The Rupert Murdoch version of television is, of course, worse in reality than anything on my fanciful list of awful TV programmes (Saturday, November 11 entry). There's one on tonight - this really is true - called 99 MOST BIZARRE SELF-INFLICTED INJURIES.
I suppose at no.1 there might be a Mr. G.W. Bush and a Mr. A. Blair showing Iraq to the camera, but it's not likely.
i'll never forget Murdoch's comment just before the war that "invading Iraq is morally correct, because it will reduce oil prices to under $20 a barrell."
ReplyDeletewhat a piece of work.
Yes, that was a good one! And he wasn't even right. A summary of recent prices in Houston.com says that "from a summer peak above $78 a barrel, oil prices have hung close to the $60 level over the past month". (So, Rupert: does that make the war morally incorrect, now?)
ReplyDeleteWhat about the Rupert Murdoch version of rave reviews of your book? Have you seen the (Murdoch-owned) Times Literary Supplement this week?
ReplyDeleteHi there. Well actually no, I haven't seen the published version yet, but I've been sent the version the reviewer submitted in the first place - which is longer, of course - and you've reminded me that he's agreed to let me post it on the blog: so I guess it's time I did! Thanks for your prompting.
ReplyDeletePS. I don't suppose the TLS is the paper Rupert monitors closely.
PS. I don't suppose the TLS is the paper Rupert monitors closely.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet he apparently he does! I know someone who works on the TLS and apparently Rupert calls up every now and then to complain about some piece. He definitely reads it. Murdoch's interest is also why the TLS publishes reviews of Australian books more often than one would think Australia warrants it, and also publishes a special Australia-themed edition once a year.
Actually when I wrote that, I had a hunch, which I suppressed, that I was probably wrong - that the old bugger maybe went through it with unhinged assiduousness (just because unhealthily powerful people are often obsessive and do that sort of thing)... but it's good to hear the inside truth.
ReplyDeleteBut at least now that even Fox News staffers are rebelling about his O.J. Simpson book, TLS reviews may not currently be uppermost in his mind.