Murdoch the Megalodon: The Ethics and Economics of 'Sorry'

Ad by Murdoch in The Guardian 16/07/11

I'd decided to stay away from the phone-hacking scandal here, simply because everyone else is saying so much and saying it so well that it seemed unnecessary to add to the outpouring of outrage.  However, today's  full page ads in the national press, paid for by Murdoch, and with the message 'We are sorry',  have tempted me into some comment on the whys and wherefores of this move.

I'm not so interested in the timing (the day after two of his most senior executives resigned), or the overall motivations (damage limitation), but I am interested in the choice of medium and method.  Why take out full page ads in competitor papers? Is this just a reflex action for someone in the newspaper business?  Well, clearly newspaper readers are an important target market for Murdoch, so it would make sense to reach them in this way, and by having a presence in the other papers there is at least an element of 'having his say' when all others are criticising his company.  It strikes me, however, that there is also an element here of the dinosaur, doing what it has always done and ignoring the meteoric changes to media practices and culture that have made it possible for this scandal to emerge from the murk of the newsmedia's underworld.

Yes, Nick Davies at The Guardian played an enormous role in bringing this all to light, but it was through social media, citizen journalists, and the sheer weight of public opinion - opinion that can now be expressed, published and disseminated freely and easily - that the story gained enough momentum to bring down the News of the World.  Murdoch has largely ignored this, and instead focused his efforts on the press.

The decision to buy advertising space sums up this dinosaur attitude for me.  The very idea that you can buy your way to forgiveness, that in fact you can buy anything you want, smacks of the worst kind of hubris.  In a world where so much information is freely available and shared online, this approach seems a desperate attempt to maintain control through the channels Murdoch knows.  He is, quite simply, out of touch, and is also, quite rightly, in danger of extinction. 

The other niggling question I have, however, is one for those who are generally thought to have high ethical standards. Should newspapers like The Guardian have sold him the space?  And, if so, where should the money go?  Ethics in the media is an issue for everyone, not just today's whipping boy...