[ Just like the Fox we know in the US ]
he US conspiracy network Infowars has been banned from most social media platforms, but Alex Jones, its presenter, is still delivering his incendiary broadcasts on the internet, pumping out his message that the election of Joe Biden as president is part of a plot by globalists and the deep state to bring about āthe takedown of Americaā.
And thatās the mild version.
In recent months, one of Jonesās favoured sources to back up his claims is Australiaās Sky News.
Jones uses segments from
Sky News Australia in his program, particularly those from Skyās Outsiders program, as āevidenceā from mainstream media organisations to support his conspiracy theories.
Simultaneously Sky in Australia is lurching further to the right, producing more segments and specials designed to pique the interest of the conspiracy-minded, including the far-right media in the US.
And itās paying off handsomely for Sky.
The traditional orthodoxy in Australia is that Sky is a news channel with a relatively modest audience. During the day it delivers high-quality real-time news that is essential viewing for the political class. At night, a new crowd comes on air and it morphs into a US
Fox News-style lineup of commentators with a conservative bent, known as Sky After Dark, again with limited reach.
Skyās CEO, Paul Whittaker,
described Skyās mission to Mediaweek last December as: āWhen Australians needed reliable, trustworthy and comprehensive news coverage, they turned to us in record numbers. When they wanted context, commentary and analysis of events, they turned to the nationās best commentators on Sky News.ā
What he doesnāt mention is that over the past 12 months, the News Corp-owned channel has gone down what appears to be a deliberate path of pandering to the conspiracy-minded to drive its digital strategy.
(full article online)
News Corp-owned channel is garnering millions of views across digital platforms with a slew of far-right conspiracies
www.theguardian.com