"It all started after 9/11. Before then we used to have our logo in huge letters on top of the building. We're under one of the main flight paths by Heathrow, so it was like saying to people in planes, 'Hello, We're Here.' But someone realised that maybe that wasn't such a good idea."

Not many of the workers at BSkyB see themselves as having anything to be ashamed of. To them, it's just a job. They certainly don't see themselves as part of a system of repression or corporate mind-control but some do recognise that they might be seen that way by others. So after removing the logo from the roof of their old buildings security was bound to be a concern when the plans for their new flagship broadcast facility were drawn up.

"We're right under the flight path. The decision was made at the start that we needed to be able to continue broadcasting if someone flies a plane into the building." This required a huge over-specification of the steel frame and concrete structure, making a joke of the company's claim to be a "Green Broadcaster" [1]. "Mission-critical parts of the building including the two news studios are enclosed in two concrete chambers nested one within the other, with huge rubber bearings and an air-gap in between. The machine rooms and cable ducts are in the centre of the building as they're more valuable than the people who make props or do make-up."

But it's not just kamikaze attacks that are being defended against here. On the fourth floor is an "Incident Room", designed as a fall-back position for building security teams if the main security room (which will be on the right after you come through the turnstiles in reception) is compromised. There is a recognition that as the voice of The Empire, "... News Corporation has lots of enemies. Most of them would like to disrupt what we do without blowing themselves up." This recognition that activists of various persuasions are a serious threat to the operation of the broadcaster is not discussed. That would be a threat to the idea that working here is "Just a job."

There are some interesting features to the design of the building, for example a passive cooling design that works by convection, however most of the "Eco" credentials of the building are being seriously overstated. The "community engagement" website (not yet officially launched) [2] boasts that 90% of the office lighting will be powered from on-site wind power subject to planning approval [3] for the turbines. "What the site doesn't tell you is that this would only be about 0.3% of the total electricity requirements of the building." They're also having second thoughts about the biomass-fuelled CHP project because gas would be easier to install.

So what does all of this illustrate about the mentality of News Corporation? It will come as no surprise to readers of Indymedia that their PR, like their broadcast output, is slick, glossy and economical with the truth. But what we can also see is that they are afraid. Most of the workers would rather not think about it but at some level News Corporation recognises that it is in danger. Like so many oppressors, they see the rage of those who are subjugated and respond by retreating further into a paranoid world where the anger of the oppressed scares them, their fear causes defensiveness, defensiveness produces more lies and the lies provoke more hostility from those of us outside the fortress.


[1]  http://corporate.sky.com/media/press_releases/2009/green_broadcasting.htm

[2]  http://www.skybuildingabetterfuture.com/

[3]  http://planning.hounslow.gov.uk/planningv2/Planning_CaseNo.aspx?strCASENO=P/2008/2002