Lessons to learn from the fall of the Murdoch Empire

Written by Editor Wednesday, 03 August 2011 13:00

News Articles - Current Affairs

The way the cookie crumbles – On creuse sa propre fosse

The first and most important lesson to be drawn from the crumbling of the Murdoch Empire is that history repeats itself. No empire lasts forever. The Roman Empire, the Mogul Empire and even the British Empire had their day and their end. The Murdoch saga is an example of the inevitable result of the concentration of power in one man. It has exploded in his face. Tant va la cruche à l’eau à la fin elle se casse–– so often goes the pitcher to the water in the end it breaks. That’s how the cookie crumbles.

Mr Murdoch fed himself on newspaper and his greed for them and other media was insatiable. He has extensive control over the media in his homeland of Australia, the States, the UK, China and even India. It’s not for nothing that he is referred to as the Mogul Media.

Under authoritarian, totalitarian and dictatorial regimes, the State controls the media. In a democracy, the media can control the State through those at the helm to the point that a Rupert Murdoch had become the terror of all the political leaders in the UK. “No PM could afford not to pay him their respects once in power,” said Channel 4 television programme: Murdoch––The Mogul Who Screwed The News. Sounds very much like the Godfather!

Since such a situation has been happening in a democracy like the UK, we can be forgiven for asking what is the position in countries like those of some African and Asian nations, where transparency is non-existent. Can some people in a small country like Mauritius be able to monopolise la presse écrite et parlée, through the ownership of several titles, radio and television broadcasting, and to have politicians eating out of the palms of their hands? Can this sort of thing happen in Mauritius is a very valid question on which the Mauritian nation may wish to ponder––in the interests of democracy, for which Mauritius has so far received the praise of the western world.

Rupert Murdoch before the House of Commons Media Committee

It’s worth repeating, there is a lesson for us all from the Murdoch scandal: empires don’t last. The day of reckoning will come. No one could have predicted that such a powerful man as Rupert Murdoch would eventually be humbled and brought to his knees. Empire builders beware!

P.C.