Murdoch, the real capitalist media barron

As the Murdoch empire lurch's from one crisis to the next Rupert Murdoch and his cronies invlved at the top of news corp and news international have not learnt their lessons and continue to plague ordinary working people.


The fall-out from the Murdochgate scandal has continued following the arrests of ten top editors and journalists who currently work for or have worked for the Sun newspaper.

These arrests are part of the police investigation "Elveden" into suspected bribery and corruption of police officers. It will come as no surprise to anyone aware of the methods of News International that journalists routinely paid police officers for information. Bribing a public official is a criminal offence, but that never stopped the Sun or the News of the World in the past.

Trevor Kavanagh, the associate editor of the Sun has claimed there is a witch-hunt against the paper and News International. He blames elements of News Corp, who owns News International, for handing over a portion of the 300 million internal company emails to the police that led to the arrests.

There is growing evidence that some within News Corp, who are involved in a power battle with Rupert Murdoch, are looking to get rid of large parts, if not all of the toxic News International.

Kavanagh complained that Sun employees had been subject to dawn raids by up to 20 police officers who went through children's clothes drawers looking for evidence. No doubt the Met police, who lost a police commissioner and deputy commissioner already due to the scandal, are trying to prove their independence from the Murdoch Empire.

However, Kavanagh was not so forthcoming in his criticisms of police methods when socialist Tommy Sheridan was the subject of a widely condemned police and state vendetta. This included having his home raided and young child traumatised. He was arrested outside his place of work and faced years of persecution, not least by the Scottish Sun and the now defunct News of the World, who he defeated in a defamation case in 2006.


The Socialist party continues to call for a genuine democratic public inquiry, involving representatives of the trade union and labour movement, into the actions of the Murdoch empire. This must include the handing over of all documents, emails and other information to allow a full expose of the relationship between News International, the police and the political establishment.



There is no doubt the political elite, the metropolitan police and our cosy media barrons have got far to close in recent years. This is no surprise to me as as a socialsit it is clear to me that the capitalist currently own all of the media, control and influence the police and have a strangelhold over all 3 major political parties. This is no coincidence that Murdochgate flared up to me as there was always dodgy going's on in the media world and the political elite including Tony Blair who chased after Rupert Murdoch for years practically begging him to support his party in their rise to power in the late 90's.

The hypocrisy of Ed Milibanda nd the Labour party to now try to distance themselves from the Murdochs is frankly sickening considering the sucking up they did in their time in government and after. Even untill recently Ed Miliband met with senior representitives of News international. He only opposed and jumped on the phone hacking scandel bandwagon when there was public support for it. Not before. Confirming my thought that the political elite media and police are all in it together with eachother covering eachothers backs whenever there is the need.

It is simply the capitalist world playing its hand.

Why we shouldnt hold illusions in thecapitalist media

I hear time aftertime when there is a in depth class struggle is occuring in the streets and comrades are feeling oppressed that the media out there do not wish to report our struggles.

I find this sad yet makes me want to bang my head in all honesty.

The capitalists greatest tool on their behalf is the media. The power the media can have today is truely scarey in some ways. It can influence public opinion and influence trials in court and all sorts. It is no doubt in the hands of the capitalists a very powerful tool. Lets be under no illusions with this. Comrades on the street still do seem to hold this notion that the media is independant and thinks for itself and reports on whatever it wants. Wrong i'm sorry to say but who owns these media sources i ask you ?

Well does the name Rupert Murdoch ring any alarm bells. and who is he linked to ? the tories anda right wing capitalist agenda. So should we be surprised that him and other media organisations acting in the interests of the ruling class dont report on our struggles ?

I persoanlly am not.. But to get this message over to other comrades who are perhaps new to the struggles of the working class is difficult and often frustrating. Many still thinkt he media should be reporting wherever there is a major incident . Not nessesarily. Only when it benifits them. Just like at the student protest last december. They covered them as they were big news at the time but you heard one side of the story of course. When newly radicalised comrades get aggrieved that they are not being treated fairly and rightly by the media i am not sure what they expect when they are not on our side anyway.

I am not having a go at good natured and well intentioned comrades but i do think sometimes we need to take a reality check and realise who is on our side and who isnt and just there to make some quick dosh out of our phlight.

So this has got to be another excellent wink in the direction for a marxist paper/ publication.

Such papers as the socialist formaly the Militant a weekly socialist publication from the socialist party is a excellent read but not only that it sets out our common transitional demands each week. If you read closely enough you will be able to identify our transitional demands formulated by Leon Trotsky many many years ago. Of course ours have been updated to reflect the current class contiousness of today as all power to the soviets as correct as that was back then during the Russian Revolution would not really apply to todays struggles. So we put forward our demands and our targets where we want to be heading each week. We may have some excellent writers with good experience and knowledge but also we have a organised program behind us which not many political organisations can claim today in all fairness.

So when comrades moan and groan about not gaining enough coverage from the media who feel aggrieved because our struggle isnt playing out live on tv well why do we not take Leon Trotsky's route and form our own publications and media and put our own counter arguements out there and invite real debate in politics rather than a one way media frenzy against the working class.

royal wedding exposes the protection of the capitalist system

So if your anything like me you'll be completely fed up to the back teeth of hearing about the royal wedding tommorrow. Dont worry i'm not going to gush over it like the capitalist press have been doing for months now ever since their engagement.

But what this event does do it exposes the royals as a position above democracy. They cannot be removed they sit above all polititians living in a world of the rich and famous. The elite for want of a better word.

Yuo visit royal ascot on the day of the royal visit and there is a certain feel to it of upper class meritochracy that you can smell there. Having never been there i wouldnt know for sure but i can make my own mind up.

Now i'm no royalist as you have probably guessed. I'm a socialist and feel that the royal family- the monarchy is thre just like the police force to hold the capitalist system in place. It is as if they cannot trust polititians to not get too powerful and try becoming a dictator.

It is a complete distrust in the country and its people to have to hold it back from this. America for example has never had a monarchy but yet has never had a dictator as much as we like to think of George Bush as a nutter he was democratically elected sadly. Also royalists use this arguement of tourism and it boosting it. I frankly do not buy this one at all as America has no monarchy as i just stated yet it has no issue with attracting people there for tourism does it last time i checked.

But if you can wade through the media clambering over themselves to get pictures and reports from the big day as they are calling it you can tell that they are trying so so hard to distract us from what teh tory government is currently doing trying to rip our welfare state apart and take us back in time to the dark ages.

If the royal family care for its people so much why does it never interveen when it doesnt agree waht is happenin to its people. For example it stood by and allowed Margret Thatcher to go to war with the labour movement and the working class in the 80's selling off a whole load of our industries and great institutions . The royals never get involved unless something affects them which it rarely does. They sit there on top of the system they represent and dont mind to see the working class made to pay for crisis after crisis of the capitalist system as at the end of the day they will always get paid for by the good old tax payer and no one bats a eyelid.

But as socialists we oppose the monarchy as they are not democratic and do not contribue to society. Just like in the Russian revolution the monarchy was one of the first sections to go when the workers took control of the soviets .

But the media coverage of this which ahs been so wall to wall has exposed a truth to me that the royal family are part of a different class and they will always look to protect their class interests to any length.

They must be abolished and not replaced but replaced with a socialist society with workers and working class people controlling the commanding heights of teh economy and sharing the wealth to the many not just the few as we have now.