1. 'Kick this mob out': The Murdoch media and the Australian Labor Government (2007 to 2013).
- Author
-
Hobbs, Mitchell and McKnight, David
- Subjects
LABOR policy ,AUSTRALIAN politics & government, 1945- ,PRESS & politics ,MASS media & politics ,POLITICAL campaigns - Abstract
During the 2013 federal election in Australia, the role of Rupert Murdoch and his newspapers in the nation's politics became a matter of major public controversy for the first time in some years. This accords with both popular belief and the academic literature that suggests Murdoch has a long history of political intervention through the use (or threatened use) of his media power in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. This article examines the relationship between Rupert Murdoch and the Labor governments from 2007 to 2013. It describes the campaigning role of his newspapers in attacking key policies of the first Rudd government and the subsequent Gillard government. It then explores the front page headlines that influenced the tone of the 2013 election campaign and which saw the issue of media ownership and bias emerge as a topic of widespread discussion. Ultimately this article explores Murdoch's motivations for campaigning against Kevin Rudd, including the claim that News Corporation stood to gain financially through the election of a Liberal-National coalition government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2014