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News Ltd and Control

LeagueXIII

First Grade
Messages
5,965
Interested to read comments regarding News Ltd and Malcolm Turnbull's time in power and how News Ltd behaved towards him as he would not involve or communicate things to the organisation as Tony Abbott did.

It sounded very familiar to how a certain Dave Smith, John Grant and Todd Greenberg were and have been treated by the media giant. Unlike Peter V'landys (aka Tony Abbott) who has been praised as the messiah to save the world and left reasonably untouched by them.

It's interesting also because many times over the years I've heard News Ltd journos say how they have a direct line and can ring up the NRL boss eg. Rebecca Wilson/David Gallop and now our good friend Kenty/ V'landys.

Where as they would constantly complain about the other leaders as they wouldn't take or return calls.


Read this and replace the politicians with the leaders of our game and it sounds very familiar.


https://www.theguardian.com/austral...rty-with-the-murdochs-encouraging-intolerance


Malcolm Turnbull: News Corp is like a political party with the Murdochs encouraging intolerance
In his new book the former Australian PM accuses the company of helping to run the country through deferential leaders like Tony Abbott


News Corp operates like a political party, working closely with rightwing politicians to influence policy and elections and to destroy politicians who won’t agree to a partnership with the Murdochs, the former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says.

“I wasn’t going to run my government in partnership with Rupert or Lachlan Murdoch or their editors, and I knew [News Corp would] resent that,” Turnbull writes in his memoir, which was leaked by the Australian on Thursday.

“It attacks its enemies and protects its friends, as it did [former prime minister Tony] Abbott and as it is today protecting [Scott] Morrison to the point of ignoring big issues of accountability.”

Turnbull says his fatal flaw, according to media barons, was not that he was “too liberal” but his lack of deference and his personal wealth, because all the billionaires liked a politician who depended on them.

The journalist who leaked the book, A Bigger Picture, before its Monday release is the Australian’s national affairs editor, Simon Benson, who is identified by Turnbull as a key player in a secret alliance between Murdoch and the right wing of Australia’s Coalition government.

Turnbull claims the Coalition ingratiates itself with Murdoch outlets through strategic leaks in return for favourable coverage.

Benson, along with the Australian’s former and current editor Paul Whittaker and Chris Dore, “could rightly feel they had a hand in running the country”, Turnbull alleges.

Turnbull says when Abbott was prime minister he and his chief of staff, Peta Credlin, were so close to News Corp they would make cabinet decisions available to its reporters before they were confirmed.

“If more journalists who’ve worked at News Corporation were prepared publicly to tell the truth about the extent of their control and influence, even the most cynical Australians would be appalled,” he writes.

Turnbull claims that two senior journalists, the Australian’s editor-at-large Paul Kelly and its then national affairs editor, David Crowe, told him privately that the agenda at News Corp and Sky News was to “destroy” the Turnbull government.

Crowe told Turnbull he resigned in 2017 because he was “depressed and despairing” and “can’t take it anymore” at the Australian.

Kelly, a former editor-in-chief of the paper, allegedly said the corporation believed Turnbull had to be destroyed because he was “too left wing” and “no better than [opposition leader Bill] Shorten”.

Kelly told Guardian Australia Turnbull’s account is “colourful but unbalanced”. “I argued, in public and private, the primary political contest for media coverage must be Government versus Labor, not Liberal progressives versus Liberal conservatives,” Kelly said. “Both the paper and Sky gave free scope to my views when they did not necessarily agree with them.”

Crowe said the editors believed attacking Turnbull was good for business because readers loved stories that undermined Turnbull and praised Abbott. The reporter, now the chief political correspondent for the Herald and the Age, does not dispute Turnbull’s account.

Turnbull writes that the “privileged access” News Corp had under Abbott wasn’t going to continue under his leadership, after he succeeded in challenging Abbott in 2015.

“With Abbott they had a deferential prime minister they thought they controlled,” he writes.

He says he was attacked relentlessly by the company’s rightwing columnists and, when Sky News employed Credlin, they gave a “powerful platform to a vindictive, vengeful enemy of my government”.

Turnbull says he discussed the “vicious personal partisanship” of the Australian and Sky News with Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch many times but they minimised it by claiming the outlets were not influential because they had small audiences.

He said the 2GB broadcasters Alan Jones and Ray Hadley – full of “vanity and megalomania” – loved to berate and bully politicians like him who weren’t “in their pocket”.

Under his leadership, Turnbull says, Morrison was constantly briefing Benson, liked to keep himself “constantly in the centre of things” and used leaks to pre-empt government decisions.

The former prime minister believes Murdoch wanted him to win the 2016 election because his prime ministership was better than a Labor government but Credlin and Sky News were relentless critics and the corporation eventually “bought into the Abbott madness of destroying the government to bring about its defeat so that Tony could come back as leader in opposition before returning to government in 2022”.

Credlin said apart from flashes of brilliance Turnbull had no work ethic and had the wrong temperament for politics.

“He has no moral compass,” she told 2GB. “I’ve never met a more reprehensible human being.”

Turnbull is also critical of the way News Corp newspapers undermined efforts to combat climate change, in particular during the summer bushfires when they mocked Greta Thunberg.

“As we reflect on Rupert Murdoch’s achievements, we have to ask, what good has he done apart from making himself and his family rich?

“His media have championed climate change denial relentlessly, and played a very influential role in the lack of climate action in our country and in the United States especially.”

Turnbull says on an international scale the Murdochs “routinely exploit and encourage intolerance and racial and religious animosities” and are the “fiercest defenders of Trump” and “keenest promoters of Brexit”. Outlets including Fox News must take much of the blame for the US being a divided, inward-turning nation today, he says.
 

LeagueXIII

First Grade
Messages
5,965
Turnbull was a terrible leader.
Blaming others for his pitfalls was and still is his MO.
Total whining flog.

Try to avoid the politics, what I was getting at was News Ltd's style of discrediting anyone who doesn't do what they want as we have seen with the current attacks on Greenberg building an image of him as a buffoon who doesn't know what he is doing whilst praising V'landys everytime he does anything.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,411
Try to avoid the politics, what I was getting at was News Ltd's style of discrediting anyone who doesn't do what they want as we have seen with the current attacks on Greenberg building an image of him as a buffoon who doesn't know what he is doing whilst praising V'landys everytime he does anything.

given Vlandys runs a shadey business we shouldnt be surprised that people of dubious character are connected and trying to win favour with him. I’d be very surprised if most of the journalists haven’t enjoyed his “hospitality” on a regular basis.

I pity whoever replaces Greenberg next, it’ll probably be a Vlandys mate but if it isnt they are going to have a hell of a job trying to be a ceo with him there.
 

stryker

First Grade
Messages
5,277
Try to avoid the politics, what I was getting at was News Ltd's style of discrediting anyone who doesn't do what they want as we have seen with the current attacks on Greenberg building an image of him as a buffoon who doesn't know what he is doing whilst praising V'landys everytime he does anything.
You keep the politics out of it yourself.
Greenburg seems MIA whilst V'landys is front and center. Many would agree this is accurate.
Additionally, this is not the first thread Ive read this commentary from you in. Theres a barrow being pushed no doubt.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,411
You keep the politics out of it yourself.
Greenburg seems MIA whilst V'landys is front and center. Many would agree this is accurate.
Additionally, this is not the first thread Ive read this commentary from you in. Theres a barrow being pushed no doubt.

Both news ltd and nine are manoeuvring to oust Greenberg and get Vlandys with total control with some yes man as ceo. You can be the judge of what their motivations are for such a move.
 

Hello, I'm The Doctor

First Grade
Messages
9,124
Both news ltd and nine are manoeuvring to oust Greenberg and get Vlandys with total control with some yes man as ceo. You can be the judge of what their motivations are for such a move.

The HOPEFUL read of the situation is that Vlad is a mad titan who has wanted to control RL for a long time. Horse racing has made him so powerful that he can bend the media to campaign for him (i reckon the advertising budget for nSW racing is huge)

The stories about him in racing make me think he is a bit of a lunatic, but that might not be such a bad thing.

If he is an egomanic like everyone says, the thing that gets him noticed/remembered/admired is making RL the biggest game in Australia.
 

some11

Referee
Messages
23,313
Turnbull was a terrible leader.
Blaming others for his pitfalls was and still is his MO.
Total whining flog.
This is true, he is a corrupt mofo as evidenced by giving half a billion to his corporate mates under the guise of a barrier reef fund.

Murdoch's empire also being an enemy of democracy is also true.
 

The Great Dane

First Grade
Messages
7,723
This is true, he is a corrupt mofo as evidenced by giving half a billion to his corporate mates under the guise of a barrier reef fund.

Murdoch's empire also being an enemy of democracy is also true.
All media moguls and mainstream news outlets are enemies of democracy. They've all got an agenda and they're all willing to bend the truth or even straight out lie to push it.

Same's true of the mainstream political parties. It's not just one side or a couple of bad eggs, they're all corrupt to varying extents in their own way.
 

LeagueXIII

First Grade
Messages
5,965
Additionally, this is not the first thread Ive read this commentary from you in. Theres a barrow being pushed no doubt.

Now there's irony. You're suggesting I have an agenda yet you fail to see the clear agenda being driven by the media against Greenberg.

The same media who were silent on Gallop for a decade and his complete failure to grow the game his conflict of interest with News Ltd etc etc etc.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,411
The HOPEFUL read of the situation is that Vlad is a mad titan who has wanted to control RL for a long time. Horse racing has made him so powerful that he can bend the media to campaign for him (i reckon the advertising budget for nSW racing is huge)

The stories about him in racing make me think he is a bit of a lunatic, but that might not be such a bad thing.

If he is an egomanic like everyone says, the thing that gets him noticed/remembered/admired is making RL the biggest game in Australia.

with statements like “the games future is in sydneys suburbs” and “no point wasting money on afl rusted on states” the game is never going to be the biggest in Australia under him.
 

taipan

Referee
Messages
22,402
with statements like “the games future is in sydneys suburbs” and “no point wasting money on afl rusted on states” the game is never going to be the biggest in Australia under him.

The games future ATM is tied to the financial sector.IMO V'Landys is looking at Brisbane first ,which is a no brainer and wants to be certain having a Perth side will bring in the loot that makes the exercise worthwhile.
What is happening now,FTA and Pay Tv are finding the going financially tough, and future big TV deals are just about nonexistent.
I'm sure the AFL when it comes time to renew their contract, they are in for a big shock.Ch7 is also bleeding money.
Anyone who can predict what the next TV deal will be worth, is a Nostrodamus.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,411
The games future ATM is tied to the financial sector.IMO V'Landys is looking at Brisbane first ,which is a no brainer and wants to be certain having a Perth side will bring in the loot that makes the exercise worthwhile.
What is happening now,FTA and Pay Tv are finding the going financially tough, and future big TV deals are just about nonexistent.
I'm sure the AFL when it comes time to renew their contract, they are in for a big shock.Ch7 is also bleeding money.
Anyone who can predict what the next TV deal will be worth, is a Nostrodamus.

regardless of his motivations the point still stands, you aren’t going to be the biggest sport in the country without two major capital cities in it.
Re AFL they have nearly $390mill in non media revenue plus a grants system that allows them to move things around and aren’t funding the states, they have more ability to cushion a reduced tv deal than nrl does at the moment. Hence why nrl has been investing in non media revenue generating activities.
 

colly

Juniors
Messages
1,015
regardless of his motivations the point still stands, you aren’t going to be the biggest sport in the country without two major capital cities in it.
Re AFL they have nearly $390mill in non media revenue plus a grants system that allows them to move things around and aren’t funding the states, they have more ability to cushion a reduced tv deal than nrl does at the moment. Hence why nrl has been investing in non media revenue generating activities.
Could you outline and show the budget of AFL's 390 million non media revenue. If it's just adds up Clubs total spend that's not indicative of 'AFL' strength. I think Penith Panther a few years back has 10 separate league/licensed clubs which could have been worth/had revenue of 100's of millions. However they got in troulble.
 
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