Rupert Murdoch, the 81 year old news-mogul who is the chairman and CEO of News Corp, has been known for the gross amount of influence he’s had in the bias of his publications. Now another Australian born media mogul has their sights on a major newspaper but their are serious concerns about the effect she will have on the paper’s editorial direction. BBC reports on the financial and political implications of this acquisition:
The mining magnate, who now has an 18.67% stake, has asked for three board seats and the right to make editorial decisions, Fairfax newspapers report.
Ms Rinehart, who enlarged her stake in the company from 12.58% last week, is now Faifax’s largest investor.
Aside from the three board seats, Ms Rinehart also wants to be able to hire and fire editors, Fairfax newspapers report. Fairfax journalists have written to her asking her to respect the company’s editorial independence policy.
Ms Rinehart, who oversees an iron-ore prospecting empire, is a vocal opponent of the government’s mining and carbon tax plans.
Both Mr Swan and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy urged Ms Rinehart to respect Fairfax’s charter and editorial independence.
“If she was to directly interfere and breach that charter, it would actually lead to a crisis of confidence among the readership and if the readership deserted, then the share price for every shareholder would decline,” Mr Conroy said.
Mr Swan said: “I think that has very big implications for our democracy, I think we should all be very concerned at this turn of events.”
“She certainly has a commercial right to do what she has done, but it appears to be that she will go a step further, not respect the charter of independence, and reserve her right to direct journalists with instructions that follow her commercial imperatives.”
