Mr Murdoch resembles Citizen Kane in the 1941 Orson Wells film. The film concerned a New York newspaper magnate whose paper becomes a medium to express his insatiable appetite for power. A glance at today's global media empires reveals that power – not news or entertainment – is the essence of their purpose.

In the case of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi captured both media and political power; this corrupted the entire body politic. The comic absurdity of his "Bunga-Bunga" sex and drugs parties barely conceal his shady links to the criminal underworld. The ruler of Italy resembles the debauched Emperor Caligula of ancient Rome and appears to be blatantly proud of his reputation. But the power that comes with being a billionaire media magnate provides this "hero" with many invisible protective cloaks. Most senior politicians look up to billionaires as societal role models and become intoxicated with the pleasures afforded them when they visit their paradise kingdoms. They are invited to holiday at their homes and on their yachts, and to share in all the trappings, spoils and joys of their global empires.

In Britain, Rupert Murdoch's empire of newspapers and TV stations gave him enormous political clout over decades. He systematically utilized his media empire to denigrate socialism and attack the democratic, social and political rights of the working class internationally.

The News of the World saga has shown how this power was reinforced by criminal activities, but such skills can be highly valued in the political world. Andy Coulson, former editor of the News of the World, was rewarded for his skills by being appointed to the center of political power. He was appointed director of communications for the Conservative Party and then for the Prime Minister David Cameron. Sadly all good things come to an end. Coulson was forced to resign his post earlier this year and now faces criminal prosecution.

Normally, conservative social forces can exploit their inbuilt advantage that we are all born into an existing environment. Order, power, tradition and authority surround the dominant mode of exploitation. Every social system must reproduce itself to survive and this reproduction is both a physical and ideological process. It is not enough that there be workers to work in different roles and supervisors to watch over them. For the system to function smoothly the masses should adopt the ideas of their exploiters. They must accept their subordination and the hierarchy of power. Thus ideological reproduction needs to generate appropriate justifications, myths and morals – a sense of superiority in the minds of the rulers and a sense of subservience and acquiescence in the minds of the ruled.

Karl Marx explained, "The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas." These ideas are reinforced by education, habit, tradition and religion, and in modern times by the mass media. However, the global economic crisis has shattered the normal mode of ideological reproduction. An exacerbated volatility in public moods is evident, particularly in Southern Europe and North Africa. By loading the burdens of the economic crisis onto the shoulders of the working classes in Europe, the rulers have generated a profound sense of disgust with the existing socio-economic system. This finds its expression in outbursts of anger at institutional abuses of authority by the rich and powerful. The ruling classes claim that the various crises of our era, economic, social, political, moral, etc. are caused by a series of accidental and unrelated happenings. The instinct of the proletariat is to see "method in the madness" and gradually, through the fog, they begin to demystify the structure of power and identify their common enemies and common cause.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

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