Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd talks exclusively to the Byline Times podcast about his petition for a Royal Commission into media ownership in Australia - which has attracted a record breaking 500,000 signatures to the parliamentary website. Mr Rudd is particularly concerned about the influence of Rupert Murdoch who controls 70% of the newspaper readership Down Under, but his observations are pertinent of the UK and U.S. too. The common themes across the Murdoch empire, he says, are the promotion of a right wing agenda, the polarisation of debate and vicious attacks on political opponents.

Award winning journalist Nick Davies who uncovered phone hacking at Murdoch's flagship tabloid News of the World offers a British perspective.

Produced and presented by Adrian Goldberg.