The tale of a large media congolmerate and its bid to take over the British media. Why does one man need to control this much?
Rupert Murdoch - CEO of News Corp
Vince Cable - Business Secretary
Jeremy Hunt - Now in charge of the BSkyB takeover bid
If your not familiar with the media mogul Rupert Murdoch, you should take an interest in his business. The 79 year old Australian is the 117th richest person in the world with a net worth of $6.2 billion. The reason for this is because he is the founder, Chairman and CEO of News Corporation, the worlds third largest media conglomerate, behind Disney and Time Warner. The list of assets under News Corp can be found here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_News_Corporation
As you can see from the list, there probably isn't a newspaper that you've heard of that isn't on it. The scary thing is, Rupert Murdoch likes to have his hand in everything, including politics.
In August 2008, David Cameron accepted free flights through Matthew Freud (Murdoch's son) to attend a series of private parties and meetings on Mr Murdoch’s yacht. Although Mr Cameron declared the £30,000 'gift' in the Commons register of interests, he has not disclosed what was said at the meetings. Other people who attended these 'social events' include former Business Secretary and EU Commissioner for Trade Lord Peter Mandelson, Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and co-chairman of NBC Universal, Ben Silverman.
In October of 2008, it was reported that early in the summer of that year another secret meeting took place between Murdoch and Barack Obama. The future President of the United States had been giving Murdoch the cold shoulder, so much so that Murdoch executives asked the Kennedy's to try and smooth things out and set up a meeting. He reluctantly met with Mr Murdoch because he said that Fox News had 'relentlessly portrayed him as suspicious, foreign, fearsome--just short of a terrorist." Fox News President Roger Ailes, who was also at this meeting, said that this might not have been the way if Obama had "more willingly come on the air instead of so often giving Fox the back of his hand." A 'tentative truce' was then agreed upon.
When a media mogul as powerful as Murdoch starts to have a hand in politics by holding secret meetings with future leaders, who's to say that they aren't forging deals with one another about future events? Events like the current dispute over the complete take over of BSkyB, a company that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp already has a 39.1% share in.
The man in charge of the decision was Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat and Business Secretary in the current cabinet. The reason he is no longer in charge of the decision is because of something he said to undercover reporters posing as constituents in a sting operation on December 21st 2010. He was recorded expressing his frustration about being in the British coalition government, comparing it to 'fighting a war'. The Daily Telegraph published the transcript that was soon pulled up by BBC reporter Robert Peston when a whistle blower handed him the tapes in full. What came to light was that the Telegraph had not printed the whole transcript. Cable said "I have declared war on Mr Murdoch and I think we are going to win."
What we are now left with is a man who was willing to fight against the takeover, relieved of his media duties. The decision now lies in the hands of Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Media, Olympics and Sport. Hunt in the past has shown his support for the takeover saying “BSkyB revolutionised the way we watch TV”. This leaves us with a grim outlook for the future of our media and what we are told through it. The EU have already approved the bid to let Mr Murdoch takeover the remaining 61% of BSkyB. I suppose all we can do now is wait and see, but it really does not look good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_News_Corporation As you can see from the list, there probably isn't a newspaper that you've heard of that isn't on it. The scary thing is, Rupert Murdoch likes to have his hand in everything, including politics.
In August 2008, David Cameron accepted free flights through Matthew Freud (Murdoch's son) to attend a series of private parties and meetings on Mr Murdoch’s yacht. Although Mr Cameron declared the £30,000 'gift' in the Commons register of interests, he has not disclosed what was said at the meetings. Other people who attended these 'social events' include former Business Secretary and EU Commissioner for Trade Lord Peter Mandelson, Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and co-chairman of NBC Universal, Ben Silverman.
In October of 2008, it was reported that early in the summer of that year another secret meeting took place between Murdoch and Barack Obama. The future President of the United States had been giving Murdoch the cold shoulder, so much so that Murdoch executives asked the Kennedy's to try and smooth things out and set up a meeting. He reluctantly met with Mr Murdoch because he said that Fox News had 'relentlessly portrayed him as suspicious, foreign, fearsome--just short of a terrorist." Fox News President Roger Ailes, who was also at this meeting, said that this might not have been the way if Obama had "more willingly come on the air instead of so often giving Fox the back of his hand." A 'tentative truce' was then agreed upon.
When a media mogul as powerful as Murdoch starts to have a hand in politics by holding secret meetings with future leaders, who's to say that they aren't forging deals with one another about future events? Events like the current dispute over the complete take over of BSkyB, a company that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp already has a 39.1% share in.
The man in charge of the decision was Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat and Business Secretary in the current cabinet. The reason he is no longer in charge of the decision is because of something he said to undercover reporters posing as constituents in a sting operation on December 21st 2010. He was recorded expressing his frustration about being in the British coalition government, comparing it to 'fighting a war'. The Daily Telegraph published the transcript that was soon pulled up by BBC reporter Robert Peston when a whistle blower handed him the tapes in full. What came to light was that the Telegraph had not printed the whole transcript. Cable said "I have declared war on Mr Murdoch and I think we are going to win."
What we are now left with is a man who was willing to fight against the takeover, relieved of his media duties. The decision now lies in the hands of Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Media, Olympics and Sport. Hunt in the past has shown his support for the takeover saying “BSkyB revolutionised the way we watch TV”. This leaves us with a grim outlook for the future of our media and what we are told through it. The EU have already approved the bid to let Mr Murdoch takeover the remaining 61% of BSkyB. I suppose all we can do now is wait and see, but it really does not look good.
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