Speaking under parliamentary privilege at Parliament House, the former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd told a senate inquiry that Australian politicians are frightened of Rupert Murdoch.
The inquiry comes amid Australian government's push to further empower Murdoch and other media moguls.
“Everyone’s frightened of Murdoch. They really are. There’s a culture of fear across the country,” he added.
According to him, this culture of fear about the Murdoch media monopoly was “just dead wrong for any democracy”.
“The truth is, as prime minister, I was too fearful of the Murdoch media beast. That’s just the truth of it. I could pretend that I wasn’t, but I was,” he said.
“The Murdoch media monopoly is the monopoly which dare not speak its name. We can’t mention the M word, because we know it invites retribution.
I appeared today before the Senate making the case of 500,000+ Australians who signed up for #MurdochRoyalCommission. I’d like to thank each of the senators who participated, and more importantly all of those signatories who made this happen. Full video: https://t.co/01ahm2upQ0 pic.twitter.com/Vpuds5Y2am
— Kevin Rudd (@MrKRudd) February 19, 2021
On October 10, Rudd created a petition to establish a royal commission into the strength and diversity of Australian news media – he called it a #MurdochRoyalCommission on Twitter.
“Australians have watched with growing anger at what the Murdoch media monopoly is doing to our country. A cancer on democracy. Today I am launching a national petition to establish a #MurdochRoyalCommission. If you value our democracy, please sign here“, he said in a tweet.
Rudd’s campaign against News Corp also coincided with Rupert Murdoch's younger son James Murdoch's interview with The New York Times where he explained he left the company because he was concerned its newspapers were disguising facts and endorsing disinformation.
Without Facebook and Google and "compliant politicians", News Corp is almost powerless due to diminishing public trust in its reporting.
Kim Williams, who ran News Corp in Australia between 2011 and 2013, described this as "News Corp has no influence with the public but an acute influence with politicians".
