governments do nothing about it. Our governments are supposed to regulate to maintain democracy and freedom of choice and prevent these kind of monopoly situations arising but the truth is the politicians are only interested in their own personal advantage. What ever happened to our dream of freedom? Watch Adam Curtis’ ‘The Trap’ BBC2 tonight at 9pm (Sunday 18th March).
tío catire - 18 March, 2007 at 12:58 pm
- Recent comments by Virgin boss Richard Branson
[Listen to Branson here on RealPlayer]
tío catire - 18 March, 2007 at 5:36 pm
[...] Blair spoke to Rupert Murdoch three times in nine days in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, it emerged yesterday, after the [...]
Revealed: Blair’s talks with Murdoch on eve of war « Bala Fría - 23 July, 2007 at 5:43 pm
[...] There are certain distinctive characteristics that can be attributed to Rupert Murdoch’s media. In the ever-changing media landscape the look and feel of Newscorp’s products is changing in an effort to reach out to new markets, but the content and style is always the same [...]
The Murdoch Rule of Thumb « Bala Fría - 23 July, 2007 at 6:13 pm
[...] MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann takes a look inside the world of Rupert Murdoch [...]
Inside the world of Rupert Murdoch « Bala Fría - 11 August, 2007 at 6:48 pm
Very well laid out article and your work generally is excellent, thanks, and keep it up.
I cancelled my Sky subscription last week.
Pete - 12 August, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Thanks Pete.
I am pleased that this post is still receiving a fair amount of traffic and positive feedback. Spread the word.
Best
Tio
Tio Catire - 12 August, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Tio, re: MySpace
I read in the Guardian recently, an article published after Murdoch bought the Wall Street Journal, he bought MySpace for the purpose of trying to redirect traffic to his own sites.
It’s also the biggest website in the world I believe. Big advertising revenues and a lot of personal information on users.
I just started using MySpace actually because it is a tool nonetheless that can be used against the things Murdoch stands for. The ethics of using it is questionable but I think I will carry on for the time being.
Best,
Pete
Pete - 12 August, 2007 at 10:36 pm
[...] and joined thousands if not millions of enlightened people who choose not to give Rupert Murdoch a penny of their money; I cancelled my sky subscription. [...]
Last week I woke up... « Knowledge is King - 12 August, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Tio I hadn’t read all your comments, I understand your anti-myspace feelings however it’s a great method of exposure. What we really need is someone to setup humanspace and take the boycott from there.
For an example of the kinds of people that do use myspace you can check out my profile over there.
The ads are ghastly and we need to organise the boycott alternative for myspace. Anyone wanna help?
Pete - 15 August, 2007 at 1:34 am
Hello Pete,
My aim when I wrote the above post was to try to raise wider awareness of how Murdoch’s media monopoly operates, its holdings worldwide and the impact that Murdoch slanted news has on our interpretation and understanding of world events.
If I have inspired anyone out there since then to… stop reading The Sun… unsubscribe to Sky or to refuse to take a copy of the London Paper
or to want to start an alternative to myspace then I am truly happy.
Keep up the good work!
Best
Tio
Tio Catire - 15 August, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Thanks Tio, what you’re doin is great, keep up the good work too.
Pete - 15 August, 2007 at 9:05 pm
[...] It’s a media-opoly! The whole media’s controlled by a few corporations thanks to deregulation by the FCC. You mean Disney, Fox, Westinghouse, and good ol’ GE? They own networks from CBS to CNBC…. [...]
It’s A Media-opoly! « Bala Fría - 19 August, 2007 at 2:50 pm
“I call out to all Americans to stand up for our Constitutional Republic! To stand up to the oppression that these evil men have in store for our Country! To DEMAND that those in Congress, not under the influences of the CFR, to INVESTIGATE them! Freeze all financial accounts of those who are involved, including all Presidential candidates who are members, raid their headquarters and their homes and publicly display any and all documents pertaining to their plans and to throw those involved in prison for the rest of their natural lives.”
freecon - 11 October, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Hi,
These stories may be of interest:
The Courier Mail’s populist hypocrisy on fuel excisesof 24 June 08.
The Australian laments outcome of Queensland local government elections of 30 March 08.
daggett - 25 June, 2008 at 1:35 am
[...] are in a search for the democracy of information since there is a media tyranny in the world,” Chávez asserted Thursday. “Hopefully we can structure a grand social television [...]
Non-Aligned Countries Endorse Venezuelan Proposal for Alternative World Media « Bala Fria - 16 July, 2008 at 7:14 am
[...] this, but it is a fact, that our national game of football, amongst other sports, was stolen by Rupert Murdoch’s Sky TV, from under our very noses. And the worse thing is, with a little bit of media sparkle and [...]
Boycott Murdoch’s Footie Monopoly! « Bala Fria - 3 May, 2009 at 11:34 pm