Kevin Rudd Has Launched A Petition Calling For A Royal Commission Into Murdoch Media
Within hours of the petition going up, the site appeared to crash due to signee numbers.
Earlier this morning, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd launched a petition calling for a Royal Commission into the Rupert Murdoch media empire, which he has called a “cancer on democracy.”
In a video that accompanied the petition, Rudd noted that the move was prompted by his “passion for the country’s future.”
He described the Murdoch empire as “abusing the media monopoly in Australia” and threatening “the future lifeblood of our democratic system.”
He also called for diverse media ownership. “Murdoch has become a cancer, an arrogant cancer, on our democracy,” he said. “It’s the sheer concentration of Murdoch’s media ownership — 70% of our print media is owned by Murdoch.”
Australians have watched with growing anger at what the Murdoch media monopoly is doing to our country. A cancer on democracy.
Today I am launching a national petition to establish a #MurdochRoyalCommission.
If you value our democracy, please sign here: https://t.co/FjfK7ij7YQ pic.twitter.com/gIGfmMF49W
— Kevin Rudd (@MrKRudd) October 9, 2020
Within hours of the petition going up, it appeared that a large number of signees was crashing the site. Multiple Twitter users posted screenshots of the petition failing to properly load, presumably due to the increase in traffic.
We’ve broken the site I think! pic.twitter.com/IulGFIe7z9
— Emily Mayo (@iamemilymayo) October 10, 2020
Rudd has lambasted the media empire in the past. Last year, he wrote an op-ed for The Guardian in which he claimed that the country was “dancing to the reactionary tune of the [conservative] media.”
If you would like to sign the petition, head to this link.