Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost's signature lineup of contributors
James Moran

GET UPDATES FROM James Moran
 

News Corp: A Good Empire

Posted: 07/07/11 15:44 BST

After News Corp-owned News of the World is heavily criticized and accused of illegal activity, Jeremy Hunt is expected to approve News Corporation owning all shares in BSkyB this Friday, in a move which the BBC business editor says will "generate revenues that would dwarf all rivals, even the BBC". Obviously, this should make any sane person very happy.

I actually quite like empires. Sure, sometimes they become bureaucratic -- the Death Star out of Star Wars, which was essentially just one big laser canon, seemed to have a lot of redundant office space for what it was. And yeah, they might tend towards evil sometimes -- like, say, the Evil Empire out of Star Wars. But if Star Wars has taught me anything (and everything I know about empires I learned from Star Wars, so clearly it did), it's that empires always prevail (nb I have only seen up to The Empire Strikes Back, NO spoilers please). That's why I'm over the moon about that the Culture Secretary is about to make News Corporation an even more colossal media empire than it already was (it owns a third of the British newspaper market), despite heavy criticism leveled at News Corp-owned News of the World this week by the liberal media, who resorted to "facts" and "basic decency" in order to ruin this paper's good name.

It's unlikely News Corp will be surprised by Hunt's decision -- presumably they've been hacking Jeremy Hunt's phone for ages. But also because, as his website puts it, Hunt believes Murdoch "has probably done more to create variety and choice in British TV than any other single person", and that we "wouldn't be saying that British TV is the envy of the world if it hadn't been for him". That's right. A quick look at what's on Sky tonight will show why British TV is the envy of the world -- The Simpsons, America's Next Top Model and old episodes of Hawaii Five-0. All independent, grassroots British projects that Murdoch gave life to, like a big, friendly right-wing hen.

And the non-Murdoch rebels are forgetting the huge concessions News Corp has made: namely, to spin off Sky News into an independent company. The term 'spin off' suggests the relationship between News Corp and Sky News will be minimal, like that between Cheers and Frasier - although, since News Corp will still retain exactly the same percentage of shares in Sky News, it'll be more like if Frasier was set in Boston. In a bar. With the all the same characters as Cheers. And called Cheers.

Now this deal is settled, we can look forward to this media Reich lasting a thousand years -- and if there's talk of 'pro-Tory bias' in News Corp influencing this decision, I say GROW UP and remember the front cover of News Corp-owned The Sun on election day 2010 -- David Cameron, posed a la Obama, with just the word 'HOPE' underneath him.

Either they were comparing Cameron to an inspiring, left wing, and internationally renowned US politician OR to the abstract concept of hope itself. I'd agree with either, but I'd stress The Sun didn't pick that cover because of any bias in News Corp. They literally just typed 'hope' into Google and David Cameron's face came up, and they were so startled by this little-known meaning of the word they made it front page news.

The LAST thing anyone wants is a plurality of opinion and voices in the media. After all, when I said I heard lots of voices in my head, they called me MAD. This government has made the same decision I made -- pick one of those voices and follow it. No matter how INSANE and EVIL publications like News of the World appear to be -- according to "the facts" -- we can rest easy that this noble empire is about to become a lot more powerful, thanks to Jeremy Hunt.

 

Follow James Moran on Twitter: www.twitter.com/james_moran

 
 
  • Comments
  • 17
  • Pending Comments
  • 0
  • View FAQ
Comments are closed for this entry
View All
Recency  | 
Popularity
11:25 AM on 07/08/2011
Arent't you as a comedian a bit too gloomy? Shouldn't you try to create
some hope instead, being a good example of somebody who not lose the
sense of humor?
Remember how important it was for the codebreakers during WW II not
to lose their sense of humor because otherwise they would not have had
the wit to solve all the problems they had on their hands.
Here is an example of somebody critical of the old media with
a brilliant sense of humor:
http://socratesbooks.blogspot.com/2011/06/bye-bye-media-conflict-google-net-and.html
08:12 AM on 07/08/2011
Empires do not always win.
History tells us the opposite is actually the case. They rise, grow, and die, usually because they become so large and ambitious that they cannot sustain themselves, or they reach a point where history passes them by, and they disintegrate, sometimes with great speed as in the case of the Soviet Union.
In the scale of things NewsCorp is a pimple on the arse of an elephant.
05:19 PM on 07/07/2011
The Empire struck back. Didn't expect that...
03:57 PM on 07/07/2011
(Spoiler ahead)
If Armageddon ever happens,and right then we realize that Rupert Murdoch is the Devil,I gotta say, It won't be much of a shock really....
01:39 PM on 07/07/2011
good article James :) check this out via @jonsnowC4 channel 4 news Anchor http://t.co/i7RaMnq
01:36 AM on 07/07/2011
At least News Corp still won't have 100% control of Sky News because we could do without it becoming even more like its sister channel in the US, namely Fox News.

If somebody could tell me whats wrong with Rupert Murdoch spending his money bringing me top American drama to the likes of Sky Atlantic and even more money bringing me live domestic and european football on Sky Sports I'd like to hear it. As long as his influence in the world of shaping peoples opinion is not increased I guess I'm ok.
11:51 AM on 07/07/2011
Robert, Robert, Robert.... You haven't quite grasped this have you? Rupert Murdoch isn't spending HIS money to bring you these programmes; he's spending your money! And by monopolising the market he's stopping you from accessing these programmes from free or cheaper alternate sites...and you are paying him to do it! Brilliant! Wish I'd thought of it first.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
MohammedAbbasi
Co-Director, Association of British Muslims
09:05 PM on 07/06/2011
May the Blessings of Murdoch be upon us all! Every single one of us!....
photo
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
SirenForSanity
The trouble vine keeps growing.
09:55 PM on 07/06/2011
I hope your comment was sarcasm.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
MohammedAbbasi
Co-Director, Association of British Muslims
02:59 AM on 07/07/2011
naturally! if i really meant this i would be a Tealiban!
FreeHat
Really?
08:03 PM on 07/06/2011
Calling a publication 'INSANE and EVIL' is pathetic. Childish talk from a young person that hasn't grasped the world yet is my comeback. Sounds better than insane and evil anyway...
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
arkymorgan
Nobody knows the trouble I've been...
03:58 AM on 07/07/2011
Sounds rather incoherent, actually.
10:28 AM on 07/07/2011
'FreeHat' can you let us all know how you grasped the world? Or do you suffer from naive realism as well?
06:31 PM on 07/06/2011
Rupert Murdoch's most undesirable acquisition of the rest of BSkyB should not be the condition for the creation of a separate company for Sky News, with Independent National Directors. Vince Cable would be ideal as the new Chairman of Sky News, appointed by the Secretary of State with the approval of the relevant Select Committee. The other Independent National Directors should be elected by and from among Sky subscribers, each of whom would vote for one candidate, with the requisite number elected at the end. And cross-subsidy being what it is (although even if it were not), they could very usefully double up as the, hitherto somewhat ineffective, Independent National Directors of The Times and the Sunday Times. This should happen regardless of whether or not Murdoch was even so much as still at liberty in this country.
photo
Gavin Saunders
we only have each other
05:28 PM on 07/06/2011
Thanks for telling it like it is and I sincerely hope you will be proved wrong come Friday.