We all know that Rupert Murdoch, or at least his companies, own vast numbers of newspapers around the world, Fox, magazines and TV stations. He now wants to acquire [devour?] the Wall St. Journal. He is meeting more than a degree of resistance and questions why he should add such a prestigious newspaper - at least to some - to his already vast empire. There just seems no stopping the man in whatever country he choses to "play".
Bill Moyers is a respected commentator in the US - and takes a resounding stick to the Sun King [in Bill Moyers Journal, as republished on AlterNet]:
"If Rupert Murdoch were the Angel Gabriel, you still wouldn't want him owning the sun, the moon, and the stars. That's too much prime real estate for even the pure in heart. But Rupert Murdoch is no saint; he is to propriety what the Marquis de Sade was to chastity.
When it comes to money and power he's carnivorous: all appetite and no taste. He'll eat anything in his path. Politicians become little clay pigeons to be picked off with flattering headlines, generous air time, a book contract or the old-fashioned black jack that never misses: campaign cash. He hires lobbyists the way Imelda Marcos bought shoes, and stacks them in his cavernous closet, along with his conscience; this is the man, remember, who famously kowtowed to the Communist overlords of China, oppressors of their own people, to protect his investments there. The ambitious can't resist his blandishments, nor his power to get or keep them in office where they can return his favors. Mae West would be green with envy at his little black book of conquests: Tory Margaret Thatcher, Labor's Tony Blair, George Bush. Even Jimmy Carter couldn't say no. Now, Bill and Hillary Clinton, who know which side of their bread is buttered, like having it slathered by their new buddy Rupert. Our media and political system has turned into a mutual protection racket."
Bill Moyers is a respected commentator in the US - and takes a resounding stick to the Sun King [in Bill Moyers Journal, as republished on AlterNet]:
"If Rupert Murdoch were the Angel Gabriel, you still wouldn't want him owning the sun, the moon, and the stars. That's too much prime real estate for even the pure in heart. But Rupert Murdoch is no saint; he is to propriety what the Marquis de Sade was to chastity.
When it comes to money and power he's carnivorous: all appetite and no taste. He'll eat anything in his path. Politicians become little clay pigeons to be picked off with flattering headlines, generous air time, a book contract or the old-fashioned black jack that never misses: campaign cash. He hires lobbyists the way Imelda Marcos bought shoes, and stacks them in his cavernous closet, along with his conscience; this is the man, remember, who famously kowtowed to the Communist overlords of China, oppressors of their own people, to protect his investments there. The ambitious can't resist his blandishments, nor his power to get or keep them in office where they can return his favors. Mae West would be green with envy at his little black book of conquests: Tory Margaret Thatcher, Labor's Tony Blair, George Bush. Even Jimmy Carter couldn't say no. Now, Bill and Hillary Clinton, who know which side of their bread is buttered, like having it slathered by their new buddy Rupert. Our media and political system has turned into a mutual protection racket."
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