That was more or less how New Labour got elected in the UK in the late 90s.

What do you mean? News Corp definitely has a sizeable influence over elections, or at least they have had in the past. So it works in that sense.

yeah but that's not really how rupert murdoch media make their decisions, is it?

Well, Murdoch always support the liberals/conservatives but if he doesn’t get what he wants then he starts enthusiastically encouraging a good stabbing/knifing (rolling the prime mister).

It’s not appeasement - the Liberal National Party and the Murdoch press have more of a ‘symbiotic relationship’.