Hi Michael [Miller, News Corp Executive Chairman],
Thank you for your e-mail regarding fundraising and other support initiatives in relation to the devastating fires.
Unfortunately however, this does not offset the impact News Corp reporting has had over the last few weeks. I have been severely impacted by the coverage of News Corp publications in relation to the fires, in particular the misinformation campaign that has tried to divert attention away from the real issue which is climate change to rather focus on arson (including misrepresenting facts).
I find it unconscionable to continue working for this company, knowing I am contributing to the spread of climate change denial and lies. The reporting I have witnessed in The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun is not only irresponsible, but dangerous and damaging to our communities and beautiful planet that needs us more than ever now to acknowledge the destruction we have caused and start doing something about it.
News Corp’s decision to take this approach in such a devastating time for our country, communities and environment is a step too far for any of us stakeholders to ignore and continue with our daily tasks without thinking for a minute about what we are contributing to.
Anxiety and disappointment are the feelings that have been occupying me over the last 24 hours, to the point where I am finding it incredibly difficult to focus on my work and do my job.
I hope this email will get you as a leader of this organisation to think about the big picture and the impact of our publications.
Sincerely,
Emily
[This e-mail was deleted from News Corp staff inboxes within an hour of it being sent, but was leaked to the real media multiple times]
Emily Townsend
January 11, 2020
We are a burning nation led by cowards. It’s time we all got a lot more angry about it. And then looked each other in the eye, shook hands, and got on with it.
Hugh Riminton
January 2, 2020
[Morrison] has now been revealed as a dangerous incompetent, an opportunist populist combining policy vacuity with a reckless opportunism and a political tin ear.
Mungo MacCallum
December 31, 2019
The world [is] on a knife edge. Dual threats; fascism and climate change. We’ve never needed more to be led by people of vision, intellect & altruism. And yet, we’re being “led” by self serving, ill informed, right wing, climate change denying, lying, cruel, racist dingbats.
Patricia Barraclough
December 30, 2019
Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war. And until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation, until the colour of a man's skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes. And until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race, there is war. And until that day, the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship, rule of international morality, will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained... now everywhere is war.
Haile Selassie I
December 30, 2019
I cannot understand why we idle discussing religion. If we are honest—and scientists have to be—we must admit that religion is a jumble of false assertions, with no basis in reality. The very idea of God is a product of the human imagination. It is quite understandable why primitive people, who were so much more exposed to the overpowering forces of nature than we are today, should have personified these forces in fear and trembling. But nowadays, when we understand so many natural processes, we have no need for such solutions. I can't for the life of me see how the postulate of an Almighty God helps us in any way. What I do see is that this assumption leads to such unproductive questions as why God allows so much misery and injustice, the exploitation of the poor by the rich and all the other horrors He might have prevented. If religion is still being taught, it is by no means because its ideas still convince us, but simply because some of us want to keep the lower classes quiet. Quiet people are much easier to govern than clamorous and dissatisfied ones. They are also much easier to exploit. Religion is a kind of opium that allows a nation to lull itself into wishful dreams and so forget the injustices that are being perpetrated against the people. Hence the close alliance between those two great political forces, the State and the Church. Both need the illusion that a kindly God rewards—in heaven if not on earth—all those who have not risen up against injustice, who have done their duty quietly and uncomplainingly. That is precisely why the honest assertion that God is a mere product of the human imagination is branded as the worst of all mortal sins.
Paul Dirac
December 30, 2019
For the hapless energy minister [Angus Taylor] had managed in Madrid the one success of his ministerial career to date and that was to discredit our nation in the eyes of the world by being in cahoots with such colleagues as a nation led by medieval butchers, Saudi Arabia, and Russia, a nation led by a latter-day vivisector, exactly the sort of pariah states any democratic country feels proud to have as allies.
Richard Flanagan
December 24, 2019
Morrison’s Pentecostal faith teaches that the end of days is signalled by a time of fire, flood and famine, known as the Tribulation. This is a wonderful time for the elect, who ascend to heaven in the Rapture. If Morrison is genuine in such beliefs, is he in any way a fit person to lead our country at this time of crisis that his religion sees as a joyous moment? Either he is sincere in his faith or he is sincere in his oath to office, but he cannot be both. Which is it, Prime Minister?
Richard Flanagan
December 24, 2019
But here’s the most disturbing thing. Denialists – led by powerful politicians and business leaders – have won the day. By clouding the debate – by badgering and bullying credible scientists and those who respect them – they have prevented any meaningful action on slowing the rate of global warming. If it wasn’t so serious you could smile at the irony. Those people who hate change more than anything else, those people who deal with the horrifying prospect of global warming by pretending it doesn’t exist, have successfully prevented efforts to stop one of the greatest disruptions confronting humanity. Those people. They’ve certainly earned their place in the hell to come.
Gary Linnell
December 18, 2019
Corbyn was a victim of the most vicious execution by the reactionary pro-billionaire and millionaire establishment media in British political history. It's not him they hate, it's us.
