Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism

(To anyone reading this, please excuse this brief and unrelated interlude. It's for my class.)

When we think of David and Goliath, we tend to look upon David favorably. He is the helpless little guy conquering the monster, forcing it to bend and bow beneath his ironclad wit and will. We tend to look at David and think of him as an inspiration. But if David were to stand behind Goliath, the picture would suddenly become a lot less favorable. Suddenly, David’s intentions would not be so noble. Suddenly, David’s manipulation would not be heroic.

Enter Rupert Murdoch.

As the owner of the FOX News Network, Murdoch has been portrayed as an agenda-setting, propaganda-mongering, media totalitarian, ruthlessly cutting the throats and sealing the mouths of all those who dare speak out against the Republican party. He is the brains behind the operation, and the man behind the media monster. In Outfoxed, the problem with Murdoch seems to be his bad intentions, and his poor use of the monster.

But here’s my question: why aren’t we worried that there’s a monster running around in the first place?

Monsters are inherently bad. They are evil, bad tempered beings of carnage and destruction. Why would you want to keep one around? How could you possibly stand to benefit? Even if it were a friendly monster, its sheer scale would be completely unbefitting any kind of practical reality.

So why not just banish the monster entirely? If the entire army were to have stood beside David, I’m betting Goliath would have made a retreat, or wouldn’t have dared to advance in the first place. The power of the people would make such a concentrated strategy unfeasible. That’s why we need a diverse source of strength.

Like citizen journalism.

Like this blog.

The man may have been outfoxed but the monster hasn’t been undone. Maybe we should start worrying about that.