[More at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-24/elisabeth-murdoch-takes-swipe-at-brother-james/4219376 ]Elisabeth Murdoch wrote:Elisabeth Murdoch has taken a swipe at her brother James and the ethics of her father Rupert Murdoch's media empire during a speech in Scotland.
Ms Murdoch, who was invited to give the keynote address at the Edinburgh Television Festival, said profit without purpose was a recipe for disaster, and the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World newspaper showed the need for a rigorous set of values
A successful television producer who was overlooked for senior jobs at News Corp that went first to her brother Lachlan and then James, she admitted giving the lecture was either a brave or mad move.
... Ms Murdoch has rarely spoken in public, despite her role as the founder of the successful production company Shine.
Referring to James's 2009 speech, she said his assertion that the only reliable, durable and perpetual guarantor of media independence was profit had fallen short of the mark.
"The reason his statement sat so uncomfortably is that profit without purpose is a recipe for disaster," she said, perhaps in an allusion to charges that News of the World journalists broke the law to produce ever-more salacious stories and maintain circulation.
"Profit must be our servant, not our master," she said, adding that colleagues needed to accept that they had a responsibility to each other and not just the bottom line.
"It's increasingly apparent that the absence of purpose - or of a moral language - within government, media or business, could become one of the most dangerous own goals for capitalism and for freedom."
Kim
