Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Jeremy Hunt is nothing if not a smooth operator. Today he has managed to hide his further approval of the News Corp takeover of BSkyB, with everyone’s focus on public sector strikes.
According to the Guardian, who funnily enough noticed the development, Hunt has approved the takeover on condition that Sky News is “spun off” and becomes an independent company, in order to maintain plurality in new provision. There will now be further consultation into these new proposals.
I’m not entirely sure how this will work, as presumably a lot of the point of Murdoch indulging in this takeover is to influence the news agenda, and to maintain his political power. While many magazines, websites have a declared political bias, television neutrality rules have just about managed to keep things in order. The so called ‘Foxification’ of TV news in the UK would be a deeply worrying development, prompting a race to the bottom.
Furthermore, although Hunt claims he made the decision back in March, and has subsequently toughened his rules, it was a pretty sneaky move to put the information out today, although he faces an urgent question in the Commons at 11.30am.
The National Union of Journalists have said that they will protest today against the decision:
“The NUJ stands opposed to News Corporation’s bid to extend its power. It is unacceptable that the BSkyB merger is even being considered whilst serious charges are outstanding.”
Vince Cable must be wishing he’d kept his mouth shut.
June 30, 2011 at 12:18 pm