Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom (CPBF)
for diverse, democratic and accountable media
A deal for "The Walt Disney Company To Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., After Spinoff Of Certain Businesses, For $52.4 Billion In Stock" has been announced. Those who understand the Murdochs malign influence on public life on both sides of the Atlantic, and all those like CPBF who have successfully campaigned against their Sky takeover have cause to celebrate … [Read more...]
RUPERT MURDOCH is bidding to control even more of Britain’s media than he does already. On top of his huge newspaper and commercial radio interests he’s trying to buy up Sky, the biggest TV company in Europe. The CPBF is a central part of the movement to stop him and is launching a £20,000 appeal to make sure the campaign succeeds. Murdoch’s TV and film corporation 21st … [Read more...]
THE CPBF is launching a £20,000 crowdfunding appeal to step up the battle to stop the Murdochs buying up Sky TV. It is a fight that can now be won, as their empire starts to shake. Rupert and son James Murdoch have banked for years on the super-lucrative Sky channels in Europe to lift 21st Century Fox to the premier-league level of the US media megacorps. But after shock … [Read more...]
IAB UKThe Media Reform Coalition have written about why the Leveson Inquiry must be allowed to finish its work. They conclude that: If we never get to the bottom of the webs of institutional corruption that have persisted for decades between elements of the press, police and politicians, then the real problem is a systemic failure of justice and accountability. That is why the … [Read more...]
DCMSUPDATE: Karen Bradley has today (14 Sept 2017) confirmed that she is referring "the merger to the CMA for a Phase 2 investigation on media plurality and genuine commitment to broadcasting standards grounds". Good news re our campaign to #StopMurdoch's latest power grab: Culture Secretary Karen Bradley has referred Murdoch's Fox/ Sky bid to the Competition and Markets … [Read more...]
“Rupert Murdoch 2011 Shankbone” by David Shankbone is licensed under CC BY 2.0DESPERATE MEASURES are being taken by the Murdoch media companies to shore up the bid to buy up Sky TV. Culture secretary Karen Bradley was expected to announce that she will refer the bid to the Competition and Markets Authority as Free Press went to the printer. In July she said she was “minded” to do so after a report from the media regulator Ofcom that it would hand the … [Read more...]
“Rupert Murdoch 2011 Shankbone” by David Shankbone is licensed under CC BY 2.0Would you like Murdoch to have even more power and influence over UK media and politics? No? Here are three things to do right now: Sign these petitions: Hacked Off petition to "demand Leveson part two before the Murdochs' bid can go ahead": https://hackinginquiry.eaction.org.uk/lobby/skybid 38 Degrees petition asking Karen Bradley to refer the Fox Sky … [Read more...]
Santi di Tito [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commonsby Damian Tambini It’s the Politics, Stupid I am in Italy so I am going to make Machiavellian assumptions. When it comes to media mergers, like Machiavelli’s Prince, politicians act on the basis of moral considerations or the ‘public interest’ only to the extent that failing to do so entails political cost. Machiavelli’s advice would be that the Prince, to strengthen … [Read more...]
DCMSPlurality In a statement outlining her decision on the proposed takeover of Sky plc by 21st Century Fox, Inc., Secretary of State for Culture Karen Bradley announced this morning that she is "minded-to refer to a Phase 2 investigation on the grounds of media plurality". You can watch the full video of the statement here. An invitation for representations (deadline 14 … [Read more...]
“Rupert Murdoch 2011 Shankbone” by David Shankbone is licensed under CC BY 2.0It’s a really big moment, Kelvin MacKenzie getting the push from the Sun. Kelvin MacKenzie is one of the last people Rupert Murdoch would want to lose. For more than 30 years – longer than anyone else around him, since Murdoch picked him up from the Daily Express to lead the charge for Thatcherism, reaction and war -- MacKenzie has absolutely personified the Sun. He is pure … [Read more...]
![Santi di Tito [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Niccol_Machiavelli_by_Santi_di_Tito.jpg){kind=link}