Footsteps

News Corp Scandal


The phone-hacking story of News Corp and Rupert Murdoch was very interesting for me from different fronts:

1. It signifies the link between Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and the tabloid style gossip papers of the UK. One may argue a company can have different entities with different operations and goals in mind but on further thinking and despite apparent dissimilarities, we cannot ignore some striking similarities between Fox News and a gossip magazine. I humbly think Fox News and a gossip magazine have very similar business model and Rupert Murdoch as a successful businessman should have been aware of that.

2. It questions the psyche of a society that is willing to be the consumer the products of News Corp because on one hand we can place all blames on Rupert Murdoch but on the other hand we can say his empire is producing what the society wants to consume.

3. Finally, it raises the bigger and more serious question about the role of news media in the Western world. This question is especially critical because while many other aspects of the society such as health care and education are regularly scrutinized in the Western world , media are often overlooked as the entities that always serve a noteworthy purpose. However, on the race to be more profitable, the news media can often be forced to sell excitement at any price with huge consequences for the society by far more than what is at stake in this phone-hacking scandal. I have long held the belief that Bush would have not been able to sell the Iraq war (regardless of its costs and benefits) had the news media were so involved in the business of selling fear to the Americans in the post-9/11 US. There is no doubt that the Western societies have benefited a lot from good journalism but there are definitely cases that raise serious questions about the judgment of what to cover and how. The presidential and congressional elections are good examples. I was completely perplexed about the coverage that Christine O'Donnell received in the mid-term 2010 elections. According to the polls, the Republicans had won the senate seat for Delaware until O'Donnell won the nomination of their party at which time the polls completely changed directions in favor of the Democrats. Yet despite a clear lack of support, O'Donnell had more coverage than any other candidate in the country through that election season. It is difficult to come up with any reason for this phenomenon other than the love of the news media with her controversial character. It is needless to say that such reactions by media give a huge incentive for other marginal candidates to come up with bizarre statements to grab the attention of the national media. The overall effect is to push the discussion about the real issues to the side and instead have a circus at the spotlight.