https://twitter.com/GreenRupertRead/status/1302149820606423041?s=20
There was almost an inevitability that the person who posted the above tweet would be called Rupert. And it was a near certainty that he would have attended Oxford, Princeton and Rutgers universities. I am sorry – actually, I’m not sorry, so I’m sorry for suggesting I was – to say that Rupert fits in perfectly with my vision of what an ‘Extinction Rebellion’ activist looks like. An elite hipster who wouldn’t recognise a working class person if he pissed down their leg.
No one would be more pleased than me if The Sun ‘newspaper’ was to go bust. It is a vile, hate-filled propaganda rag owned and published by the vile, hate-filled Rupert Murdoch. Yes, another bloody Rupert. Few ‘newspapers’ have done more to devalue the art of journalism than Murdoch’s sagging organ, but for all that it remains the second best selling newspaper in the land. That means, for whatever reason, over a million people buy it. I would prefer that its demise was accelerated by people arguing about, in a civilised manner, what the Sun is, what it stands for, how it operates against the interests of most of its readers and why. In what remains, just, a free country, people should not be blockading the distribution of newspapers.
That is not to say we have a free press in this country. We are free to read whatever we like and no one tells us to buy newspapers. However, with the sole exception of the Guardian, which is owned by a trust, all our major national newspapers are owned by wealthy individuals and companies who are not all domiciled in this country. The big newspapers are not accountable to anyone and can choose whoever they like to write for them, if they reflect the political views of their owners. That is why populist polemicists like Rod Liddle, Richard Littlejohn, Sarah Vine and the like have prominent columns. There is no room for those of even middle of the road political writers, never mind those of the left.
Your average person has no access to the press other than to buy it. It is a free press only in that very wealthy, often foreign or foreign based owners, are free to write whatever they like.
I am as worried as the next woman and man about the pernicious effects of the red top newspapers. I would far prefer a more politically balanced press to better reflect different ideas and views. I do not believe that we can achieve that by simply trying to silence parts of the media by blockading the ones we don’t agree with. Imagine if, for example, some kind of hard right organisation blockaded the Guardian? I’d be up, not literally, in arms about it. Luckily, because its circulation is so tiny, this is unlikely ever to happen but shutting down people whose ideas we don’t like is little different to what happened in Nazi Germany.
When I saw last week’s Extinction Rebellion protests in Bristol, I thought to myself how much better it would be when private schools and elite universities reopened so that the Ruperts of this world could get back to their day jobs. But then I realised that protesting for many is their day job. Not one of them looks or acts like anyone I know or have ever met and I am far from convinced that they do anything to benefit the campaign to halt climate change. Quite the reverse, actually.
Try, where possible, to avoid anything owned by Rupert Murdoch owns, whether it’s the Sun, Times, the Sunday versions of both, Times Radio and the various Talk radio stations. He’s a very bad man and shouldn’t be encouraged in any way. But if you do feel the need to, then it’s up to you. I’m not going to stand in your way. But look at who he is and why he does what he does and make your judgement upon that. And don’t be like Rupert. Murdoch or Read.
