The Real Murdoch Scandal

Some time ago, I announced that this blog would soon present a film about the real Rupert Murdoch scandal -- the dirty little secret that makes phone hacking seem like a minor offense. Alas, the project -- intended to be a half-hour or more in length -- was never finished.

This scandal is huge, international in scope, and rather more complex than what you see here.

Since the original elements for the video have gone missing, I can't easily finish or reconstitute the beginning sequence. This rough assemblage, put together for a few friends, is all that exists. For the most part, this segment offers a very, very pared-down summary of a BBC Panorama investigation of Murdoch's outrageous business practices.

Please note that this is NOT a video about the phone hacking scandal, but about something even worse. Note, too, that I usually edit to a "robot" narration track; human narration was to be added at the very last stage. Don't worry -- the robot sounds reasonably human, and she shuts up after the first couple of minutes.

At this time, it is especially important to publicize Murdoch's sordid way of doing business. Rupert Murdoch wants to establish a media monopoly in this country -- with Obama's help!

Murdoch is currently jockeying to buy the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, which just so happen to be the largest newspapers in the nation’s second and third largest cities. That will add to his current media empire in the United States, which includes the most watched cable news network in the nation, Fox so-called News, and the most circulated newspaper in the nation, The Wall Street Journal.

The only thing standing in Murdoch’s way of full-spectrum media domination in America are Federal Communication Commission rules that forbid one company from owning both a newspaper and a television station in one community. Murdoch already owns local television stations in both Chicago and Los Angeles.

The LAT is still a great paper in many ways. God help my former home city if Murdoch takes over what's left of the news business there.

Please publicize this video. Tell people about the real scandal. Let them know that Rupert Murdoch is even more devious and underhanded than his harshest critics suppose.

(Despite the robot narration track, this video is, I think pretty zippy and fun-to-watch.)