In his submission to the current Senate inquiry into media diversity in Australia, former prime minister Kevin Rudd warns that Rupert Murdoch’s Sky News Australia is following the template laid down by Murdoch’s Fox News in the United States to radicalise Australian politics. In a decade’s time, Rudd argues, we will see its full impact.
Given the destructive effect of Fox News on the functioning of American democracy, Rudd’s is an alarming prediction.
Whether it comes to pass, however, is another matter. Certainly there are several danger signs that it might, but there are also a few factors pointing the other way.
There are three big danger signs.
One is the unconstrained peddling of extreme right-wing propaganda, lies, disinformation,…
