re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

I would love to be able to agree with that, but his stranglehold he has on the establishment and close links to people in the government, it is likely that he will succeed, maybe not tomorrow, or next week, but not in the too distant future.

Did anyone ever see "Goldeneye?" :D

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Yes l have the complete James Bond collection and that includes Goldeneye.:):D:)


Well we shall see about Murdoch but l believe this is something that the establishment must face up to and break his stranglehold because the public and the wider world will be watching and if they fail to break his grip on this country now then we might never get another chance to rid ourselves of this nefarious man and his influence.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

I watched Milleband versus Hunt in the House of Commons this afternoon.Milleband must stop attacking Cameron in that way..They need to pipe down and actually get something done about the situation and they can only do that by cooperating with all sides of the house.

Cameron is not the issue.It is NI,Murdoch,police corruption,illegal activities on behalf of the press as well as Bskyb that are the issues.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

:clap:

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

So true.....;)

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

I'm sure that Rebekah [sic] Brooks was allegedly on holiday while these latest alleged offences allegedly happened...

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

She knows where the bodies are buried...

Normally that's just a figure of speech but with this debacle it may be closer to the truth than you'd think. :erm:

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

I am sure you are not accusing Ed Milliband of bullying James Hunt, are you. Because you really need to see Cameron when he has a full head of steam.

But Cameron's involvement cannot be circumvented by simply saying he is not the issue. Although he is not yet at the centre of all of this, he must take at least some resonsibilty for his complicity.

---------- Post added at 22:11 ---------- Previous post was at 22:10 ----------

I don't think she have taken that many holidays, could she? :D

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

It's obvious really, if she goes, then it's Murdoch's son directly in the line of fire, and he can't have that.

She's making an awesome lightning rod at the moment, why get rid of her and have the chance the focus will shift to someone else?

She'll be gotten rid of when she's fully served her purpose.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

It appears Murdoch has now reneged on a commitment to make Sky News independent.

Phone hacking scandal: Murdoch pulls Sky News plan to force inquiry

This will now undoubtedly be referred to the competition commission, which I suspect was the plan all along. It is not impossible to imagine that he has a few "friends" on that commission.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Murdoch is a ******* but the idea that stopping him from getting his mitts on Sky News preserves plurality in TV media when 70% of it is the BBC compared to 7% Sky is ridiculous.

Government has absolutely no business interfering in his attempts to take over BSkyB either. Regardless of the moral outrage if the deals follow the relevant regulations all is fine. It's all well and good preaching about the free market, it's not right to suddenly get interventionist when it's politically expedient so frankly Labour and the Lib Dems can stop hand wringing and shut up. Hilarious really a party that calls themselves 'Liberal' being so desperate to get interventionist. Planks.

Good to see the mainstream media getting suitable mileage out of all this, to the exclusion of everything else. It also gives the Labour party more time to avoid having to come up with something like coherent policies as they have another angle to do the only thing they seem to know how to do right now and attack the government, which is pretty rich actually.

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/a...1_1296450a.jpg

Both sets of politicians are squarely in an unpleasant orifice of Murdoch.

Wish the Mother of all Parliaments would grow up a bit. It seems to be fighting over moral outrage, faux moral outrage, some twisting of facts and not a lot of genuine, constructive substance at the moment. No wonder the current government is such a pile of excrement when all they have competing with them is cynical, directionless opportunists.

Murdoch make Mandelson look like the 'white' lord in comparison. Truly a scary individual. At the same time politicians trying to cash in on this for popularism makes me want to vomit. If they broke the law they should go to prison. If it can be proven it goes all the way to the top then all the way to the top can also go to prison.

---------- Post added at 22:54 ---------- Previous post was at 22:50 ----------

Good - it was ridiculous and unnecessary anyway. It's a cynical little move on his part of course, however so long as the commission follow the rules he's in with a fairly good chance of getting it through, because it's not a threat to competition.

Ofcom's own figures during the initial investigation:

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/2237/...c69e201538.png

So who's the threat to plurality exactly?

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Already has been?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14112465

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Nope...

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

It's forward looking, when the tenders for news provider come up again both ITV and Channel 4 are likely to abandon ITN for Sky News.

Sure then the BBC will still have the bulk of the viewership, but Sky News will be responsible for the content on near enough every other news broadcast.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

It won't change that graph, that's referring to retail not wholesale provision.

As we both know the retail is important, with control over the retail one can completely ignore things like the Eurozone looking shaky and 'business as usual, honest guv' meetings happening at the highest levels and spend all their time on moral crusades against Murdoch.

This also still leaves Sky worse than 70 - 30 down on wholesale TV, and while NI do have a strong showing in the papers it's more than offset by the BBC's dominance of the online news space where they again more than double the next player, which is actually the Daily Fail.

Personally I'd love to see a Fox News UK. Would bring some comedy into the propaganda and at least you'd know that what you were watching was openly unabashed biased BS.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

We have had an openly unabashed biased BS propaganda tabloid press for decades. Don't you think they have influenced public thinking in many areas?

Obviously tabloid readers are people who don't have as mighty a brain as you but at least they can read to some extent.

That can't necessarily be said about the viewers of Fox news UK. ;)

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

"GoldenEye"? Surely you mean "Tomorrow Never Dies"...

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

And these are the latest headlines this morning in our daily rags.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...cal-files.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011...l-gordon-brown

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...-she-knew.html

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Murdoch's dirty tricks against Palestinians http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth...550718371.html

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Plurality refers to the news media as a whole doesn't it? Which means you need to factor in News International with The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and their respective websites. News Corp would be quite dominant if they control that portion of the media. Single providers are pretty dangerous, after all it wouldn't have been any of those papers or Sky breaking the news about the hacking scandal.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Andrew Neil was on good form last night, ably exposing Tessa Jowell's double standards and tendency to rewrite history with respect to what's been going on for years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...cs_11_07_2011/

She also didn't much like being pressed on why her government hadn't done more to follow up a report presented to them in 2006 about the illegal gathering of information. Her stuttering reply was that there was no good reason why they didn't act then, denying that their inaction may have been due to New Labour's very own close relationship with Murdoch. Well it wouldn't do would it?... :rolleyes:

Things got more than a little uncomfortable when pressing her about Ed Milliband employing Tom Baldwin as his press secretary who it seems is also facing some awkward questions of his own.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...d-2311635.html

Apparently, after demanding Rebekah Brooks' head, Milliband was warned by a senior News Intl. journalist that life would soon get rather more uncomfortable for him.....

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Oops.............:D :D :D :doh: :doh: :doh:

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

I am saying that he needs to avoid making it a party issue because Labour are as guilty of cuddling up to Murdoch as the Tories have.No one party can claim total innocence and if you can't see that then frankly I am wasting my time trying to explain it to you.:rolleyes:

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

I think it's a bad move to place the blame for hacking on the government because obviously it happened across governments. However I don't think that is what Labour have done.

They have questioned the judgement of the PM in employing Andy Coulson and have been pushing for a inquiry - both of these are valid approaches IMO - albeit slightly hypocritical as they didn't have an inquiry when these allegations first came out.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

So they need to tread a careful path to ensure that inquiries take place,that all is done within the law to ensure that BSkyb is not just handed over to Murdoch and that anyone guilty of illegallity pays the price but without trying to score political points.It could backfire on them particularly with the public.

Basically they need to be acting in the interests of the country not the party.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Fat chance of any political party doing that.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Well some important news and that is that the Government is to support Labour tomorrow in the House Of Commons against Murdoch's bid to take over BSKYB.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog...-live-coverage

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Utterly shocking and at least we have some consensus politically at last against Murdoch.

---------- Post added at 17:17 ---------- Previous post was at 17:09 ----------

Latest news is that Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks are to attend the Culture and Sports committee next week.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

News international is in my opinion a dead man walking :). They are in such a bad place and its getting worse by the hour wonder what they will request as there last meal :)

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

See if you can blag the yard, someone there might tell you ;)

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

HMMMMM? Polite request to appear?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14127282

Another good read about what Hunt has coming?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14122109

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14118864

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

As someone said is this the new Watergate and as the hours go by the revelations and the repurcussions for the future are inmense as political parties try to cut all ties with Murdoch and also the BSKYB deal looks dead in the water and then there are likely to be criminal charges against journalists and the police.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Listening to Gordon Brown today, and also some of the statements made by Cameron it is clear that they knew long ago that News International rags were gaining information by dubious means. The worrying part is that they chose to do nothing rather than upset the cosy relationship they had built up. The integrity of many senior politicians is again seriously in question!!!

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Some updates on the Brown revelations:

First of all, The Sun did not hack into Brown's son's medical records:

Fair enough. Not illegal. However I think it's still morally wrong to publish it but they are claiming Brown gave quotes which they took as consent and they did it with the intention of increasing awareness of cystic fibrosis (which it did so obviously). Make of that what you will...

The Sunday Times:

So they did 'blag' his account information. However they make a good point about the reasonable grounds for doing so. I think that they acted correctly and it was in the public interest.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Not wanting to take this thread off course but I must say I do find watching Keith Vaz lecturing people on standards and integrity just a tad hard to stomach!

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Channel 4 News seem to think the commons vote tomorrow kills off the BSkyB deal.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Thats great news and what the vast majority of the public wanted.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Plurality does refer to the media as a whole, and if you count up all his various companies, Rupert Murdoch does control a large chunk, ranging from small local newspapers, through The Sun and The Times, to Sky TV and even 20th Century Fox..

While I agree, most people don't base their political beliefs on what they see come out of hollywood, people do base their political beliefs on what they see on the TV news (which is already fairly heavily regulated), on the radio and in the news papers (which aren't regulated at all), so one company controlling a large percentage of all three industries would be in a good position to imposed it's views on a large percentage of the population. And, yes, people are that gullible.

It's worth noting that while the BBC has huge radio and TV audiences, it has little or no influence on the press, beyond a couple of magazines.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

As the old saying goes the masses are very easily brainwashed and will believe a certain opinion by someone or some company that is very powerful.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

[img]Download Failed (1)[/img]

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Not being the most intelligent forum member l can still work this one out as the pot calling the kettle black and yes l think he has conveniently forgotton about things and thats coming from someone who has a political allegiance to his party.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Billy Bragg's weighed in, he's never one to keep quiet about the press.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

:rofl:

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

You know, that's fantastic. I just love that pot kettle etc ;) (right click, saves as)

I was discussing this with the mrs over dinner and it came back to what i said earlier in this thread.

WHY are MP's getting involved in the questioning?

IF it is deemed to be criminal, leave it to the Police. That is what they are good at, all the politicians will do is spiiiiiiiiiiiiin.

Right, where did I leave my flame suit?

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Murdochs Snr and Jnr have now declined to attend and as they are not British citizens, they cannot be compelled to appear. It seems that Brooks's days may be numbered.


"Yes Rebekah dear, we're right behind you." :D

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Because the police have done a GREAT job investigating this to begin with. All of this could have came to light YEARS ago, instead they did a rush job to just deal with the Royal hackings, and forgot about everything else despite having a ton of evidence that they'd targeted 4000 others!

Half the problem's that the police were accepting money from NI for information (within the law mind according to Ms Brooks, quite how you legally pay a police officer for information I don't know). They'll surely do a stellar job investigating those claims I'm sure, it's not like the met doesn't have a fabulous reputation for investigating their own.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

It seems to be spreading?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14132168

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Its seems that News Corp has had its tentacles everywhere and has also corrupted many politicians.journalists, police. officials and criminals in the process and now its seems that people are getting the courage to stand up to the nefarious Murdoch and his company.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Sure.

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/pl...ntgomerie.html

Ignoring his rhetoric the charts are from the Ofcom investigation, so let's break up what is by far the largest source of news in the UK, given that single providers are pretty dangerous.

Newspapers in print format are on their last legs, online news is taking over and guess who has by a mile the largest share of that market, yep the BBC, followed by The Daily Fail, then The Guardian.

Plurality is a total straw man argument when it doesn't apply to the BBC also.

---------- Post added at 09:54 ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 ----------

Because it makes them look 'tough' to the electorate.

It's actually none of their business, and the vote they are having on the takeover of BSkyB is again none of their business and a publicity stunt - on our wallet.

I can think of a few choice words to describe this opportunistic bunch of bumholes, I'll content myself with wishing that they would deal with genuine issues rather than having a competition of who can wring their hands the most.

---------- Post added at 09:55 ---------- Previous post was at 09:54 ----------

Parliament is hardly in a more unbiased position given both the PM and leader of the opposition were partying with Murdoch just a few weeks ago.

---------- Post added at 09:57 ---------- Previous post was at 09:55 ----------

Yep they were more worried about News International dishing whatever dirt it had on them than exposing this.

We're all getting a little insight into the dirty little machinations between politicians and media. :)

---------- Post added at 09:59 ---------- Previous post was at 09:57 ----------

Not really, he's just having the spotlight shined on him and his lot as their dodgy behaviour is out in the open somewhat. It pretty much goes without saying, although given the amount of gloating going on perhaps it does need saying, that this total lack of morality in pursuit of a story is far from exclusive to News International, and no doubt other media groups are soiling themselves wondering when the spotlight will shine on them and their own dirty dealings.

I personally would love to see them pack it in in the UK and in the process dish all the dirt they have on our politicians and other media sources. That would be entertainment :D

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

The BBC is in a unique position. It has a historical presence in the UK, would be almost impossible for it to be created today, and unlike News International it doesn't editorialise or 'campaign' via it's news presence. As such they react to the news agenda more than they set it.

Also to be honest the BBC has proved far more willing to report on it's own misdeeds and scandals than News International has.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

I don't see the relevance of the BBC's history. I entirely disagree about the claims that the BBC don't editorialise or campaign. They have their own agenda and pursue it accordingly. The demographics of the staff within the BBC are quite abnormal within the UK, they have a far higher proportion of Guardianistas and Europhiles and their news output corresponds with this, they aren't robots who leave their own personal bias at home.

The stories they don't see fit to cover on TV speak volumes, as do the parts of stories they do and don't cover.

One really easy case that comes to mind - http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011...-international

I'm at a loss as to the relevance of that to plurality within the news.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Most definitely and although the BBC has its faults it is still a cherished organisation to a lot of the public.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

The BBC's history is relevant because I am pointing out that it would be far more difficult to break it up than it would be to prevent to obtaining such dominance in the first place. There is a legacy and a public affection that makes the BBC different to a standard commercial provider. So using a public service broadcaster as a reference point to a commercial provider is rather pointless IMO.

The BBC isn't perfect but they do not intentionally set out to promote an agenda. They often do reports into their reporting and have found, as you mention, that there sometimes is a bias because of the staff that is typically employed by the BBC. Although it should be remembered that most this complaints are generated from their standard, non-news, programming which is quite often left wing.

The BBC also has a charter which is intent on preventing bias which was pointed out in the Ofcom report which also noted it not present in a commercial provider as a News International which also has a history of intervention on the part of it's owner. Which is important because...

One of the largest issues within plurality of news is if the agenda can be set by it's owner. Murdoch being able to set an agenda across all platforms including Sky, News International's Papers is not a welcoming thought.

Not sure where the BBC Staff are 'Guardianistas' comes from either.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

The problem with NI is not so much that they control so much of the media, but that they have proved that they are willing to use that control to further the political beliefs of one man. One man who has been known to change his allegiance seemingly on a whim. Also, like most newspapers, the bias in his publications is overt (yes, I do count the Guardian in that list).

You argue that print is dead, and it may be, but 3 to 4 million people still read the Times and The Sun everyday, and if they are basing their beliefs on what they read (and there is some evidence they do), that can mean the difference between one party winning an election and another.

That, IMO, is too much power for one man to have over our electoral system.

The BBC, while it has it's own political bias (slightly left, I'd say) also has strict rules governing political bias in it's output. Not just self enforced rules, but laws. It's political stance is also not set by one person.

It's also worth remembering that the two primary sources I've seen for complaints about BBC bias (The Mail and News International) have their own agendas that have little to do with BBC bias, and it's entirely possible that they are using the bias claim as a weapon to attack the BBC.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Could I just point out that there appears to be some confusion between source of news and choice of source of news.

The graph shows that 73% of news is sourced from TV (which consists (mainly) of BBC News, ITV News, Sky News, and a couple of smaller players). BBC is then the choice of source of news for 70% of the 73% (which equals 51% of news sourced).

No one makes anyone watch the BBC news, viewers just prefer it.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Surely plurality isn't an aim in itself? I'd have thought the aim is to have a wide spectrum of opinions catered for, and the Beeb seems to do a pretty good job at that. At the end of the day people have a choice as to what they watch/read. There seems to be little point in forcing people to watch/read a number of sources evenly in the interest of plurality.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

:clap:

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Ignoring the rest as we'll agree to disagree the BBC advertises in the Guardian, according to the link above it apparently now conducts interviews with the Guardian, and just a Google for the terms shows some interesting results.

I would speculate you read the Guardian, Damien?

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourc...+guardianistas

There is supposedly impartiality in all TV news. I do wonder how an organisation chartered to be impartial, etc, can reconcile impartiality with...

Jane Garvey
BBC Five Live, May 10th, 2007, recalling May 2nd, 1997.

Ben Stephenson
BBC Drama Commissioning Controller
Guardian, July 16th 2009

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/t...rrect-BBC.html

I'm sure I could find loads more, but then if the BBC claim openly to be unbiased and their output suits one's point of view they must be unbiased.

---------- Post added at 11:01 ---------- Previous post was at 10:58 ----------

You forgot the online output Hugh.

The BBC also has domination over radio, print is the only media in which it does not have by far the largest share of viewership / listeners.

I would imagine some people prefer it because we're all forced to pay for it if we own a TV.

Anyway I'm starting to turn this into an attack on the BBC, which is somewhat OT. My initial point still stands that the idea of News International getting their hands on Sky News somehow causing issues with plurality is farcical.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

I thought this was discussed before? The Guardian has a large media section, and is considered a one-stop-shop when it comes to media jobs?

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Yes they do prefer much more then the woeful ITV news and the insidious politically bias Sky News organisation.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

I do. That Google search doesn't prove they are 'Guardianistas'.

As for the BBC recruiting in The Guardian. They have a big media section, I mean really big. It's viewed in pretty much the same way the public sector views them as a place to get jobs. Rather disingenuous to use that as evidence as it will be very heavily influenced by the fact The Guardian is viewed as the place to look for media jobs. The other papers either don't have a job section at all or the section is very small compared to the massive Guardian one.

As for the quotes. Well that's what I said, they have a typically left wing staff but also as I mentioned they are in a large part working in Comedy, Drama and other non-news programming.

It's impossible to have individuals who are unbiased. Just Impossible. Everyone will have political opinions and professions can often tend to be self-selecting. It's true across the creative industries, from which the BBC employs, that it's heavily liberal. It is that to which Marr was referring. This is also true of ITV, Channel 4 and so on. You can't get a balance of left/right opinion in media.

The question is the influence of a editional line of reporting. This is very evident in News International where there is a strict line to which the staff will write too. This is not in place at the BBC News which attempts to be impartial. They do reports to measure the impact their staff's personal bias is reflected in news reports and they do admit it happens. That is a far cry from a institutional attempt to stick to a left wing position.

Also worth noting their Political Editor was a member of the Conservatives when he was younger.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

The rules on impartiality within the television media remain in place. Fox News UK isn't an option here.

This is a situation replicated worldwide. The Sun is actually the major culprit for this one as far as I'm aware.

Shorting of restricting the freedom of the press further I'm unsure what can be done here?

The same argument that applies to the BBC, that people watch it because they choose to, applies to The Sun. People buy it because they choose to.

It's set by a group of people, who are largely like-minded hence being in those positions.

Oh I've no doubt they are, which is why I couldn't care less what they say.

These issues are largely issues within the political arena though, these are issues replicated wherever there is some freedom of the press.

---------- Post added at 11:08 ---------- Previous post was at 11:07 ----------

Please feel free to ignore the inconvenient parts of the post.

---------- Post added at 11:11 ---------- Previous post was at 11:08 ----------

I know you're a Guardian reader I'm sure you've mentioned it before. I'm glad you agree that there is bias within the BBC's staff, and that this bias does find its way to news reports.

I don't remember mentioning that there was an institutional bias within the BBC, merely that it has a high proportion of Guardianistas, which you appear to have agreed upon, so it's all good.

Of course it's only bias if it's not what you think :D

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/wo...n.html?_r=1&hp

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

I am pointing out that every organisation will have bias because reporters are human and when there is no editorial line for them to take then their own beliefs will sometimes come though. The difference between the BBC and other organisations is the BBC tries to eradicate it as best it can whereas News International deliberately seeks to push that a bias for it's owner's own political or financial (BSkyB) gain. The later is far more insidious which is why I fear their media dominance more than the BBC's.

I also find no real evidence that they intentionally seek to recruit left wing staff for their news output. I think that their recruitment in The Guardian is a result of The Guardian's position within the media industry as a good place to look and advertise for jobs.

I can understand bias when I see it. Even if it agrees with my own beliefs. I am aware of The Guardian's left wing bias and know when it's being pushed. I have to say that, like most broadsheets (i.e not The Independent), most of their bias is confined to their columnists, the editorial and the stories they choose to cover. I find most of their 'straight' reporting on matters is objective. I believe this is because that is what broadsheet readers want, they dislike facts being omitted. I do not see that bias in BBC reporting. Even the few opinion pieces on their site are mixed.

---------- Post added at 11:36 ---------- Previous post was at 11:30 ----------

That said I also read The Times online and on the iPad so I guess I am a big ol hypocrite there....

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Too true. The extent of that fact has been forgotten in the current furore but I have a feeling we're all soon going to be treated to a detailed account of just how long this has been going on and who else is culpable.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

And there is a very good reason for that preference.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

I agree.

Most left-wing papers think the BBC is right-wing and establishment-orientated, and right-wing papers think the BBC is pinko commy liberal tree-huggers - imho, that means the BBC are doing it right....:D

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

That's the way I see it.. If the BBC are hated equally by both, they must be doing something right..

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Meanwhile, away from the BBC's ivory towers, Murdoch's abandoned his bid for BSkyB.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Yes l have just seen that announced of course on the BBC of course.;)

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

YAY! Now fire Brooks, get all the corrupt cops in jail, send down the journalists who did the hacking and sell News International. After that the Inquiry can recommend a new regulation to stop these nasty buggers from such practises again.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

On all of those we can agree.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

You've forgotten about the politicians who conveniently turned a blind eye (or even worse) to what was going on because it suited their interests.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

I guess it's rather convenient to drop the bid; no need for a Competition Commission inquiry. Wait for all this to blow over in a couple of years and launch a bid without an investigation.

If I was being cynical

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

But l think in a couples of years time that media regulation will be much more stricter and that murdoch's influence will have been greatly diminished.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

In a couple of years time NI may not own any newspapers lol

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Yes you could be right Ben.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Don't suppose Murdoch will mind. The real money isn't in newspapers.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Billions of pounds of cash each year extorted from anyone who owns a TV licence under threat of prosecution along with being around for considerably longer in the television space and being 'Auntie Beeb' allows for certain benefits over other companies and news organisations indeed. :)

Purely a question of opinion of course.

---------- Post added at 16:21 ---------- Previous post was at 16:17 ----------

Indeed. Murdoch has always been a great polariser, few things cause a good Cable Forum gloat session like his misfortune.

Sky make more money than the newspapers do, I have little doubt he's playing a cynical long game.

Ofcom need to consider what they are doing carefully, they aren't supposed to be a political organisation. I say 'aren't supposed' because their politicism is well known.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Doesn't seem to advantage them when there is something better on though, hence why they are beaten whenever they go up against X-Factor. I think it's because of the vast amount of people with only a few channels and trust and know the BBC. They just settle on it.

Meh. He has had this animosity building for a while. It's in a large part down to the actions of his papers. The Sun is a ferocious beast that he will set on people when it suits him. He has long played politicians and parties to suit him and provide them with good coverage. Now he no longer has control of them they have turned on him. Good.

It's pretty evident the sickening levels to which The News of the World sunk. Don't have any sympathy for him.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Well said and to the point.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

The gloating isn't confined to cable forum members alone.There are lots of people out in the real world who are ready to kick him now he is down.;)

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Well deport them then and the next time they try and enter the UK refuse them entry and send them back home.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Yes back to the Australian outback where they have to live side by side with with the poisonous snakes but they should enjoy that company.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

I think you will find they are US citizens now.

re: [Update] The News Corp scandal
 

Yes but how long will America put up with them.;)

Re: [Update] NotW closed after phone hacking allegations / NewsCorp's BSkyB bid withd
 

Have been for years I believe. If they're found to have been up to anything untoward in the US they could find themselves in a whole heap of trouble and what's been going on here will seem like a picnic.

I see Gordon's on the attack:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14144968

Whilst I have some sympathy on a personal level, he was in the very top echelons of a party which, Alastair Campbell admitted on TV news earlier today, had gone to great effort to court News Intl. initially to gain power and later retain it. It's all very well these people (past and present) banging on about how wrong it all is now it's out in the open but they evidently weren't asking too many harsh questions when they believed they were the political beneficiaries of dodgy media and other tactics.

http://iaindale.com/posts/mondeo-man...e-world-reader

Re: [Update] NotW closed after phone hacking allegations / NewsCorp's BSkyB bid withd
 

To be fair he wasn't the one in bed with the tabloids. That's not to say he didn't try, he clearly wanted to have them onside, but they never took to him and pretty much from the day he became Prime Minister it's fair to say that News International were gunning for him.

Ironically in hindsight one of their favorite lines of attack was to use 'our boys' otherwise known as the Armed Forces. The worst of these was when the mother of a solider sadly killing in action was sent a personal letter from Brown in which he allegedly (was hard to tell) misspelt the family name, it had other misspellings and was poor written. Instead of pointing out it was a honorable thing to do - Blair never did it - they attacked him over the course of several days over the 'disrespect' he had shown by writing such a letter in poor handwriting. Most other members of the press declined to join in as the handwriting was a result of his eye being damaged, he had to use a big felt pen to see clearly and famously always wrote pretty badly. It was just a mean-sprited thing for The Sun to do and clearly provoked by their desire to get the Conservatives in as soon as possible (just as they did the same to the Tories to promote Labour previously). I say it's ironic because after the last week I don't think The Sun or anyone at News International is in a position in invoke the Armed Forces in a campaign or to lecture on their treatment. If the hacking of the family members on those soliders that died is proved to be true.

But yes, Labour are as bad as the Tories. Only the Liberal Democrats have a consistant record on opposing Murdoch.

Re: [Update] NotW closed after phone hacking allegations / NewsCorp's BSkyB bid withd
 

Brown certainly wasn't as slick and media friendly as Blair and didn't call all the shots but the point is that he went along with what was going on for a very long term and now clearly regrets he did so. The venom in his recent words, I believe, betrays more about the personal hurt he feels towards NI (for reasons like those you mention) than anything else. He had his chance to take on Murdoch and ran scared.

If I was being cynical I might suggest that the Lib Dems' antipathy towards Murdoch could just have something to do with the fact that Murdoch never had any interest in them due to their relative insignficance to UK politics. Had they been on the verge of power I wonder if they'd have been quite so 'honourable'.....

Re: [Update] NotW closed after phone hacking allegations / NewsCorp's BSkyB bid withd
 

Well Yes, In both cases I think News International had rejected them before they decided that they didn't want them anyway :D. It's scary the degree to which NI was influencing our governments. We always knew it but could never do much about it until now.

The last week has been great quite frankly, day by day sees his power on the wane. The Inquiry is great news and should help prevent that situation from occurring again. The relationship between the press and politicians will be looked at, meetings recorded, and hopefully a new governing body to regulate the press. Still need to keep pushing them though, the MP committee next week will be interesting. I am hoping News Corp decide to cut the cancer that is News International adrift and remove Murdoch once and for all.

We should also limit a media organisation to one person IMO. You can only own one newspaper or tv news outlet. Might get tricky to extend that online...

Re: [Update] NotW closed after phone hacking allegations / NewsCorp's BSkyB bid withd
 

This is good and not sure if relevant?

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcas...d-failure.html

Re: [Update] NotW closed after phone hacking allegations / NewsCorp's BSkyB bid withd
 

I can't see that getting anywhere. Murdoch still has enough on these people to "persuade" them that everyone at News International are all nice, cuddly and love their mums.

---------- Post added at 13:07 ---------- Previous post was at 13:05 ----------

You'll the likes of Glenn Beck holding more tea-parties for him. :D

Re: [Update] NotW closed after phone hacking allegations / NewsCorp's BSkyB bid withd
 

Well the three who will probably say l know nothing are to appear before MPs next tuesday in which l suspect they will deny and deny or say l cannot answer that.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14148658

Re: [Update] NotW closed after phone hacking allegations / NewsCorp's BSkyB bid withd
 

Piers Morgan now being linked in.

http://www.thedrum.co.uk/news/2011/0...-affair-story/

Re: [Update] NotW closed after phone hacking allegations / NewsCorp's BSkyB bid withd
 

Re: [Update] NotW closed after phone hacking allegations / NewsCorp's BSkyB bid withd
 

Yes its a interesting read and it seems they are split over what tactics to employ but in my mind li does'nt matter what tactics they employ as they are deep in the quagmire.