Activists delivered an early birthday present for Rupert Murdoch to The Advertiser building in Adelaide on March 9.
Occupy Murdoch delivered a yellow “uranium” cake, along with demands for media reform, to the office of the News Ltd tabloid.
Activist Tamara Otello baked the cake, which she explained was intended “for The Advertiser staff”.
She said: “It hasn’t been laced with anything nasty ... unlike The Advertiser. It’s actually a chocolate mudcake.”
The Advertiser staff refused to accept the cake, citing concerns that crumbs could make a mess.
Occupy Murdoch demands the establishment of an independent media watchdog as proposed by the Finkelstein review, greater regulation of media ownership and an investigation into journalistic practices at News Ltd.
The Occupy Murdoch Facebook page says: “We’re not attacking the media, what we are doing is highlighting the fact that media ownership is highly concentrated in Australia, which brings about bad results for Australian citizens.
“Unlike government, the barons of the media like Rupert Murdoch are not voted in by the people, yet they still have tremendous power over what happens in this country.”
Media reform is the movement’s long term goal, but Occupy Murdoch activist Sam Shetler told Green Left Weekly: “We have a demand for [The Advertiser] they could fulfil immediately ... they could print a front page story about how they ... made up the ‘Gang of 49’.”
The “Gang of 49” was the name Adelaide mainstream media gave to a supposed Aboriginal gang. Despite the dozens of articles about the “Gang of 49” that have appeared in The Advertiser over several years, there is no evidence that any such gang exists.
Organisers hope to see the movement grow and are considering targeting other media outlets in the near future.
“We’ll be visiting Fairfax very soon,” said Shetler.
Read more Occupy movement coverage.
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