Sydney, Nov. 5, (dpa/GNA) – More than half a million Australians have signed an online petition calling for a probe into Rupert Murdoch’s “media monopoly.”
When the e-petition closed at 11:59 pm Wednesday, 501,876 people had backed calls for a royal commission into the country’s media diversity.
Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd launched the the national petition on October 10, which has become the country’s largest e-petition to parliament – surpassing 2019’s “Declare a Climate Emergency” which had 404,538 signatories.
“Murdoch has become a cancer – an arrogant cancer on our democracy,” Rudd said in a video message when the petition was launched.
He said the royal commission should look into “the abuse of the media monopoly in Australia” and make recommendations to “maximize media diversity ownership.”
Rudd welcomed the historic response on Thursday, saying he was “grateful and overwhelmed.”
“Half-a-million Australians have spoken,” the ex-Labor leader tweeted.
“They’ve smashed the records to make their voice heard: Australia needs a #MurdochRoyalCommission to protect the lifeblood of our democracy.”
The petition was backed by former conservative Liberal Party prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.
British actor Hugh Grant also voiced his support for the cause.
“Dear Australia, I think Kevin Rudd is doing a great thing here. I’d sign the petition if I could. Love from Hugh,” the actor tweeted last week.
Murdoch is the biggest owner of press in Britain and, according to Rudd, the 89-year-old’s media empire controls 70 per cent of the print media in Australia.
Despite the record numbers, a royal commission is unlikely. Australia does not have a “signature threshold” for petitions to be debated in parliament.
Rudd has said what he really wants is to spark a national conversation and draw attention to Murdoch’s media control.
Murdoch-owned News Corporation has been accused of reporting in favour of the conservative Liberal government which, Rudd claims, nobody is brave enough to speak out against.
“Wherever you go people are scratching their heads about the fact that the Murdoch print media platforms no longer provide anything approaching balanced news reporting,” he said last month when promoting the initiative.
“Too many people in Australia, both in politics and journalism, and in the broader community, are too frightened to put their hand up and say ‘this is wrong.’ They fear the Murdoch empire.”
In August, Rupert Murdoch’s son James resigned from the board of News Corp, citing “disagreements over certain editorial content” published by the company’s news outlets.
In a report by the New York Times in October, he said News Corp was legitimizing disinformation.
GNA