As the News Ltd press, albeit with some notable individual exceptions, collectively finishes off the Prime Minister by withdrawing their support, the parallels between John Howard and Rupert Murdoch get even more interesting.

Both are ageing leaders – John Howard 11 years as Prime Minister and 68-years-old, whilst 76-year-old Rupert Murdoch will notch up 55 years of News Corporation leadership next month. Both men also blundered in blindly backing an inarticulate US President’s Iraq folly.

The ageing grandparents both command sound financial records through a booming Australian economy and five straight record profits from the Sun King.

However, despite this performance both are sagging in the polls – Howard as measured by Rupert’s Newspoll and Murdoch as measured by the daily movements in News Corp’s share price. As The AFR’s Chanticleer column pointed out on Saturday, News Corp’s net income is up 124% since the 2004 move to America but total shareholder return for Australian owners of the voting shares has only been 18% over the same period.

Despite John Howard’s media policies clearly favouring the late Kerry Packer, the two power-hungry warhorses have broadly supported each other over the past decade.

John Howard preferred giving the majority of his government’s scoops to News Ltd outlets and even appointed a prominent columnist in Janet Albrechtsen to the ABC board. But now Albrechtsen has revolted in a remarkable display of disloyalty – along with many others, such as Andrew Bolt and Terry McCrann.

Bolt and McCrann have both vociferously attacked the notion that there is any Murdoch directive driving this phenomenon. Indeed, Bolt’s column today claimed that “Murdoch columnists simply write what they really think, reacting to events that are obvious to anyone with eyes to see and the courage to report.”

Okay, Andrew, we all look forward to various Murdoch columnists proving this point by covering the forthcoming News Corporation election campaign, which will probably coincide with the PM’s own battle because Rupert is up for election for the first time in decades at the AGM in New York on 19 October.

We’ve also got my shareholder resolution that is undoubtedly in the interest of all News Corp shareholders, even if it would reduce Rupert’s voting control from 39% to less than 15%.

I paid for my flight to New York today and will be prosecuting a comprehensive campaign. So far, the issue has received widespread media coverage but the Murdoch business and gossip columnists have all been silent.

There was this brief mention in a news story on Saturday, but nothing from Terry McCrann, John Durie, Michael West, Matthew Stevens or John Beveridge.

Who will be brave enough to come out and say that Rupert should embrace the resolution to get a share price re-rating? Prove your independence, Terry. Say what you really think, Mr Bolt.