IT is a mark of the seriousness of the threat to the independence and diversity of Britain's media from Rupert Murdoch's Sky organisation that newspapers as far apart politically as the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mirror, Daily Mail and Guardian should have found common cause and yesterday have called on the government to prevent Murdoch from acquiring further power and influence by taking over full control of BSkyB. Their call has been joined by the BBC and Channel 4 -- an involvement that may be risky for both organisations but which also underlines how wide is the concern being felt across all media as the prospect of an integrated News Corporation-Sky alliance combining the Sky TV interests with The Times, Sun, News of the World and the publisher HarperCollins comes closer to reality -- an alliance that would begin to justify the British Berlusconi tag that is sometimes attached to Murdoch.
The issues at stake are weighty and highly complex and will need the most careful analysis by the government's Business Secretary Vince Cable, who has been asked by the alliance of newspaper and TV interests mentioned above to consider blocking News Corporation's proposed takeover of BSkyB. This initiative poses problems for David Cameron because of his personal News Corporation connections and also for the whole Conservative ministerial element in the coalition because of the year-long campaign that the Sun ran for their election.
No comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Currently there are no comments.