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RUBY:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ruby Jones. This is 7am.

From its origins as a little watched cable news broadcaster, Sky News has grown into a media powerhouse reaching millions of people, primarily on YouTube. Now it’s broadening its reach even further, into the homes of thousands of Australians living in the regions, further solidifying Rupert Murdoch’s control of news media in Australia.

Today, former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, on the plan for Sky News, and how it could impact Australian politics.

It’s Wednesday August 18.

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RUBY:

Hello Kevin!

KEVIN:

Hi, sorry about the delay, my fault.

RUBY:

No problem at all. How are you?

KEVIN:

Good thank you

RUBY:

It looks lovely and sunny and possibly a bit tropical where you are.

KEVIN:

Ah yeah, I’m in the people’s republic of Queensland so it’s all good here.

RUBY:

Well, it's lovely to have you on 7am, I'm assuming you listen to us regularly. You're a fan?

KEVIN:

Yes, I have been tuning in for some time now, so I'm glad to be part of the programme.

RUBY:

Good to know - I’m assuming you prefer us to Sky News..

KEVIN:

Well, Sky is not exactly my number one preferred programme outlet. I've probably spent far too long living in China watching central Chinese television. When I look at Sky Television and the thoughts of Murdoch, it has uncanny resonances from where I've lived and worked before in an authoritarian state.

RUBY:

Mmhmm. Wow. OK. And I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about what your experience of Sky News was like when you were in Parliament. Was it kind of different back then to the way that it is now?

KEVIN:

Well, Sky back then prior to my leaving the parliament by early 2014 - because it still had,I think joint ownership between News Corp and Seven and, from memory, Telstra was essentially a relatively neutral news platform.

Archival Tape -- Unidentified Reporter:

“Greens leader, Bob Brown, thank you very much for your time. The Intergovernmental Forest Agreement that agreement doesn't actually authorise the end of all native forest harvesting, does it?”

Archival Tape -- Bob Brown:

“No, far from it.”

KEVIN:

Lots of interviews during the day, lots of commentary, lots of news updates, no particular ideological angle.

Archival Tape -- Unidentified Reporter:

“Well, being launched today is the fifth edition of the Macquarie Dictionary, and as always, there are a range of new words making their debut, more than 5000 of them, in fact.”

KEVIN:

And if you were to run a day's worth of coverage with that Sky that we once knew, with the Sky we have today would be chalk and cheese.

Archival Tape -- Unidentified Reporter:

“Did you know you’re far more likely, far more likely, to die of cold than you are of heat. Therefore you should fear a cooling earth more than you should fear a warming one…”

KEVIN:

And of course, the difference is when Murdoch took it over one hundred percent. And he's since then has sought to turn Sky Television Australia into the antipodean equivalent of Fox News America.

RUBY:

Hmm. Can you describe to me the types of things that we're seeing on Sky now, the types of views that are presented and the things that you would say are taking us towards that more extreme end?

KEVIN:

Well, essentially, it has two big characteristics. One is consistent with the News Corp philosophy of the last decade to utterly conflate news with opinion.

Archival Tape -- Unidentified Reporter:

“Words are inadequate to articulate the anger that people feel and have been expressing to me about this latest rubbish in Victoria.”

KEVIN:

And so they become seamless and so that the Fox commentators' opinions become news and their rendition of the news.

Archival Tape -- Unidentified Reporter:

“And these lunatics who make these decisions continue to be paid... politicians and public servants. What kind of world are we living in?”

KEVIN:

But the news is not rented as a separate set of factual propositions.

Archival Tape -- Unidentified Reporter:

“I tell you what, we draw closer to North Korea every day. People in Victoria, who’ve barely heard of coronavirus, never seen coronavirus are locked down.”

KEVIN:

Which brings you to the second element, which is facts no longer matter, evidence no longer matters.

Archival Tape -- Unidentified Reporter:

“What sort of show are we running and who can Australians trust?”

KEVIN:

What the philosophers would describe as empiricism no longer matters and reason no longer matters.

Archival Tape -- Unidentified Speaker:

“...wearing a mask makes a practical difference. So just following people who wear masks and the settings in which masks are worn has shown that there's a really significant two thirds or more reduction in transmission.”

Archival Tape -- Unidentified Reporter:

“But how true is that really… How safe exactly is that option and the way it's now sold, is that actually putting lives in danger?”

KEVIN:

It is simply the assertion of opinion as fact. And that has a debilitating effect on the quality of the political discourse. And the final element you see with the Fox model is the deliberate use of a polarisation of far right opinion in order to generate an enemy on the far left, in order to further consolidate the tribe around the banner of the far right.

RUBY:

And so how does Sky’s ultimate owner Rupert Murdoch fit into all this, in your opinion? What do you think his ambition is here?

KEVIN:

Well as of only a week ago. He has obtained the broadcasting rights from the likes of WIN television and the regional television networks of Australia to produce all this sky content free to air. So you've got to ask yourself this question, is Murdoch actually making a buck out of any of this? Answer: no. Why is he doing it? Because this is a fundamental investment in seeking to support the re-election of the Liberal and National Party at the next federal election and knowing how much political trouble Morrison's government is in, in the regions in particular, it's to prop up the conservative vote. That's why I think anyone who concludes in progressive circles that sky television is of no political significance because, quote, who would watch it, unquote? The answer to that is an increasing number of people, nine million views a week and growing rapidly and with a clear cut political agenda spread across three delivery platforms.

RUBY:

We'll be back in a moment.

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RUBY:

Kevin, Sky News has exploded in popularity in recent years, and that’s largely thanks to social media. Their YouTube channel has twice the viewership of the ABC’s and it’s also got more subscribers than the three commercial TV networks combined. But Sky’s channel was recently suspended by YouTube. Can you tell me why?

KEVIN:

Well, YouTube operates on the basis of some basic ethical principles, including in relation to the current pandemic, to production of factual information on the pandemic, and not simply the production of damaging disinformation which can harm public health.

Archival Tape -- Unidentified Reporter:

“Lockdowns are the answer are they? We’re entering our third week. The cases increase. Am I missing something? If lockdowns work, why are the cases increasing? But there it is in black and white, the case fatality rate is 10 times lower for Delta than it is for the original strain.”

Archival Tape -- Unidentified Speaker:

“Alan, it’s at least 10 times lower. It could be up to 20 times lower.”

KEVIN:

And so they have a panel which applies those principles to the content which makes use of their platform. I had previously complained to YouTube about the far right content of much of the Sky News’ broadcast activity in Australia. I have not specifically complained about their coverage of the pandemic, but this panel of YouTube then took the matter to hand reviewed the content and then of course, issued what they call the initial strike notice against News Corp, which is you get a punishment, a ban of one week. You have to remove the offending content. And it's a three strikes and you're out approach, if they do it another two more times and they are banned from using the YouTube platform forever.

So it's a very significant move. And essentially what it says to the Australian viewing public is that you have an external media platform applying objectively its own criteria, saying to the Australian people, Murdoch through Sky Television has been producing disinformation and misinformation on the pandemic, about vaccines, about lockdowns, quack medicines, and until it's removed, then they'd be suspended from the service.

RUBY:

Hmm and it’s at the same time as Sky News is being suspended on YouTube, it’s actually expanding its reach on television, including on free to air networks in regional Australia. Can you tell me about that?

KEVIN:

Well, here's an anecdote for you. I was talking to someone just recently from Wagga and another person from Dubbo. This is where these regional news networks have considerable sway. Until recently, WIN television, for example, the networks like it, have had fairly thin content, to be quite honest. Enter the Sky News, 24/7 diatribe. And frankly, you find it on in households right across regional centres and cities across the country.

And when you look at regional Australia, it does represent something like about one third of the total seats in the Australian House of Representatives, somewhere between a quarter and a third in my home state of Queensland. It's fundamental to whether or not the Labor Party carries the state or not. And it's in these regional centres where this sky television content is now being broadcast big time. Its objective, the conservativization of regional Australia in support of the Liberal and National Party, making it increasingly impossible for the Labor Party to win regional seats. That's the agenda. It's purely political.

RUBY:

Mm and what do you think it says that YouTube is suspending Sky at a time in which they're gaining more ground in Australia through these regional stations? Is it the case now that YouTube is better at regulating extreme content than Australian regulators are?

KEVIN:

Well, the bottom line is that ACMA, the Australian Regulatory Authority responsible for ensuring that the broadcasting industry in this country broadcasts factual information, ACMA has failed miserably to exercise its responsibilities on something as fundamental as spreading misinformation and disinformation on critical questions of public health. So where ACMA fail, YouTube, a private corporation had to step in, apply its own global code of ethics as it relates to the pandemic and found Murdoch's Sky television network wanting. The bottom line is, ACMA has become a toothless tiger, it's too frightened to act in a way which would offend the likes of Rupert Murdoch.

RUBY:

And Kevin, what do you think the overall impact of this will be? Do you think the strategy that’s being employed here will ultimately be successful?

KEVIN:

Well, you see, Murdoch is not a romanticist. Murdoch is both a hard nosed business operator plus a hard right ideologue. That's the package. Now, in Australia, the way in which he's been able to make a buck frankly through his rent seeking approach to the Morrison government is to be as accommodating as possible towards Morrison and the Conservatives through his media platforms both in print, the daily tabloids in every major city and country except Perth, the National Daily, Sky Television and also the rebroadcast of content in terms of the, let's call it, the 2GB network across the country on radio as well.

It is all designed to cause the government to conclude that Murdoch remains the very best friend and that also then further brings influence to bear on Morrison to do deals like he just did in terms of the digital media bargaining code, which delivers a huge cash benefit to the Murdoch media operation. So the leverage helps politically, helps the conservatives get re-elected. But that also provides Murdoch with further leverage to earn a buck on the way through. Part of the reason for belling the cat on all of this is because having observed what is unfolding in America, I don't want to see the emergence over time of a similar phenomenon in Australia.

But the Murdoch stratagem is clear. One, identify a group who are malleable to this far right political agenda. Two, use a feedback loop and a megaphone to ram a particular set of ideological agendas down their throat. And three, consolidate them into becoming an increasingly radicalised support base. And this is where I am concerned about its long term trajectory in this country as well, turning us into a nation of warring tribes, turning us into a nation where the politics of compromise is no longer seen as possible, a nation where we end up screaming at each other rather than engage in a public debate about the facts... It's frankly, the Balkanisation of the Australian body politic into these warring tribes that I fear most, and that is what Murdoch's Sky television agenda is all about.

RUBY:

Kevin, thank you so much for your time today.

KEVIN:

Good to be with you.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today...

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday that Australia was sending hundreds of troops into Afghanistan to help evacuate Australian citizens and local Afghan staff who worked for the government. Morrison also announced Australia will not send Afghan nationals back to the country following the Taliban’s takeover, but he did not commit to resettling them permanently.

And NSW has recorded an additional 452 cases of Covid-19, as the state government announced a plan to rapidly increase the number of vaccinations in the high risk areas of western Sydney. Health authorities in the state also revealed they are no longer listing every COVID-19 exposure site publicly, saying they thought people were getting ‘lost in the detail’.

I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am, see you tomorrow.