The shaving cream hurled at Rupert Murdoch on Tuesday as he sat before a British parliamentary committee may be the only punishment he'll get. True, the tycoon -- whose News Corp holdings encompass Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post, as well as giant swathes of the world's English-language media -- pronounced himself humbled before millions of viewers and listeners. But whether or not Murdoch and his coterie of close collaborators will ever get their comeuppance, Murdochgate is exposing how power and influence, infused with insidious new forms of corruption, operate today. And we'd better pay attention if we want to understand -- let alone have a say in -- the policies that affect everything from our pocketbooks to our health care and habitats to "our" wars.
The actors caught up in the scandal exemplify the modus operandi of the shadow elite -- the top power and influence brokers of our era. The media/police/political nexus over which Murdoch presides showcases the intertwining of state and private institutions, relationships, and power that characterizes the era to a T. And this story, with its swirl of players and networks is red meat for a social anthropologist like me.
Here are key markers of the shadow elite, as illustrated by Murdochgate:
- A government/business/political/media nexus. A web of tight relationships that span media, police, and political establishment elites under-gird the collusion between government and private institutions.
In the days and weeks to come, Murdoch-related intrigues will likely fill the airwaves as the mighty are "humbled" and some of their practices exposed. As details flood forth, the question is this: Will we take Murdochgate as a case study of today's top power brokers in action and do the work required to understand and challenge them? Or will the ability to hold them to account end with nothing more than a close shave?