Brisbane cafe's boycott of Murdoch press gets boost with Facebook share by UK MP Tom Watson
A Queensland café proprietor’s lone boycott of Rupert Murdoch newspapers has gained considerable traction via social media, including being shared on Facebook by Rupert Murdoch’s nemesis, Tom Watson MP.
Patrick Boucher's note
Watson was the lead voice on the UK Parliament’s Culture and Media Select Committee which grilled Murdoch over the multiple scandals that led to the closure of The News of the World newspaper and the phone hacking revelations.
Patrick Boucher’s post showed a handwritten note explaining that the café would no longer stock Murdoch newspapers. Watson shared the post by Boucher, proprietor of the Slightly Twisted diner in Brisbane, to his 4,941 Facebook friends, with the rejoinder: “Overcooked it, Rupe”.
“Dear customers,” the note said.
“Rupert Murdoch (a foreign national who gave up his Australian citizenship years ago, and thus his right to a say in Australian politics)makes no apologies for the fact that he is using his newspapers to subvert the political and electoral outcomes in Australia for his own economic benefit.
“For this reason, his newspapers: ‘The Courier Mail’, and ‘The Australian’ will not be available in our café until further notice.
“As there are no local publications not controlled by Murdoch, we will be supplying Sydney and Melbourne papers”.
Earlier today Tom Watson challenged Rupert Murdoch on Twitter to comment on speculation linking his opposition to Labour and the rollout of the National Broadband Network to his Foxtel business. Watson has 126,799 followers on Twitter.
The Australian newspaper today ran a story which it claimed "unpicks [the] PM's conspiracy theory", and says that the chief executive and 50 per cent shareholder of Foxtel have "demolished Kevin Rudd's claim that the National Broadband Network policy is bad for the pay-TV business."