Time To Regulate The Kingmakers


It was no secret that Rupert Murdoch thought himself a kingmaker in British politics for decades. And it was true that if his newspapers did not back you, it was very difficult to get elected.

His influence, along with those of foreign or tax exiled rich sultans still bedevils British politics and was probably the cause of Brexit. These guys cannot resist throwing a grenade if they have one in their hands, just to show how powerful the Murdochs, Rothermeres, Barclays or Lebedevs are..

But, as his power waned and he decided to bow out of the TV industry, the octagenarian and his puppet sons still run the most destructive force in world media.

Fox News is the propaganda arm of the Trump administration, and is hugely profitable. Murdoch and sons are the modern day Goebbels, peddling rubbish they do not believe in to promote their (financial) self-interest.

Sitting a bunch of fascists and racists in a studio and letting them rant is very cheap, and there seems to be a huge audience in the US for liars, mysoginists, homophones, antisemites, racists and, frankly, outright nutters.

But at least Fox News is out there in how it makes its golden dollar.

Unregulated media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are profiteering wildely on a world where news is the last person's opinion.

I would argue that it is time to properly regulate media in democracies. They would be obliged to be truthful and point out when statements are false - Fox would need to call out Trump on his endless lies, for example. The social sites would need to be accountable for all postings and should not be able to hide behind DMCA any longer: legislation introduced to keep the internet open and free has been used to remove net neutrality, for example. DMCA should be totally repealled. It has served its cause.

If you will be kingmaker in a democracy, you should be accountable to the people for your power.