1/ 🧵 Excellent new @TheAtlantic piece reveals shocking details about how Murdoch media handled #Brexit: Nobody actually thought it would pass – they were just “having a laugh” (including Boris Johnson) - ThreadSky

amonck.bsky.social • 88 days ago

1/ 🧵 Excellent new @TheAtlantic piece reveals shocking details about how Murdoch media handled #Brexit: Nobody actually thought it would pass – they were just “having a laugh” (including Boris Johnson)

Reposted from McKay Coppins

I've spent the past year talking to James Murdoch about his father's "twisted" behavior, the mind games at the family-counseling retreat, how Fox News really works, and the war over his family's media empire. My cover story for The Atlantic's April edition: theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

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whytetara.bsky.social•88 days ago

All fun and games until

amonck.bsky.social•88 days ago

2/ In a pre-referendum News Corp board meeting, Boris Johnson dropped by to joke about the campaign. When asked if Brexit would pass, he just smirked and said “We’ll see!” The room treated it as entertainment.

amonck.bsky.social•88 days ago

3/ Meanwhile, Murdoch papers were going all in on Brexit:
- The Sun ran stories about “great migrant swindle” by EU
- Sunday Times endorsed it
- Gave Boris glowing coverage
- Downplayed economic warnings because they weren’t “fun”

amonck.bsky.social•88 days ago

4/ James Murdoch: “I underestimated the ability of a profit motive to make people do terrible things—to make companies do terrible things”

amonck.bsky.social•88 days ago

5/ He compared the empire’s media approach to Paul von Hindenburg in 1930s Germany – enabling catastrophic political outcomes while thinking they could control them.

amonck.bsky.social•88 days ago

6/ The Brexit coverage exemplified what James called a “tabloid culture that's contrarian for the sake of it” – boosting controversial positions for profit while privately dismissing their serious implications.

amonck.bsky.social•88 days ago

7/ This wasn’t just about Brexit. Same playbook was used for Trump, climate change denial, and other major issues. Profit over truth, entertainment over consequences.

clatch.bsky.social•88 days ago

It was at this point I had to Wiki James to check if, sorry where, he was educated.

luckyturner.bsky.social•88 days ago

📌

psclazzac.bsky.social•88 days ago

Cameron didn't think it would pass either. How all the top Tories, including Murdoch, managed to underestimate so catastrophically the extent of Brits' innate racism is the real story.

alexsz.bsky.social•88 days ago

rip-gdpr.bsky.social•88 days ago

Nothing about murdoch or Boris Johnson is shocking.

They are both self serving and have no thought for the consequences if they think that they will benefit

clairelouisetitley.bsky.social•88 days ago

Isn’t this what’s happening with Reform/Farage? It’s all a laugh and “fun” to report on, regardless of the consequences

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