Trump’s re-election was made possible by the media oligarchs Rupert Murdoch and Elon Musk

Join us via Zoom for a SPECIAL EVENT about how owners of media outlets can manipulate voters to advance their own agendas.

To better survive and respond to this perilous moment in America we need to better understand the long and sordid history of how media barons have manipulated minds, influenced politics, and subverted democracies.

Join us for a lively conversation with Australian journalist, editor and publisher Eric Beecher via Zoom on Wednesday November 20, 8pm ET/ 5pm PT for “How media moguls abuse their power, manipulate the truth and distort democracy.” The event is free and open to everyone.

Sign up here: tiny.cc/ebeecher

We will discuss current events and his insightful new book The Men Who Killed The News: The Inside Story of how Media Moguls Abused their Power, Manipulated the Truth and Distorted Democracy. Mr. Beecher is a journalist, editor (he even worked for Rupert Murdoch for 2 years), and publisher of several news sources, including the independent outlet Crikey. In 2022, he was sued by Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch when one of his editor’s wrote: “Trump is a confirmed unhinged traitor. And Murdoch is his unindicted co-conspirator… The Murdochs and their slew of poisonous Fox News commentators are the unindicted co-conspirators of this continuing crisis.” Beecher and colleagues ultimately prevailed and we will hear his thoughts on the ominous future of lawfare by oligarchs against independent news organizations around the world. 

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“The abuse of journalism by media moguls isn't a new story. The shelves are lined with their biographies. But it's clear to me, after a lifetime spent inside the media ecosystem, that not even a library of biographies and histories can begin to explain the cumulative damage inflicted on liberal democracies by owners of journalism who place profits and power ahead of civic responsibility and decency.”

-Eric Beecher in The Men Who Killed the News

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Through their media properties, the anti-democracy oligarchs Rupert Murdoch and Elon Musk have injected dangerous propaganda into tens (likely hundreds) of millions of minds worldwide. The graphic below shows the impact of their manipulation, a dangerous unreality inhabited by American voters, Democratic and Republican alike, in the 2024 elections.  

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In advance of our November 20th event, we asked Mr. Beecher several questions about recent interventions by media oligarchs Jeff Bezos (Washington Post) and Patrick Soon-Siong (LA Times) the week before election Day. 

MAD: What do you think of the developments of Bezos and Soon-Siong blocking the Washington Post and LA Times from making endorsements breaking with recent traditions of these outlets and given the perilous state of American democracy with elections underway?

Beecher: It's as though they each wanted to demonstrate, at the perfectly timed moment, the precise danger of the conflict of interest that comes with having billionaire media owners. It shows that when it comes to the crunch, their commercial interests will inevitably overshadow the democratic instincts that are crucial to a free press. They didn't just lower the bar, they broke the bar.

MAD: How do these developments at two essential (of the few remaining) American national news organizations relate to your recent book “The Men Who Killed the News?”

Beecher: My book is about abuse of media power, how and why it happens. The decision by the owners of the Post and the LA Times not to endorse a presidential candidate is another grotesque example of media proprietors abusing their power and failing to support rational democratic and civil behaviour. Ironically, in an era of the declining power and influence of newspapers, it took two of the grandest mastheads in America to show how moguls still know how to abuse their power to distort societal norms.  

MAD: Do the actions of billionaires interfering in newsrooms - even with American democracy on the ballot - surprise you? 

Yes, in the sense that those actions are extremely negative for their public image and reputation as media owners. No, in the sense that intimidation and fear is so rife in Trump's America.  

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Join us via Zoom on Wednesday November 20, 8pm ET/ 5pm PT “How media moguls abuse their power, manipulate the truth and distort democracy.” Sign up here: tiny.cc/ebeecher (free)

As a solutions and action oriented organization, we will also discuss strategies for strengthening journalism, trust in news organizations, and what other countries facing similar challenges are doing.