I despise the Murdoch Media empire for the pervasive influence it has in undermining our democracy and doing genuine harm to our country through its sensationalist coverage of news and platforming of bigots and science deniers. For all that I didn't jump to be the first person to sign the petition for a Royal Commission into media ownership in Australia. I held a couple of reservations, mainly around the efficacy of such action. But after considering the matter for a few days I had no hesitation in signing the petition and I would recommend others do the same. Here is the link for anyone that would like to do that now. News Corps is much less in the business of delivering news than it is in divisive clickbait and outright propaganda. Admittedly I am not particularly confident that the outcomes of a Royal Commission would be a recommendation for a forced decoupling of the company or of stronger media integrity laws. Neither am I confident that the government would act on such recommendations if they were made- not while Murdoch is keeping them in power- but it would be great to shine some light on the company’s bias, inaccuracy and irresponsibility (and perhaps answer the question of why Murdoch companies keep getting multimillion dollar government grants as the ABC keeps getting cut).
Do I actually think the petition will bring about a royal commission though? Perhaps not- unless the number of signatories is so overwhelmingly large it cannot be ignored. But even if it doesn’t, I think it is important to register my concern, along with hundreds of thousands of other Australians. The more people that sign it the greater credence these concerns will be given. It is worth doing.
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