Murdoch: Nations Will Be Redefined

Rupert Murdoch Atlantic Council Award Photo

Matt Drudge has the banner headline “MURDOCH WARNS NATIONS WILL BE REDEFINED” above a story that begins:

Media baron Rupert Murdoch issued an urgent internal communication late Monday, warning his staff: “We are in the midst of a phase of history in which nations will be redefined and their futures fundamentally altered.”

There’s not much more detail, so I don’t know whether Murdoch is making a value judgment or is simply making a forecast around which to align his business strategy. 

It immediately struck me upon reading the headline, however, that Murdoch said something similar last April when he was the recipient of the Atlantic Council’s Distinguished Business Leader Award for 2008. He closed his provocative acceptance speech with these words:

I was born in Australia … I received my university education in Britain … and I have made my home in America. Over a long and I hope productive life, I have learned that shared values are more important than shared borders.

If we continue to define “the West” or “the Alliance” as a strictly geographical concept, the Alliance will continue to erode. But if we define the West as a community of values, institutions, and a willingness to act jointly, we will revive an important bastion of freedom – and make it as pivotal in our own century as it was in the last.

Murdoch’s experience will continue to be atypical in more ways than one.  But he could be the archetype of a more globalized citizenry, at least at the upper levels.

James Joyner is managing editor of the Atlantic Council.  Photo from Reuters Pictures.

Related Experts: James Joyner

Image: murdoch-atlantic-council.jpg