News at NEWS Corp
The wags at NEWS Corp had a terrifying day ...
Now, this cartoon and these two stories were in my newspaper, the SMH (it was on the SBS tv news yesterday too) ...
James Murdoch breaks ranks over 'climate change denial'
... and, the forever-interested-in-balance person I am, I ran out and purchased The Australian, to see just how they dealt with the news. Now would you believe it ... there was no mention of it whatsoever.
Well, then again, it is not surprising, because The Australian hardly ever writes about climate change and even less (critically) about climate change denial ... and when it does, it describes climate change as a "cult" and "a socialist plot".
However, on the front page - Thursday 16 January 2020 - is a story about the Bushfire Disaster. The tenor is that Scott Morrison has been warned by Coalition MPs to avoid major changes to emissions reduction targets. So there.
Importantly, things will be shaken up at the House Of Murdoch ... talk of climate change is not taboo anymore. The junior son of Rupert, James, in contrast to his big brother Lachlan, is "particularly disappointed with the ongoing denial among (their) news outlets in Australia - given the obvious evidence to the contrary" ... see the story below "James and the climate according to News Corp".)
James Murdoch shows News Corp climate criticism
goes to top of family tree
But wait ... today there's more:
Weathering the storm:
inside the Murdoch family climate schism
A Murdoch does a 'Prince Harry':
James and the climate according to News Corp
______________________
A letter to the newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald:
Emily Townsend of News Corp Australia said she had been anxious and disappointed about the sickening climate change coverage (or lack thereof) in the Murdoch press (by Zoe Samios and Andrew Hornery: News Corp manager condemns fire coverage in leaked email).
Robert Manne wrote in the SMH about how The Australian wages a campaign against climate change science - that was on 3 Sept 2011. In the SMH the coverage of the climate change issue is unceasing. Reports abound on the government’s and Scott Morrison’s denial of the urgency to curb fossil fuel (coal) burning and mining.
So the other day, for balance, I bought The Australia (Monday 6 January). There is coverage of the bushfire crisis (“PM stumps up for fire crisis”). The editorial on the day said “PM leads with reservists, firebombers, recovery plan” and “It was slow coming. But the Morrison government is now providing the national leadership Australia’s bushfire emergency demands”. Simon Benson writes about Morrison “poor judgment puts competency under question” but “there is an element of hysteria around the position in which Morrison finds himself”.
Yet, not a word - all throughout the paper - about climate change. On the letters page “Bushfire crisis is notable for political opportunism” five letters about the fire crisis, with the tenor that “… there are those who calculatingly use the crisis to discredit Morrison”. Then, in the sixth letter is mention of the devil’s term, 'climate change'; the only mention of the two words I can find in the entire newspaper: “It seems the PM is responsible for severe drought, hotter weather and terrible bushfires. He is also apparently responsible for climate change …"
It is near incomprehensible, embarrassing and dismaying that otherwise intelligent people fall into the trap of misinformation, denial and propaganda, as they follow the blinkered line of arguments provided by vested interests - such as mining and energy industries, who oppose the vitally necessary steps that are required to counter climate change.
-------------------------
Carsten Burmeister