bloomberg as mayor of nyc

[kobayashi]

sorry if this topic has been exhausted already but i hadn't noticed anything so i will proceed. i was wondering what people thought of michael bloomberg, a media mogul if there ever was one, recently becoming the mayor of nyc.
is anybody, new yorkers especially, concerned over what implications this may have for the city?
it seems quite obvious, to me at least, that bloomberg advertised his way to the top utilizing the media which he has mastered, does anyone else believe this is inappropriate?

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i was born for your magazine
i am trapped in the society page of your magazine

[Starr]

the only thing i can say & being from New York it's still early & we have to wait & see. I wish RUDY could have stayed until he thought his time was up. I don't like MIKE at all but he knows how to generate dollars & right now that's what my city needs. I think most NYers have a wait & see approach to the whole thing.

[U2Bama]

What would people think of Ted Turner, a media mogul if there ever was one, becoming mayor of Atlanta (or yet, governor of Georgia)?

[sulawesigirl4]

Originally posted by U2Bama:
What would people think of Ted Turner, a media mogul if there ever was one, becoming mayor of Atlanta (or yet, governor of Georgia)?

considering Ted Turner owns CNN...I wonder if you'd feel you could trust the news to be fair in relation to politics, especially those concerning him.

Oh wait...I don't trust much of what I hear on the news anyways.

[zonelistener]

Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
considering Ted Turner owns CNN...I wonder if you'd feel you could trust the news to be fair in relation to politics, especially those concerning him.

Oh wait...I don't trust much of what I hear on the news anyways.

Ted doesn't own it anymore - yet still has some control over CNN.

Ted as a politician, hmmmm. Politically, he would be very much like Minn. Governor/former wrestler Jesse Ventura: speaking and sometimes doing before thinking things through completely. Ted already speaks pretty freely.

As for the media-mogul as mayor/governor/president etc. etc. etc., It is a very interesting topic. I think it depends on how heavy-fisted the mogul was editorially in his/her company.

Another one to think about: Rupert Murdoch.(SP?)

[U2Bama]

It seems that we are only supposed to have a problem with media moguls turned politicians if they are "conservative," and this is why I am asking what people would think of Ted Turner, a politically liberal media mogul, getting involved in politics. Is it alright, or possibly even a "good" thing?

~U2Alabama

[Kieran McConville]

Originally posted by U2Bama:
It seems that we are only supposed to have a problem with media moguls turned politicians if they are "conservative," and this is why I am asking what people would think of Ted Turner, a politically liberal media mogul, getting involved in politics. Is it alright, or possibly even a "good" thing?

~U2Alabama

Perhaps it is more the case that most of the media 'moguls' in question do tend to be conservatively inclined. Perhaps Ted Turner is the exception. I don't think it's particularly good either way. To wield major influence in politics, and in a chunk of the media that reports this same politics, just doesn't wash for me. Doesn't matter how well-intentioned the person may be.

I mean for example, if I was an Italian citizen: show me the left-wing Berlusconi, and I'd still be worried.

[kobayashi]

Originally posted by zonelistener:
Another one to think about: Rupert Murdoch.(SP?)

murdoch would definetely be troublesome. the ceo of canadian subsidiary canwest global, izzy asper, recently announced his plan to run his own editorial in all his dailies across the country, he actually ordered them to. the editorial appears on a weekly basis and i am told the first of the series gets the inevitable out of the way from the beginning: complaining that his corporate taxes are to high.

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i was born for your magazine
i am trapped in the society page of your magazine

[U2Bama]

Kobayashi:

What about Ted Turner?

~U2Alabama

[FizzingWhizzbees]

Originally posted by kobayashi:
Rupert Murdoch: complaining that his corporate taxes are to high.

That man earned over $2.3 billion just in Britain between 1987 and 1999. How much corporation tax do you think he payed? NOT A PENNY. Worldwide he's payed no more than 6% tax.

He's complaining about corporation tax? He can kiss my ass.

When big companies such as his get out of paying tax, not only does it increase the tax burden on "ordinary" citizens, it also makes it harder for government's to meet the legitimate needs of their citizens.

[kobayashi]

Originally posted by U2Bama:
Kobayashi:

What about Ted Turner?

~U2Alabama

i don't really know much about him, bama, except that he has a brilliant business mind. i will assume he is by no means conservative given what you said but as keiran already stated his political affiliation is not the issue. of course any one individual may profess to be a republican, a democrat, a libertarian, a green promoter or whatever that is not what i am talking about.
a prerequisite of a modern, properly functioning democracy is a well informed public. how does a public get well informed?

the media which they have at their disposal. if that media has close ties to the people running the democracy then there is an obvious conflict and cause for concern.

i don't see how someone with any given political belief or lack thereof can't find fault with the situation.

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i was born for your magazine
i am trapped in the society page of your magazine

[kobayashi]

Originally posted by FizzingWhizzbees:
That man earned over $2.3 billion just in Britain between 1987 and 1999. How much corporation tax do you think he payed? NOT A PENNY. Worldwide he's payed no more than 6% tax.

He's complaining about corporation tax? He can kiss my ass.

When big companies such as his get out of paying tax, not only does it increase the tax burden on "ordinary" citizens, it also makes it harder for government's to meet the legitimate needs of their citizens.

i believe you misread my post fizzing, i can see now how it's a little hard to read. the story about complaining about corp taxes was referring to the ceo of canadian conglomerate, canwest global, not murdoch.