In June last year, Crikey published a story calling the Murdoch family 'unindicted co-conspirators' in the January 6 2021 US insurrection. In August, Lachlan Murdoch sued for defamation. This morning, Murdoch dropped that lawsuit, after Fox News paid US$787m to settle a separate defamation lawsuit in the US. At issue in both cases were fundamental questions concerning the nature of truth, and the danger of lies.
Philosopher Hannah Arendt believed that a populace bombarded with lies was vulnerable to totalitarianism. ‘If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer,’ Arendt wrote. ‘And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please.’
As lies proliferate in our public sphere, the pursuit of truth is the theme of today’s newsletter. Tim Koskie questions the motivations of Elon Musk slapping the Twitter accounts of the ABC and SBS with the label, ‘government-funded media’. Will this deliver transparency and honesty? Or something darker? Liz Giuffre reveals her research into one of Sydney’s former cultural hubs, the Hopetoun Hotel, which aims to ensure that its history is told by all those involved, not just the boys in the bands. Michael Davis reflects on Google calling for the regulation of AI, which is having issues with ‘hallucinations’. And finally I draw a link from these AI hallucinations to Fox’s out-of-court settlement with Dominion Voting Systems for falsehoods spread during the 2020 US election.
If your vote is for truth, honesty and accuracy, read on.
Sacha Molitorisz, Senior Lecturer - UTS Law