Following the recent publication of his book, Sex, Lies and the Murdoch Succession, Barry was joined by Sydney University Professor Rod Tiffin, the author of Rupert Murdoch: A Reassessment, to speak at a recent Politics in the Pub event. In front of a full house at the Harold Park Hotel on April 3, with the topic, “The Murdoch press and its influence on Australian, British and American politics”, much debate ensued.
With the Murdoch owned News Limited dominating the Australian media, Barry warned that it was not enough to rely on independent journalism to uncover dirty practices such as phone tapping. “Generally, the other newspapers in London didn’t want to go after the News of The World and The Sun because papers like The Mirror and The Mail on Sunday were doing the same sort of things themselves or they had journalists who had come from those papers. So papers can be independent but it obviously doesn’t help when you have a very dominant proprietor.”
But it was not the crimes committed that disturbed Barry and Tiffin. It was the culture of the British tabloids, culture that permitted the publication of “smut” and of “people’s private lives”.
“It’s not the stuff that is in the public interest. It’s a culture I really think we should not allow in this country,” Barry urged.
Professor Tiffin reiterated Barry’s concerns, pointing out that Rupert Murdoch “rules by phone and by clone”, creating the culture in his publications. “Media power corrupts as much as any form” and “the idea that technological change means ownership and concentration are yesterday’s issues is entirely wrong”.
Through events such as Politics in the Pub, which meets weekly, perhaps the culture of titillation can be prevented from dominating here.
