An article in The Guardian earlier this month highlighted how Murdoch-owned newspapers in Australia seem to be making light of the devastating bushfires there while continuing to promote climate denialism.
From a January 3, 2020 article published by The Guardian:
Many of the world’s leading mastheads featured pictures of the devastation of the Australian bushfires on page one on Thursday. But the [Murdoch-owned] Australian’s first edition ran an upbeat picture story about the New Year’s Day picnic races at Hanging Rock.
Sources at the newspaper said the newsroom was short-staffed over the holidays, however it was noted that resources were found to attack the ABC [Australian Broadcasting Corporation] with gusto over its New Year’s Eve concert.
The Guardian also noted that Murdoch’s Herald Sun “also relegated the bushfires to page 4, even as thousands of Victorians faced a serious bushfire threat.”
The Murdoch papers seem to have plenty of resources to deny climate change:
As communities in Victoria and New South Wales faced devastating weather conditions on the weekend the Australian assured its readers that there was nothing unusual going on.
A double-page spread about the history of fires in Australia painted the national disaster as a run-of-the-mill crisis: “History of disasters shows there is nothing new about nation’s destructive blazes.”
Media Matters highlights the connection between Murdoch and Australia’s conservative prime minister, Scott Morrison.
Editorial coverage by [Murdoch’s] Australian media assets overwhelmingly backed Morrison ahead of the May 2019 election, and Murdoch’s outlets celebrated Morrison’s victory after he won in a shocking upset. The prime minister is also buddies with Lachlan Murdoch, CEO of the Fox Corp. and son of Rupert, who himself is rumored to be a fierce climate denier. (Morrison came under heavy criticism after he ditched his urgent responsibilities dealing with the bushfires to attend Lachlan’s Christmas party in Sydney.)
A man who has been described as being “obsessed with what his newspapers say,” Rupert Murdoch lied to investors in November when he said “there are no climate change deniers” among the ranks at News Corp.
Watch a January 9, 2020 CBS This Morning report below on efforts to rescue some of the animals endangered by the fires which have burned more than 25 million acres since September.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/13/scott-morrison-suffers-blow-to-personal-approval-rating-in-first-poll-of-2020
Murdoch needs more lipstick for that pig.
Hardly anyone has been charged with arson, dry lightning is the major cause of fire starting.
Murdoch’s scumbag myrmidons will do anything to play down Climate Change as a cause. The unusually dry and hot spells of the last 10 years have created the conditions for a perfect storm of fires, though not according to old buzzard Murdoch and his lickspittles.
