Greed, Unlimited

Filed in Other by on June 20, 2012

Jacob:What’s your number?

Bretton:Excuse me?

Jacob:The amount of money you would need to be able to walk away from it all and just live happily-ever-after. See, I find that everyone has a number and it’s usually an exact number, so what is yours?

Bretton:More.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Gina Rinehart wants several seats on the board of Fairfax and the ability to hire and fire editors. The billionaire miners, who already have so much more than every other Australian, don’t want to pay any more tax, and some – like 'Twiggy' Forrest – pay no tax at all. Rupert Murdoch launches a takeover bid for Consolidated Media (major stakeholder of Foxtel), which will give him complete control of pay TV in Australia; while his newspapers dominate the market, their agenda-setting, right-wing opinions flooding the media landscape. Yet, unbelievably, this isn’t enough.

The narrative of Australian public life has become dominated by the greedy. By those who seem, above all else, simply to want more. And it’s this greed that is destroying the diversity of the media.

This desire for more looks increasingly hard to stop. Here stands Gina, richest woman in the world, who wants more influence on public debate. There stands Fairfax, a once-proud and influential media business now in a terminal fiscal and circulation decline. You hear that reader? That’s the sound of inevitability.

But before we get into this, let’s look at the numbers. 65 to 70 per cent of the newspaper circulation in Australia is owned by Rupert Murdoch. A lot of the major cities in Australia – Hobart, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin or Brisbane– are single-newspaper towns. We have the most concentrated newspaper media in the developed world. The Murdoch papers are avowedly conservative, and some – like the Australian or the Daily Telegraph – are rabidly so. Sort of like a right-wing versions of the protest group Get Up. But, unlike GetUp, The Australian and the Tele have ample money to run their campaigns and the capacity to set the news agenda.

You’d think the vested interests with a conservative agenda would be happy with this state of affairs. They are getting heard: their economic and political leanings are reflected every day by the vast majority of the press. They’re getting richer: the Australian mining magnates are shooting up the Forbes list of richest people in the world. There are upwards of 500 billion dollars worth of mining projects in the pipe line. Things are looking peachy.

But no, Gina Rinehart wants more. Power, it seems, without any checks or balances. You know, like an independent media would provide. So she’s bought 19 per cent of Fairfax. It’s known that she’s not out to make a profit (how could she, when Fairfax shares are in precipitous decline) she’s out for more influence and the respectability that that the old mastheads of The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and the Australian Financial Review will bring. And don’t doubt that Gina will get her wish. She’ll make them an offer they can’t refuse.

Then the inevitable will happen: the great Australian institution of Fairfax, with its 180-year history, will implode. Andrew Bolt will become Editor-in-Chief, Lord Monckton will chief science reporter and Sarah Palin will write the crosswords. Benito Mussolini will have a regular history column and John Howard will write a weekly article about Don Bradman and Don Bradman only. Willie Mason will ghost write the social pages and Pauline Hanson will be given space to dispense practical day-to-day advice: how to make tasty home-made fish and chips, how to spot a secret Muslim, how to improvise a shiv in prison. And yes, I know you’re thinking: ‘wow, The Age’s crosswords will be so much easier now’, but if you’re thinking that you’re really missing the point.

Of course, in the end, if a right-wing billionaire wants to own a newspaper, well, that’s their prerogative. If the mega rich want to influence public life, well, that’s life. It’s not a crime to be conservative. In fact, it is good that there is conservative or right-wing (the two are not always the same) media in this country. It’s right that those voices are heard and enrich public debate.

The problem arises when diversity disappears. The problem is when the mega-phone of the mega-rich drowns out all other voices. The problem is when self interest overrides the public interest. In the words of billionaire Warren Buffett: “there's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning."

Certainly, you can make arguments about the rise of the digital age and how we’re entering a brave new world of social media and blog-driven news. Sure. But let me tell you something – that blog that gets five thousand hits a week isn’t influencing the national debate. It’s just reinforcing the opinions of the people who actively search out the blog because their opinions match the dude writing it. Yes, there are news media somewhere between the mainstream and the micro – media like Crikey – but whether this can take a substantial role in the new media landscape remains to be seen. The professional media has (or should have) the money, the time and the professional staff to go out and tell us – as a public good and in an objective way- the news of the day. You can’t get that from a Facebook update. You can’t explain complex public policy in 140 characters on Twitter (though some dullard journalists seem to think this is the case). You can’t shape public opinion in a meaningful way through partisan blogs.

More numbers: Gina’s personal wealth is 29.17 billion. The total of wages and salaries for everybody working in the information media and telecommunication industry in Australia in 2010 (177,000 people) was 11.6 billion. The total wages and salaries of every person working in accommodation or food services (886,000 people) was 17.5 billion. The before tax profit of the entire retail sector combined was 18.8 billion. At some point you’d have to wonder if maybe, just maybe, 20 billion was enough.

But that’s not the attitude. An American comedian recently described the mentality of the conservative ultra-rich as such: “imagine a hundred people get together and order a 100-slice pizza, the pizza arrives they open the box and the first guys goes and takes 80 slices. And if some suggests ‘why don’t you just take 79 slices?’ THAT’S SOCIALISM.”

I guess there was a time that if I could have had 80 slices of the 100 slice pizza, I would have taken them. Or eaten all the chocolate when someone bought the Neapolitan ice-cream; or a time when I wished I could control the minds of all Australians. But, you know, I was fucking seven years old at the time. But when I grew up, I figured, like most people, that we live in a society, and there has to be limits on greed.

Seriously, how much is enough? For some, the answer is simple: never. There’s always more – more money, more power, more influence; more radio stations; more newspapers; more compliant columnists, more obedient editors.

The noises we are hearing in the media about Fairfax are the last strains of a requiem for an industry. Independent print newspapers are dead in this country. The only thing left to debate is the funeral arrangements.

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Comments (8)

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  1. Avoozl says:

    Tim, your jealous rants about other people having more money than you just make me sick.

    Nobody wants to pay tax. Of course people will try to minimise their tax. Billionares try to make legitimate tax deductions just like we do. It's the system that has failed, not them.

    Also, entrepeneurs vicariously contribute billions of tax dollars to Australia through their companies and their employees. They also help Australia out by offering thousands of jobs to people. Despite the fact that their intentions are not altrusistic, they do more for Australia than any well-wishing left-wing bureaucrat or corrupt union leader ever did.

    You think Gina Reinhart should be gagged because she has more money than you? Your drivel disgusts me, and has no place here on Making the Nut. I hope you get gagged for writing crappy articles.

    • Tim Napper says:

       

      I'm not jealous of Gina Rinehart avoozl. That i can assure you.

      I don't like paying tax, but i do so willingly. It's the price i pay for civilisation. The teachers, the schools, the hospitals, the roads, the professional police force. The things that the market will never provide. The things as a society we can't do without.

      I doubt Gina – richest person in Australia – will ever be gagged. Her voice is heard far and wide. So don't worry about that (though I'm sure she appreciates your support). My concern is that when we lose media diversity, we are gagging the views of millions of Australians. It's their free speech we should worry about, not Gina's.  

      And we don't gag anyone here on MTN. Not even angry readers.

      • Anonymous says:

        I question the need for the government to run the education system but that's a discussion for another time.

        What I will argue now, though, is your comment that you think that we're in danger of losing media diversity because of Gina. I think that the only danger to media diversity is the fact that the government keep such a strict grip over the media through licencing etc. If Gina wants to own a stake in a newspaper, this should prevent anybody else from publishing a rival newspaper. It ENCOURAGES diversity too allow someone to enter into the media business. It DISCOURAGES diversity to prevent someone from doing so – even if that person is a greedy bitch. The government's intervention is what's preventing diveristy here – not our friend Gina.

  2. SemiiPro says:

    Tim, what you write is probably mostly true. But I cant agree with you that Fairfax has been the guiding light of journalism. I mean, I think it’s been pretty shite for at least 15 years. And I don’t mean in comparison to other media outlets, I mean somewhat objectively (Fairfax has made squill ions of simple errors of fact, for example). Fairfax has been a dead man walking (writing that is not factual AND boring) for some time and I’m not fussed with it going down the tubes.

    Anyways, do you know why News has so much money to do as it pleases? Millions of Aussies love their crap. Can’t get enough of it. They go out of their way to buy it and click on the salacious headlines.

    Does a country get the media it deserves? If so, you aren’t really bemoaning the demise of journalism in this country. You are actually pretty disturbed about the preferences of ordinary Aussies. And so we all should be, I reckon.

    Thank God for Making The Nut.

    • Tim Napper says:

      Their standards have been declining for some time. No doubt at all. Was going to discuss that, but it was a digression from the main point of the article: media diversity.

      Disagree on preferences of Australians. We need (all the time) and want (sometimes) good journalism. It's just that no-one has figured out quite how to adapt to a digital age.

      Agree on The Nut. May it live long and prosper

      • SemiiPro says:

        This Internet thing really has stirred things up and how we deal with media ownership is a work in progress.

        Yeah, I’m not real sure about the net. It seems you find people and opinions you like and laugh or insult those that have an opposing view. I do it myself sometimes. So does Avoozi!