Former Australian PM: FOX News is a Threat to Democracy
By: Manny Otiko
Tags: Foreign Policy, Media Criticism, Race, Politics, Fascism

If you haven’t listened to former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s scathing critique of FOX News and the Murdoch family, I suggest you do. It’s the most accurate broadside against NewsCorp, a multinational media company that Turnbull says is a threat to democracy.

Turnbull made the critique last week on Brian Stelter’s “Reliable Sources.” He said FOX News helped Russian President Vladimir Putin achieve his goal of damaging America. Turnbull added that FOX News Channel (FNC) had also created a “market for crazy.”

He makes a salient point. When thousands of radicalized Americans attacked their own government on Jan. 6, they did so because they had been brainwashed by “Stop the Steal” propaganda promoted by FOX News Channel and other right-wing outlets. FOX News is a large part of the right-wing echo chamber that has caused many Americans to doubt the truth and make Donald Trump, a failed businessman/reality TV star, leader of the free world. The results were disastrous.

Murdoch, the kingmaker

Turnbull also said Rupert Murdoch played a role in propping up Trump. Rupert Murdoch, head of NewsCorp, likes the power of being a kingmaker. Roger Ailes, the evil genius who helped FNC become the media juggernaut it is today, tried to recruit former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Gen.(rtd.) David Patreus, to run for president against President Barack Obama, who he loathed for multiple reasons.

Ailes, who was a cross between the Maquis De Sade and Alex Jones, believed Obama wasn’t born in America. He allowed this smear to flourish on his propaganda network.

Rupert has handed power to his son Lachlan, who is even more far-right than his father. This is disturbing because being more conservative than Rupert Murdoch would make you an undiluted fascist.

According to Turnbull, Murdoch promoted Trump’s presidency, even though he knew he was unqualified for the job. Turnbull also accused Trump of being servile to Murdoch. Trump used FNC’s parade of goons and demagogues as his shadow cabinet, which was literally the blind leading the blind. Instead of listening to policy experts, Trump took advice from conspiracy theorist Lou Dobbs.

However, Turnbull also talked about the danger NewsCorp’s right-wing propaganda poses to his native Australia. When Australia was ravaged by wildfires last year, Murdoch-backed news outlets blamed it on arsonists. But the real cause was severe drought caused by climate change.

Dr. Lily van Eeden, a researcher at the University of Sydney, said these kinds of fires would become more common because of global warming. Murdoch news outlets chose to stick to the conservative dogma stating that climate change isn’t real, even as their country was going up in flames. According to an NBC report, the fires scorched 46 million acres.

FOX News vs. the truth

This kind of head-in-the-sand attitude has caused a split in the family. James Murdoch walked away from the family business a few years ago partly because of NewsCorp’s anti-science attitude. Rupert handed power to his son Lachlan, who is even more far-right than his father. This is disturbing because being more conservative than Rupert Murdoch would make you an undiluted fascist.

Recently Lachlan Murdoch defended FNC’s top-rated host Tucker Carlson, who has repeatedly promoted the Great Replacement conspiracy theory that claims Jews are conspiring to change American demographics by importing immigrants from Africa and Latin America. This idea was also chanted by neo-Nazis at the Unite the Right march in 2017.

However, before you dismiss Turnbull as a wide-eyed liberal, understand that he’s a conservative, at least by Australian standards. He’s a former investment banker and venture capitalist. But he understands the threat NewsCorp poses to democracy. And he’s not alone in his opinion. James Clapper, former director of National Intelligence, also warned of the danger of FOX News.

According to The Australian Guardian, Clapper, a retired lieutenant-general in the Air Force, backed Turnbull’s call for a royal commission to investigate NewsCorp. Half a million Australians have signed a petition that supports the commission.

“Unfortunately, in this country we’ve fallen into two separate reality bubbles, one of which is fomented and amplified by Fox News,” said Clapper. “Rupert Murdoch and Fox is part of a larger issue we have in this country. To the extent that anyone feeds, amplifies, expands, embellishes truth decay — that is insidious and dangerous to democracy.”