Kerry Packer: admiring men with balls

They’re all part of the media spectacle; a spectacle that sexes up sex, scandal, war, terrorism and tragedy - the mediated, voyeuristic experience of pleasure, grief, violence and conflict - neatly packaged to consume in the safety of suburban cocoons.
Consumption demands bigger, brighter and better spectacle and the 21st century is not disappointing expectation.

And technology brings us spectacular spectacle 24/7: September 11, the Bali Bombings, Beslan, the Asian Tsunami, New Orleans, the Iraq War, Saddam Hussein, Islam, bin Laden and the London Bombings.

The spectacle brings us the who and the what, the where and the when … but spectacle doesn’t lend itself to asking why: what we end up with are texts without context.

OK, so I’m sounding a bit of an idealist, certainly elitist and so 18th century. The world is a bleak place and anything that serves to distract can only be a good thing, or so the argument goes.

However, Australian society is undergoing significant political and social change with many of the shifts taking place associated with a decline in the democratic process as witnessed by Australia’s withdrawal from a number of United Nations protocols, the disgraceful conduct of its Department of Immigration, responsible for deporting or locking up its own citizens, and now with blood on its hands, following the death of an infant in its care. Then there’s the setting up of concentration camps in our own backyard and our involvement in an illegal and immoral war. Our public sphere is about to be further downgraded by the abolition of cross-media rules. Never have we more needed an engaged community and yet that engagement seems sadly absent in contemporary Australia.

Indeed, if ratings are anything to go by, Aussies are more than happy with dodgy current affairs, reality television, talkback radio and tabloid news.

But then I’ve been ignoring new media and the faith invested in it to challenge the might of entrenched media interests. Its burgeoning growth is surely an indication that people are hungry for other than the same old tired content mainstream media keeps dishing up. Though what is often forgotten in the buzz surrounding online alternative media is that alternative media is nothing new, though it never sat on newsstands next to the Herald-Sun at your newsagent. Like today, you had to go looking for it.

It’s interesting then, that virtual spaces are identified as more liberating than the traditions of dissent already captured in community media, particularly when new technologies are more associated with individualism and self-interest than common interest. And whether offline or virtual, forums that dissent from the mainstream, encourage free speech, are pluralist and inclusive, are likely to enjoy the patronage of the already converted rather than attracting new audiences.

The biggest concern, however, is the migration online of Packer and Murdoch. Indeed, Murdoch has been quoted as saying he intends to dominate the Internet and that News Corp’s internet revenue could grow from its present $US100 million dollars to between $US500 million and $US1 billion in five years.

While much has been made of James Packer’s interest in new media, who unlike his dad is into the Internet and knows a blog when he reads one, it’s unlikely he’ll breathe new life into content: his interest will be in further expanding his empire.

Rupert’s into blogs, too. He recently purchased Intermix Media that owns MySpace, a hugely popular blogging site. Significant, when you consider claims that blogs transform passive media couch potatoes into active media producers who are ready-set-go to wrest power from media barons.

Yet, Australians rather than losing sleep over Murdoch and Packer further extending their reach and grip, will likely be cheering them on from the sidelines. Kerry Packer’s death has exposed what too many of us most value - power, greed and a renewed post-feminist faith in the patriarchy.

It looks like blokes with balls are going to be running the show for a while yet.