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F6

Re: F6 post# 41116

Sunday, 09/03/2006 8:49:18 PM

Sunday, September 03, 2006 8:49:18 PM

Post# of 471587
KILLING NEWS



Richard Neville
Journal of a Futurist - 31 August 2006

The first death known to me, that was precipitated by a Rupert Murdoch headline, occurred in Sydney in March, 1964, when a schoolboy committed suicide. More of that later. These days, the casualties resulting from military invasions championed by Murdoch are numbered in the thousands, though he is not the sole agent of destruction. One of his former TV producers in the Middle East, Serene Sabbagh, resigned from Fox recently because of its “bias and racism”. What tipped her over the edge was the bombing of Qana.

“As a mother of three, watching the images, the raw images of children being pulled out of the rubble … and then I switched to Fox News to hear some of their anchors claiming that these little kids that were killed, these innocent victims that were killed, were human shields used by Hezbollah. And one of the anchors went as far as saying they were planted there by Hezbollah to win support in this war. And it was unbelievable. For me, that was the breaking point… [ http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/16/148232 ]

On August 6, Serene Sabbagh and a colleague sent a joint letter of resignation to Fox News: "Not only are you an instrument of the Bush White House, and Israeli propaganda, you are war mongers with no sense of decency, nor professionalism." A verdict which is widely echoed. “Fox News has had reporters running around northern Israel chronicling every rocket attack and every Israeli mobilisation, but has shown little or no interest in anything happening on the other side of the border”, noted Andrew Gumbel in the UK’s Independent [ http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1219241.ece ].





News Corp had “walked away from professional journalism and crossed over into dutiful propaganda”, wrote another analyst, ”a dangerous new chapter even for Fox News”. The whole organization had shifted beyond warmongering into deep censorship, where it “purposely cordoned off topics of discussion… In fact, I could not find a single, authentic, independent expert on Arab politics and history who appeared on Fox News to discuss the roots of the escalating violence. Not one [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-boehlert/fox-news-officially-aba_b_25823.html ].”

BLAZING AWAY WITH THE TOOLS OF HIS TRADE

In the editorial pages of Murdoch’s antipodean flagship, The Australian, the bombing of Beirut is presented as [ http://www.johnhowardpm.org/thefirethistime.pdf ] “Israel doing Lebanon a favour” and restive Arabs are described as “Nazis”. None of this should be surprising, as Murdoch revealed to the Hollywood Reporter that his media ventures are “not as important to me as spreading my personal political beliefs" (November 23, 2005). And these beliefs are dangerous. Murdoch’s influential Weekly Standard advocates the pursuit of “regime change in Syria …. and a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. Why wait? [ http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/433fwbvs.asp ]

It does not seem to figure in Murdoch’s personal accounting that over half a million civilians are now dead or disfigured as a result of the wars he has already promoted. Instead of reconsidering his politics, like other lapsed neocons, Murdoch is still blazing away with his tools of the trade: hate, lies, fear and censorship.



So here’s the nub. In a world facing a series of crises, should an unelected billionaire with a militant agenda and key politicians in the palm of his hand be allowed to preside over a global empire of propaganda? An empire continually expanding, one that gobbles up competitors and is now even blocking free speech on the internet? (See 'MySpace Is The Trojan Horse Of Internet Censorship' [ http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/march2006/160306myspace.htm (F6 note -- originally at http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article337149.ece )])

DIRTY DIGGERS’ DEADLY DIARIES

On top of this, Murdoch’s minions reject the inconvenient facts of climate chaos and attack the greens as “a threat to the prosperity and well-being” of the world (The Australian September 02, 2004). Whereas a real threat to the well-being of the world and its people is Rupert Murdoch, as I first discovered long ago.

These days, Murdoch’s war-mongering is compulsive and his disregard for human wreckage is both calculated and global; but in the beginning, what marked his output was a casual (and sometimes fatal) disregard for the frailties of humans.

Murdoch’s rise to power took off in Sydney in 1964, when he acquired an afternoon tabloid, the Daily Mirror. On March 12, the Mirror front paged a report on “promiscuity” among the pupils of a city high school, which was based on the contents of a young girl’s diary. The resulting uproar led to the diarist and a fellow student being expelled from school. A job well done.



That’s where the story ended as far the Mirror was concerned, though not for those involved. The 13 year old schoolboy named in the diary, Digby Bamford, was found hanging from his backyard clothesline, having committed suicide. This news was “cordoned off” from public consumption. Even rival papers kept the secret, until a disgruntled Murdoch journalist tipped off an independent magazine. The author of the “school sex” diary was examined by a doctor from the Child Welfare Department and found to be a virgin.

During an interview years later, I reminded Murdoch of this event and his reaction was sharp: “Don’t you ever make mistakes?” Of course I do. Many. After acquiring the News of the World in London in 1971, Rupert discovered another diary, while he was campaigning against a popular BBC TV show, Top of the Pops. His paper accused its stars of “promiscuity” with young dancers in the audience. One of these was Samantha MacAlpine, aged 15, whose “leatherette bound book”, according Murdoch’s news desk, “could well blow wide open the scandal at the BBC”. The day after this report, Samantha MacAlpine committed suicide.



The News of the World tried to cover itself with the headline, THIS GIRL WAS A VICTIM … NOW SHE IS DEAD, but the coroner stated that Samantha’s diary was “pure fantasy…. unconnected with reality”, (like much Murdoch journalism). A Scotland Yard officer accused the paper of being “ludicrous and irresponsible”. As is the Murdoch style, the evidence from the inquest was kept from the readers. Also suppressed was the statement of the forensic pathologist, that in his opinion, Samantha had died a virgin.

OSAMA BIN LADEN BLOWS UP MELBOURNE TRAM?

Two weeks ago, when young Australian Jack Thomas appealed his conviction for receiving funds from Al Qaeda and holding a false passport, he was acquitted by the Victorian Court of Appeal. FURY AFTER JIHAD JACK WALKS FREE, headlined The Australian, although the fury was largely confined to Murdoch’s newsroom. A jury had previously acquitted Jack Thomas of two more substantial matters. The Victorian Court quashed his conviction on the lesser charges, because police statements had been taken from the defendant while he was incarcerated in Pakistan without access to a lawyer and subjected to assaults. (A US interrogator told Thomas he would crush his testicles, rape his wife and put her breasts in a vice). When the Appeal judges freed Thomas, as they were obliged to do under Australian law, the Murdoch media called for public outrage and demanded “rapid amendments to ensure that no judge can make the same mistake”. One of the first steps in the Third Reich’s campaign to win over the hearts and minds of the German people was to attack the judges. Another step was to consolidate the media. A third step was to fan the flames of fear.

In response to criticism of its assault on the judiciary, The Australian hit back: ‘what will it take to get Mr Thomas’s apologists to take the terror threat seriously? Suicide bombers detonating aboard Melbourne’s trams? A USS Cole-style strike on the Manly ferry?” And sure enough, as I write, another Murdoch missile hits the front page. SYDNEY WILL BE ATTACKED.



After interviewing 572 citizens, the Daily Telegraph has decided that “most Australians believe we are locked in a losing war against Islamic terrorists and an attack on our home soil … is inevitable”. The number who cite Murdoch’s compulsive belligerence as a factor in the escalation of terror is not revealed. On the same day, Jack “Jihad” Thomas is arrested on the beach, slapped with a newly introduced “control order” and ordered home, where his movements are to be restricted. Questioning voices are merely a “civil libertarian lobby that believes John Howard is a greater threat to our way of life than bin Laden”, according to MurodchWorld. No, the greatest threat is the control of information from the top. “Fascism ought to more properly be called corporatism”, said Mussolini, “since it is the merger of state and corporate power.” Beware of a global Goebbels.



FRIENDS, ROMANS, COUNTRYMEN

How Mark Antony might have viewed Murdoch’s bloodlust:

Rupert Murdoch is an honourable man,
otherwise he would not be honoured so,
by other honourable men,
Like Mr Bush, Tony Blair and Mr Howard
Who, you all know, are honourable men.
Let’s not do them wrong; I’d rather choose
To wrong the dead. And the dead are many.
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.

Ran Rupert’s dagger through a free and open press
Dismembering truth and good intent,
Then what a rent the cursed Bush-ites made
Upon the battered peoples of Iraq
Whose tears and gore besmirched the Tigris.

Mark how the blood of Afghans stained the sand,
And tearful Qana infants torched from sky.
Judge, free citizens, how loudly Murdoch brayed
To feed his oily thirst for power, growth and wealth
Beyond all proportion, cheered by underlings.

O, what a fall was there, my tarnished Democrats.
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody mindedness flourish'd over us.
O, now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel
The dint of shame: Our good name squandered.
Our laws abused, our governance marr'd with traitors.

O piteous spectacle!
The evil that men do lives after them.


- - - - -

Richard Neville has been a practicing futurist since 1963, when he launched the countercultural magazine, Oz, which widened the boundaries of free speech on two continents. He has written several books, including Playpower (71), the bio of a global serial killer (79), his sixties memoir, Hippie Hippie Shake (95) and his latest handbook of social change, Footprints of the Future. A social commentator and a professional futurist with a sharp tongue, Richard is based in Australia, where he continues to ?stir the possum?.

- - -

Richard Neville has been around a while. He lives in Australia, the land that formed him. In the Sixties he raised hell in London and published Oz. He can be reached through his very bracing website, http://www.richardneville.com.au/

- - - - -

Copyright 2006 Richard Neville (emphasis in original)

http://www.richardneville.com.au/ [F6 note -- currently the lead item at this link; once the next lead item is posted, the above will be clearly linked on the left underneath 'Click to access previous journals' -- the above is also available under the title 'Killing News - Rupert Murdoch's Media Machine' at http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_richard__060829_killing_news.htm , and in somewhat truncated form under the title 'Rupert Murdoch's Victims - The Life and Crimes of a Global Goebbels' at http://www.counterpunch.org/neville09012006.html (the bio blurbs above from these links)]

[F6 note -- for more re Murdoch, see e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdoch (and there note, under 'Trivia', 'A strong believer in the Scottish Calvaistic [sic 'Calvinistic'] Doctrines.', and then see e.g. items at http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=S... ) -- and in addition to (items linked in) the post to which this post is a reply and (the many) preceding and (other) following, see also (items linked in):
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=13079676 (source link http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090106R.shtml );
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=13079153 (original source link, under title '"Fascism" Frame Set Up by Right-Wing Press', is http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34542 );
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=13068960 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=13047859 (and preceding) (. . .);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=13025670 and preceding;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=12975015 (and preceding) (. . .) and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=12945055 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=12930899 and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=12847267 (interesting on more than one level);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=12821513 and preceding;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=12774090 and preceding;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=12759340 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=12622844 and preceding (and following);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=12539980 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=12473886 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=12388681 (and following) (. . .);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=12283049 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=12216510 (many other similarly enlightening RUUSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH transcripts available via http://www.investorshub.com/boards/profile.asp?User=18545 );
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=11854441 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=11509254 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=11332448 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=10990905 and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=10911161 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=10885855 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=10716927 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=10708698 and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=10683722 and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=10618311 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=10617758 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=10552027 (listening again for the first time to the entire speech [at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1732754907698549493&q=I+have+a+dream&pl=true ] about broke me up -- does such energy and hope and focus on the honest truth of our shared humanity even exist anymore?) and preceding (and following) (. . .);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=10471647 and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=10409566 (and following) (. . .);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=10224480 (and preceding) (. . .);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=10137549 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=10115810 (and following);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=10107566 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=9804670 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=9804399 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=9792828 (and preceding);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=9786076 and preceding;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=9722655 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=9450252 and preceding (. . .);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=9295096 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=9224681 (and preceding);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=9174001 (and preceding and following);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=9136963 and preceding;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=9083590 and preceding;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=8152376 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=8113026 and preceding;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=8025920 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=7959581 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=7902152 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=7804526 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=7779561 AND following (. . .);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=7512941 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=7481950 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=6655232 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=6650061 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=6649467 (interesting on more than one level) and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=6618747 and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=6617904 and preceding;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=6513675 and preceding;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=6379727 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=6370247 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=6275009 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=6130261 (hey, I don't have Al-Jazeera yet, anybody else?) (. . .) and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=5868601 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=5720282 (. . .);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=5720205 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=5482071 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=5419017 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=5211456 and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=5207759 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4967752 and preceding and following (IN PARTICULAR http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4956208 [. . .] and following);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4847173 and preceding and following
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4641971 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4641847 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4515120 (. . .) and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4507902 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4422499 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4399249 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4391255 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4226726 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4185910 (. . .) and preceding (and following) (. . .);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4174557 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4165942 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4111693 and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4069714 (and preceding);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3893949 and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3822885 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3815934 and preceding;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3785054 (interesting on more than one level) and preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3730138 and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3723114 (and preceding);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3671585 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3661499 AND preceding;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3596563 and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3596227 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3591654 and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3590803 ;
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http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3545176 and preceding;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3535052 (lead graphic/last item) and preceding;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3531242 and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3530397 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3519750 and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3436937 and following (. . .);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3394551 (and preceding and following);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3390062 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3361335 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3262201 ;
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http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3243911 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3230041 (and following);
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http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3146455 and preceding;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3142833 ;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=3044531 (. . .) AND preceding and following;
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2765155 and preceding and following;
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http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2585122 ;
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http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2398271 (and preceding);
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2391237 ; and
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2240605 (and preceding)]



Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07

"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790


F6

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