One wonders where the avalanche which is the Murdoch meltdown will end. The very media that Murdoch has championed and fed himself from has now perhaps turned to strike him back. 24/7 reporting has created a voracious appetite amongst news junkies whilst commentators have to find continuous new angles to fill the airwaves.
It is worth reflecting that the series of high profile resignations may be a direct result of this incessant clamour for news print or broadcast material. Is it appropriate that senior police officers in the Met. should resign so suddenly? Especially before the results of a full and frank public enquiry reports! Even the Prime Minister looks vulnerable. It will be left to historians to wrestle with the necessity or wisdom of some of these immediate decisions. News can it appears create the news.
Certainly the instant nature of news and the reach that media has via TV and the internet has created a culture requiring instant reaction and response. The news junkie wants an update or fresh angle each time s/he tunes in; the journalist needs to keep the story developing both to justify their existence and to contrast the present news hour with the last.
The global nature of networked news has immediate effect upon the financial value on News International with their share price having lost 20% of its pre crisis value as of this morning. Indeed this may present the greatest challenge to Mr Murdoch’s continuing control. Shareholders will not be happy!
We can all witness the reach and the power of new media - how best to enhance this remains a critical challenge. The whole of the UK seems to be swift to decry the evil of the Murdoch community - and by inference assume people in responsible positions are somehow, by virtue of that position, moral and ethical by default. Sadly this is not the case - humanity reflects its perennial fracture in every field of human endeavour. The disappointing fact is that no one seems to tire of the consistent failure of the humanist, secular experiment. Christianity remains in many ways ‘out of bounds’ yet offers a positive alternative to all that confronts us.
The church most surely has its faults, but tarnished saints are preferable to no saints at all.
