SPECIAL EVENT: Rupert Murdoch’s Global War on Democracy and Climate
Join us on Wednesday, October 16 at 8pm ET for a lively conversation and Q&A with Malcolm Turnbull, the former Prime Minister of Australia.
Sign up to attend this event here.
Have you lost a relative to Fox News propaganda?
Do you wonder why so many Americans are under-informed and disinformed about basic facts like the positive economy, that Joe Biden fairly won the 2020 election, and that the climate emergency demands urgent, transformative solutions?
One of the major reasons is Rupert Murdoch and his vast media network, News Corp.
Murdoch is not only a malign influence on American minds. He runs a global media empire that can bring governments and political figures around the world to their knees.
How did Rupert Murdoch become so powerful? It all started in his native Australia.
Join us via Zoom on Wednesday October 16, 8pm ET for a lively conversation and Q&A with Malcolm Turnbull, the former Prime Minister of Australia (sign up here).
Turnbull has been one of the most outspoken and visible world leaders explicitly calling out the harm Rupert Murdoch’s media properties do to democracies. Murdoch’s influence is far beyond that of a traditional media owner; his immense power spans three continents affecting not just news, but public opinion, political careers, and public policy.
Murdoch has used his media empire to undermine people's understanding of the climate emergency, sabotaging attempts to solve the crisis and imperiling all life on earth.
Turnbull has been a strident voice of criticism about the harms of Murdoch’s media organizations, famously lambasting a Murdoch-employed editor for his role in climate science denialism saying:
The fundamental problem [is] that the company you work for ... have turned this issue of physics into an issue of values or identity. Saying that you believe or disbelieve in global warming is like saying you believe or disbelieve in gravity. You’ve turned something that should be a question of engineering and economics into undiluted ideology…and we are paying the price in delayed action to address global warming.
We will hear from Malcolm Turnbull about how Australians have fought back against Murdoch propaganda, including an effort calling for a formal Australian parliamentary inquiry into Murdoch’s dominance of the Australian political discourse. Australians For a Murdoch Royal Commission (AFMRC) is a movement of everyday Australians taking on Rupert Murdoch’s insidious power over journalism, governments and our future.
Mr. Turnbull has followed political events closely in the US and has keen insights into Murdoch’s influence in the US, saying of the January 6 insurrection “It was nothing less than an attempted coup, promoted and encouraged by the president himself and his media allies like Murdoch who, through Fox News, has probably done more damage to US democracy than any other individual.” Turnbull has rightly pointed out that the media mogul created an “anger-tainment ecosystem” that has left the US “angrier and more divided than it’s been at any time since the civil war.”
Who are the leaders in the US fighting back against billionaire dominance of media that shapes, and warps, minds in the US? We find it tragic and stunning that there are no political figures in the US exhibiting Turnbull’s insight and fortitude.
The Q&A will include questions submitted in advance by attendees. Submit your question here for the former Prime Minister (we will do our best to ask as many as possible).
In July 2023, the Media and Democracy Project began one of the most potentially meaningful efforts in the US to hold the Murdoch's/News Corp to account for promoting dangerous lies about the 2020 election.
You can help us fight back. Please sign on in support of our action to hold the Murdochs and Fox to account by visiting foxpetition.com. We have been joined by multiple former Fox executives and FCC commissioners. We have asked our Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny re-licensure of local broadcast TV stations to Fox in the US specifically because Rupert Murdoch and Fox/News Corp leadership fail the FCC’s "character qualification" necessary to be entrusted with broadcast licenses in the US. We have cited the evidence revealed in the Dominion lawsuit that Murdoch and Fox executives knowingly and willfully advocated for their employees to broadcast lies to the American people. In our view, such non-broadcast misconduct disqualifies Murdoch from being granted licenses to broadcast in the public interest.
We are awaiting the FCC decision on whether or not they will grant a hearing on this matter. Learn more here.
Recommended Resources On Murdoch’s Media Empire
The Brainwashing of My Dad - Jen Senko; documentary and book
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism - Robert Greenwald; documentary
Murdochs’s World: The Last of the Old Media Empires - David Folkenflik; book
Defending Democracy with Malcolm Turnbull - Malcolm Turnbull; podcast
