Billionaire media barons back the Right, block the Canary

What is common between the billionaire Murdoch family (Australia/US/UK), Larry Ellison (US), Paul Marshall (UK), Pier Silvio Berlusconi (Italy), Lőrinc Mészáros (Hungary), Gautam Adani (India), Yildirim Demirören (Turkey), Vincent Bolloré (France), Miriam Adelson (Israel/US), and Edir Macedo (Brazil)?

Apart from being billionaires and sharing a similar right-wing ideology, they own a significant portion of the world’s media. Ellison’s TikTok recently banned the Canary’s account.

A recent report from think tank Transnational Institute, called ‘Mapping Fascism: Global networks, power, and the rise of the far right,’ shows how a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals with far-right affiliations have systematically acquired newspapers, television networks, and digital platforms across multiple countries — concentrating media ownership to a degree that shapes public debate.

Their “Pulling the Narrative” infographic shows the transnational web spreading right-wing propaganda and undermining democracy.

Other research has shown that media concentration enables an oppressive and undemocratic status quo.

But media failure is not limited to the overtly right-wing press. In fact, the Gaza genocide shows that even the centrist and liberal-leaning Western legacy media like the BBC, the New York Times, and the Guardian’s coverage of the war on Palestinians consistently breached core journalistic principles of accuracy, impartiality, balance, and context.

Big Tech fuels fascism

As Transnational Institute’s report documents, Elon Musk‘s growing involvement in politics illustrates how concentrated private power in the tech sector is fuelling fascism.

Elon Musk’s platform and money is growing extremist parties and causes worldwide. Algorithmic manipulation. Meeting with far-right leaders. Public support for far-right causes.

As we’ve reported before, Elon Musk is not the free speech absolutist he claims to be. He does like using ‘free speech’ as a defence, however. Instead, it’s a convenient shield for platform owners. Their algorithm changes consistently boost right-wing voices. Meanwhile, independent outlets like the Canary find themselves banned.

In the UK, Musk has thrown his weight behind the Reform splinter party, Restore party and its leader, Rupert Lowe having abandoned Nigel Farage.

Media serving the billionaire status quo

The Epstein affair proves the Transnational Institute’s report right.

As Jeremy Corbyn told the House of Commons, the Epstein affair exposes a “gilded, friendly web” of power where favours are done, contracts are awarded, and influence traded by insiders like Peter Mandelson. These actors move seamlessly between government, business, and the media elite.

Mandelson was Epstein’s friend and associate. And Epstein’s client list included some of the world’s wealthiest men—names that overlap with TNI’s list of billionaires hoarding media.

For instance, one email in the files implies that Epstein stayed at Rupert Murdoch’s house, four years after being legally required to register as a sex offender. Murdoch, whose family tops the Transnational Institute’s list, owns Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the Sun, the Times, and hundreds of other outlets worldwide.

Corbyn is calling for a full, independent, judge-led public inquiry – on the scale of Chilcot – into the Mandelson web, including his influence over the media.