While members of the conservative Christian church, the Exclusive Brethren, are not allowed to vote, they have been big spenders in recent election campaigns in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. They spent $NZ1.2 million in the 2005 New Zealand election, while in the 2004 US election their Thanksgiving 2004 Committee spent $US636,522.

Lance Price, who worked as a media adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair between 1998 and 2001, writes that Rupert Murdoch "seemed like the 24th member of the cabinet. His voice was rarely heard ...

While "the latest target is the New York Times," for reports on a U.S. program tracking international financial records, journalists and media outlets around the world have been criticized -- and prosecuted -- for publishing stories related to the so-called Global War on Terror.