Rupert Murdoch has fuelled polarisation of society, Barack Obama says

Former US president tells Sydney audience that media coverage has helped exacerbate divisions and that we no longer have a ‘shared story’

The former US president Barack Obama has suggested that Rupert Murdoch’s media empire has led to greater polarisation in western societies through news coverage designed to “make people angry and resentful”.

Speaking to a capacity crowd of about 9,000 people at Sydney’s Aware Super Theatre on Tuesday night, Obama mixed childhood memories of transiting through Australia as a child with pointed observations about the current political discourse and the rise of China.