Paying for Murdoch's propaganda

[Myra Bronstein]

Rupert Murdoch said quality journalism is not cheap

Oh the irony.
...

How could he possibly know?

[Jan Klimkowski]

Remember that Murdoch (who hides that he is half Jewish) came to
power as a CIA asset during the Nugan Hand Bank scandal.

Jack

Some original and important Australian research:

Importantly, the murder of Mackay also served to cover up the potential exposure of Frank Nugan's CIA connections, which was particularly critical given that in "April, May and June 1977, the Australian media and Parliament were awash with allegations of CIA activities in Australia, caused by the allegations of Christopher Boyce and Gough Whitlam." (15) Other evidence to support Jiggens's theory comes from Tony Reeve's book Mr Sin: The Abe Saffron Dossier (Allen & Unwin, 2007). Reeves provided evidence of how Frank Nugan had distributed marijuana from his Griffith packing shed, and how Sir Peter Abele's trucking company, Thomas Nationwide Transport (TNT), was used "to move -- along with huge volumes of legitimate cargoes -- large quantities of illegal drugs around Australia and the world." Reeves also drew attention to the close relations that existed between Abeles and the Nugan Hand Bank: information which is particularly significant because "Bela Csidei, Murray Riley's partner in the trans-Pacific drug trade, was well known as a front man for Abeles." (16)

As one might expect, the mainstream media fulfilled a critical function in shielding the police force and the Nugans from critical public scrutiny, and so it is fitting that Frank Nugan's henchman, "Fred Krahe, was employed at the time of the murder with The Sun newspaper in Sydney." Moreover the tight relationship between the mainstream media and the criminal underworld was no anomaly, as prior to leaving the police force, Krahe had "carefully cultivated" the support of leading NSW crime reporters like Bill Jenkins, whose "frequent scoops were breathlessly splashed across the... front pages" of Rupert Murdoch's now defunct Sydney paper The Daily Mirror. Thus while under normal circumstances one might expect that structural factors alone are enough to ensure that the mainstream media manufactures consent for elite interests, in the case of Krahe, it is apparent that individual journalists, like Jenkins, facilitated this process by covering up for the key movers in Australia's organized crime scene. (17)

..............

15. Jiggens, The Killer Cop and the Murder of Donald Mackay, p.194.

Head of the Eastern Division of the CIA, Ted Shackley, played a key role in the November 1975 Pine Gap security crisis, which helped lead to the constitutional coup that led to the removal of Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. (p.95) Thus it is noteworthy that Shackley "was very closely associated with Michael Hand... and nearly all the other Nugan Hand players." (p.91)

Here it is important to point out that while it is widely alleged that Whitlam's policies provided a serious threat to sanctity of intelligence agencies, in actual fact they did not pose such threat (although this was most likely misinterpreted by the CIA). Jim Jose writes: "Whitlam accepted the necessity and desirability of agencies like the [Australian Security Intelligence Organisation] ASIO; he also accepted the assumption which legitimized these groups." Jim Jose, "The Whitlam Years: Illusion and Reality," in Pat Flanagan (ed.), Big Brother or Democracy: The Case for the Abolition of ASIO (University of Adelaide, 1979), p.40. (back)

16. Tony Reeves, Mr Sin: The Abe Saffron Dossier (Allen & Unwin, 2007), p.84; Jiggens, The Killer Cop and the Murder of Donald Mackay, p.134.

Sir Peter Abeles "belonged to a powerful, right-wing émigré group which included Alexander Barton, Sir Paul Strasser and Sir Ivan Charody who were referred to as 'the Hungarian Mafia' or as 'Askin's Knights' because NSW premier, Sir Robert Askin knighted all of them." (p.135) David Hickie writes that he was told that knighthoods could be brought "earlier in Askin's reign at a... modest $20,000 a pop." He then continues noting that "while such claims are hard to document... a $20,000 cheque from the chief executive of Boral Ltd, Sir Elton Griffin, turned up in the private bank account of Sir Robert Ask in at the time Griffin was knighted." Boral is now "Australia's largest building and construction materials supplier." It is also interesting to note that Bernie Houghton -- who played a key role in setting up the Nugan Hand Bank -- arranged for Michael Hand to work with Sir Paul Strasser's Parkes Corporation. Moreover, although little known, in 1969, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) "uncovered the involvement of Lennie [McPherson], Houghton and some NSW police in a massive people-smuggling operation. ASIS had mounted a 'national security' exercise to check on illegal immigrants as part of Australia's Cold War paranoia about communists arriving by stealth and taking over the country. What they found was a massive trade in sex slaves, run by Sydney criminals and backed by a local undercover agent of the CIA." (For a critical analysis of the links between capitalism and modern-day slavery, see "Combating [Some] Slavery.")

David Hickie, The Premier and the Prince, p.84; Tony Reeves, Mr Big: The True Story of Lennie McPherson and His Life of Crime (Allen & Unwin, 2005), p.152. (back)

17. Jiggens, The Killer Cop and the Murder of Donald Mackay, p.140, p.141, p.146. (back)

http://swans.com/library/art15/barker32.html

http://www.deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/...php?t=2376

[Magda Hassan]

The Peter Abeles referred to here owned a trucking company, TNT, that he used as a profitable favor in helping Murdoch break the Wapping picket lines in distributing his newspapers.

[Jan Klimkowski]

The Peter Abeles referred to here owned a trucking company, TNT, that he used as a profitable favor in helping Murdoch break the Wapping picket lines in distributing his newspapers.

The TNT link is most intriguing.

Plausibly deniable delivery services making massive profits.

Hell, why bother with diplomatic pouches...

[Magda Hassan]

Most interesting Jan.

Tony Reeves interviewed a TNT truck driver who told him that in the 1970s he regularly drove shipments down from the Nugan packing shed to the Flemington markets in Sydney. When he turned up at the Nugan packing shed, he would be given money and told to have a meal, and that his truck would be packed for him. He would come back to find the truck packed and the contents locked away behind a new padlock. The same scenario would play itself out at the Sydney markets; he would be given money, told to have a meal, and would come back to find the truck unloaded. Intrigued by this, he checked out the truck and found minute traces of marijuana. The truck driver estimated that his truck fully loaded would hold ten tones of cannabis.

Very interesting.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Most interesting indeed, Magda.

Maybe those TNT trucks had a special docking system for Air America planes..... :listen:

[David Butler]

It's starting...Anyone signed up yet ? :top:


The Times and Sunday Times newspapers will start charging to access their websites in June, owner News International (NI) has announced.

Users will pay £1 for a day's access and £2 for a week's subscription.

The move opens a new front in the battle for readership and will be watched closely by the industry.

NI chief executive Rebekah Brooks said it was "a crucial step towards making the business of news an economically exciting proposition".

Both titles will launch new websites in early May, separating their digital presence for the first time and replacing the existing, combined site, Times Online.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8588432.stm

[David Guyatt]

Nope, and I don't plan to pay for the Times or any other online rag either. Perhaps, in the distant future if objective news reporting returns and is published without fear or favour then maybe. But since I doubt this will ever happen I'll have to rely on other means of gathering news - go offshore and leave the Treasure Island bandits to their own devices.

[Paul Rigby]

Nope, and I don't plan to pay for the Times or any other online rag either. Perhaps, in the distant future if objective news reporting returns and is published without fear or favour then maybe. But since I doubt this will ever happen I'll have to rely on other means of gathering news - go offshore and leave the Treasure Island bandits to their own devices.

What, and miss all that fearless and oh-so-distinctive reportage and commentary?

Where else, one wonders, can you find Charles Bore on politics ("SamCam's bump - will it make the difference?"); Virginia Scrote on living in the country ("who are these beastly people spreading muck in my fields?"); Lionel Pimms on life in America ("Many of these people drive on the wrong side of the road, but I forgive them"); Milton J. Fastbuck on economics ("Keynes was really far-out, if you know what I mean"); or Radek Fiasco on war ("the wedding party was really a gathering of transvestite Al-Qaeda").

Er, everywhere.

On reflection, you're right, sod Murdoch and his pointless rags.