BEWARE those who claim a monopoly on wisdom, truth and virtue.

“We are the only organisation that really takes it up to the government,” News Limited CEO John Hartigan told the ABC’s 7.30 late last week as he moved to fend off criticism of the Murdoch empire’s Australian publications in the wake of the crisis engulfing its British and American publications. The Australian, Hartigan added, was the only newspaper that “properly” covered national politics; the ABC and Fairfax newspapers, meanwhile, enjoy preferred federal government treatment because they are more supportive of its policies.

Hartigan’s claims were at once remarkable and revealing. They suggested that News Limited sees itself as the lone fearless crusader for effective government in a nation populated by an otherwise politically complaint media. They showed that the organisation sees its Australian publications as islands of virtuous concern in a sea of complacent apathy…