My public posts are now unavailable on Facebook because the dopey Morrison Government chose to charge Facebook for linking to media websites.
As far as I can see, that meant that sites such as The Guardian, the Herald Sun, and The Age, amongst others, actually benefited, free of charge, every time a FB reader clicked on a link. That is because the reader then landed on the media website. This means that the tech giants were actually providing a service to the media companies, such as Nine Entertainment, and News Corp. Is it a compliment to be treated like a major media entity, and to be cancelled? I think not, just more collateral damage for Morrison and Murdoch.
The Morrison Government has taken its adversarial position for two reasons; because Rupert Murdoch told them to, and because they are playing the patriotism card. This is the same card they have been playing in the China dispute. We must always look to the words of the immortal Dr Johnson, “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” When you have nothing in the policy saddlebag, pretend that plucky little Australia is being attacked by a bully. It works every time.
Rupert Murdoch is hocked to the eyeballs, and he does not really make money in competitive markets unless he takes his mastheads down into the sewers. He does not run a company which provides journalism, because, like his father before him, he is a marketer, and not interested in “journalism” as such.
I refer you to use another tech giant, Google, and read about the “Gun Alley Murder” and its aftermath. That was a famous story in the 1920s in Melbourne, and a man was hanged partly because of the campaign run by Keith Murdochs’ Herald. No regard for consequences then, and none now.
Did you see what Rupert did over the past week? He blamed the electricity shutdown in Texas on renewables, although the regulator had actually dismissed that claim. But it still appeared in the Wall Street Journal, and on Fox News, so there is no differentiation in the places where he subverts the truth. Clearly, his journalists are ‘opinions for hire’, so nothing they write is worth a pinch of salt. So people of intelligence tend to look elsewhere for their information. Does it remind you of The Australian?
Nonetheless, every disaster has an upside. If you can’t get your news and commentary on Facebook, and you want some diverting, even sometimes, amusing reading, you should do yourself a favour, as they say, and continue to read me in Pearls and Irritations.
Mark Buckley is a writer based in regional Victoria. He has a particular interest in politics, history and ethics in public life. He blogs at www.askbucko.com
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