Murdoch's man in Australia, John Hartigan,
warns the Australian Prime Minister
“The Prime Minister's comments seek to draw a link between News Corporation operations in the UK and those here in Australia,”
..“The comments were unjustified and regrettable.
“There is absolutely no connection between events in the UK and our business in Australia.
“There is no evidence that similar behaviour has occurred at News in Australia.
It wasn't so long ago that Mr Hartigan's words were
judged to be
unjustified and unreliable
“In the course of cross-examination, it became apparent that Mr Hartigan attempted to give the impression of having a better memory of the events, about which he gave evidence, that was the fact.”
Hartigan’s recollection of the negotiation of Guthrie’s contract, which the News chief had claimed were “long, protracted and hard-driven”, were dismissed.
“In my view Hartigan was an unreliable witness in respect of the negotiations that proceeded the formation of the contract.”
Mr Hartigan would be wise to take
counsel
The inordinate power of the Murdoch press, and fear of landing on the wrong side of it, has a decisive influence on the Australian political landscape, too. I am personally aware of a successful opposition campaign to win state government focused almost exclusively on promulgating policies the Murdoch tabloid was seen to support. As The Age argued yesterday, News Ltd's Australian papers have "largely abandoned" valuing or attempts to achieve "journalistic impartiality", embarking instead on a "series of vendettas against its designated foes". Such enemies included Victoria's former police commissioner, Simon Overland, after he suggested the paper had irresponsibly published details of anti-terror raids before they occurred.
