James Murdoch has said that a “dominant” BBC threatens independent journalism in the UK.
The chairman of the media giant in Europe, which owns the Times and Sun, also blamed the UK government for regulating the media “with relish”.
“The expansion of state-sponsored journalism is a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision,” he told the Edinburgh Television Festival.
The scope of the BBC’s activities and ambitions was “chilling”, he added.
Organisations like the BBC, funded by the licence fee, as well as Channel 4 and Ofcom, made it harder for other broadcasters to survive, he argued.
‘Chilling’
“The BBC is dominant,” Mr Murdoch said. “Other organisations might rise and fall but the BBC’s income is guaranteed and growing.”…
Sometimes really strange stuff appears in the news world. The above post sounds like the business managers of News Corporation did not read about other businesses, suffering the same financial problems as News Corporation but minus the “knocking” of other businesses in the same line of work.
When you make your bed, you ought to be ready to sleep in it.
The rules have not changed. News Corporation knew or should have known what the rules were when it decided to “corner a large part of the news market”. BBC was there when News Corporation was buying up news sources.
News Corporation – welcome to the real world of General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Chrysler, Big Banks and Big Investment firms. They are all experiencing BIG money problems due to a recession that was in progress a year before some political leaders realized it. Many businesses failed. Some will not recover. And BBC played no role in bringing on the recession.
It must be assumed that News Corporation is searching for a response to the world-wide recession. Other businesses on planet earth are doing the same thing. But “how cum” BBC is a part of News Corporation’s problem?
Is BBC helping to manage News Corporation? Why is News Corporation just now relating to BBC? The next thing you might see is America’s health care industry knocking Great Britain’s health care industry if America’s health care industry gets into financial difficulty(not likely). News Corporation knew of BBC’s relationship to its government. If that was an insurmountable problem then perhaps News Corporation should have picked a different line of work. When there is a choice between watching BBC and watching FOX News – well, what do YOU think? Perhaps that is no choice at all.
How did BBC get to be “dominant”? Certainly NOT by trying to corner the market by buying up news sources. Certainly not by its relationship to its government. People watch and read BBC news. If people did not watch or read BBC news then News Corporation might not have a complaint. News Corporation is quoted as saying:
“The expansion of state-sponsored journalism is a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision,”
Now put ” plurality and independence” in your pipe and smoke it. I have never been compelled to search for a definition of journalism after reading or viewing BBC news. I can’t say the same for viewing news stories in general. When I read the columnist’s story that said Mr. Bush might be helped politically after a federal judge told Mr. Bush his Guanatanomo activities were outside his authority – I was NOT reading BBC news. Acting outside one’s authority could be “construed” as breaking the law – I thought. And I went searching for “free” Internet content that would tell me just what a columnist is. I found ”free” content which described journalists using four categories.” Truth” was number one but the last two were “opinion and columns”.
FOX News is owned by News Corporation. FOX News bears no resemblance to BBC. Perhaps a good place to start reconstruction of News Corporation’s empire could be FOX News. The managers of News Corporation could find out how BBC selects and delivers its news content – then find a way to provide a similar news content. And if FOX News was going to be the test model, FOX News could likely change its approach to its news content. Perhaps its neocon “honey pot” could be modified or thrown out.
When YOU make your bed then YOU sleep in it.
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