Barack Obama has accused Rupert Murdoch and his media empire of polarising society, stoking populism and leaving people feeling “angry and resentful”.
n a speech delivered in Australia, the former US president said partisan media and populist agendas had deepened divisions in Western societies.
In a wide-ranging address, he spoke about the war in Ukraine, the rise of China and the dangers posed by artificial intelligence.
He identified changes to the media landscape as contributing to the growing polarisation not just of America but many societies in the West, mentioning Fox News in the US and Sky in Australia.
“There’s a guy you may be familiar with, first name Rupert, who was responsible for a lot of this,” the 61-year-old said. “But really he perfected what is a broader trend, which is the advent of cable [television], talk radio and then social media.
Rupert Murdoch with his fourth wife Jerry Hall before they divorced last year. Photo: Danny Moloshok/Reuters
“The dissolution of the monopoly of a few arbiters of the news and journalistic standards that came out of the post-Second World War era.”
Traditional media has splintered to such an extent that it was now a “wild west”, said Mr Obama, who served two terms in the White House.
“If all you’re doing is watching one source of news, and, by the way, in America, you’re seeing progressives say, ‘well we’re going to have our own news and our own perspective’… you no longer have a joint conversation and a shared story.” Media organisations were pursuing “clicks” in order to attract audiences, he said.
A headline about Donald Trump is displayed outside Fox News studios in New York. Photo: Mark Lennihan/AP
“The easiest way to attract attention without having to have a lot of imagination, thought, or interesting things to say, is just to make people angry and resentful and to make them feel as if somebody’s trying to mess with them and take what’s rightfully theirs.”
Increasingly sophisticated AI meant that images could easily be faked, further increasing the risk of disinformation and polarisation, Mr Obama said. He added that only his wife, Michelle, could tell whether deep fake audio recordings of him were false. Everyone else would think they were authentic.
He also claimed the increasing use of AI posed a particular threat to young people, who struggle to discern what is real and what is fake.
“We’re going to have to train our brains to catch up to these new technologies.”
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2023]