Martin Bashir Slams Rupert Murdoch

Former Songs of Praise host Martin Bashir who has never been afraid to speak his mind, appeared on several TV shows on Wednesday where he blasted Rupert Murdoch who is currently being investigated for illegally having his British newspaper News Of The World hacked into private citizens’phones.

Bashir was a guest on the “Today” show where he called the Australian/American media mogul a mafia accused of killing at least 19 people and added:

“It’s hard to imagine the power that he exerted on politicians.Imagine a combination of Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist, and someone like James ‘Whitey’ Bulger, the mobster. And what he had was the power to reward and to punish.”

The current host of Nightline also sat down with Chris Matthews later in the day on Hardball where he once more took aim at the tycoon that he referred to Murdoch as an “unelected media baron”, revealed that Rupert’s media empire is “more like the Berlin Wall” that is crumbling down.

He had the following to say about the Chairman and CEO of News Corporation:

“It’s the power of Rupert Murdoch. It’s hard to imagine the power that he exerted on politicians….And what he had was the power to reward and to punish….Coercion by humiliation.”

You can watch the interview after the jump.

Tags: Martin Bashir

Category: TV