http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/ju ... e-national

I'd laugh if the other papers told them to F off, the Guardian pretty much has to

I have the feeling that they know that they are looking at the end of News Corp. WIth the UK titles looking vulnerable to another boycott, Australia considering a investigation and the US looking into it. I cannot see how they will manage. Even closing or selling the UK titles may not be enough. He might have to sell his holding in Sky as well to eliminate further investigations. Then if the US find that the NOTW did hack 9/11 victims then even Fox could be up for sale.

All empires fall.

Yes and I think that this might be that time.

There will be a power vacuum. We have to be mindful of how that is filled.

You really think so?

I can't shake the feeling that our politicians are still bending the knee toward RM, but need to put on a public show to appease the man in the street.

It wouldn't surprise me if RM came out of this largely intact and unaffected; after throwing Rebekah Brooks to the wolves at the last minute, of course.

Apparently she has resigned, and it’s been accepted this time.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/20 ... e-coverage

There's a definite possibility of that. The alternative is that the politicos have felt bullied by NI for some time. And the thing about being a bully is, you have to stay strong and intimidating. As soon as the bully shows any sign of weakness, the bullied will turn on them. Whether RM & Co can regain their dominant position depends largely on whether the politicos believe in the future that NI has as much influence as it had in the past. Given the reality was that the the presses influence was largely illusory (they tended to claim credit for things postfacto regardless of their position beforehand) and the value of the written media is in probably terminal decline, that may not be easy.

politicians are nothing if not opportunistic, so if they see a chance to take down Murdoch and earn some brownie points at the same time, they'll go for it.


The thing about power is, it's partly in the mind of the people you have power over. To a large extent if they decide you don't have any power over them any more, you don't. It'll take some sort of significant demonstration of influence to get the perception of them being in control back. And how do you make that show of influence if you're not in control? It's a bit chicken and egg.

I'm kind of reminded.. you know the film 'Labyrinth'? There's a rhyme that Jennifer Connelly uses to banish David Bowie at the end. i thinkt hat kind of applies in this case, and maybe we shoudl send a copy to every MP .

On this side of the Atlantic, it seems to me that Murdoch has shallow friendships and deep enmities to take into account.

As the proprietor of Fox News, he could expect to have plenty of friends in the Tea Party crowd in America. But say what you will about that bunch, the actual grassroots guys there are committed to a vision and a set of standards and they will not tolerate any breach of them. Supporting Murdoch in the face of (even illusory) crimes against 9/11 is going to be political poison.

About half the republican field for 2012 work for Fox, if one of them calculates that leaving wins him more votes than it costs, then they wall all have to rush away from their benefactor. I don't think Bachman works for Fox, and I do think she needs to get punches in on Palin, so if she's as cynical as I suspect, she's got to take the opportunity.

If Fox starts to lose the TP set, they will lose audience and advertising with it, I think I read that it made something like $850m profit last year. So if Fox starts to tank, bigger heads than Brooks' will need to roll.

All this kind of assumes that the millions of TP people and the millions of Fox viewers are roughly coterminous. And also that Fox (which has an impressive track record of whining paranoia) can't persuade them that all this 9/11 stuff is a left wing plot to expand a little local difficulty abroad into a wider American issue.

Something similar could happen if liberals all abandon Family Guy, the Simpsons and Sunny in Philly. But let's be honest, I have more faith in the Christian right to turn off their TVs in protest than I have in people like myself...

Well today they denied any new Sunday tabloid is planned. So they will have to wait till this dies down before starting it. Dave and George are looking a lot closer to problems now that more information has come out.


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