In the wake of the phone hacking scandal, the right's hatred of the BBC has loosened their grip on a core consevartive principle - upholding the rule of law.
Last night, in the emergency parliamentary debate on phone hacking, the prime minister drew a moral equivalence between News International and the BBC.
“We should be frank: sometimes in this country, the left overestimates the power of Murdoch, and the right overdoes the left-leanings of the BBC. But both have got a point, and never again should we let a media group get too powerful.”
Let’s put aside the questionable assumption that the the BBC has a left-wing bias. Left Foot Forward has already documented much of the right’s attitude to the hacking scandal: ‘The left is after our boy Rupert – so let’s get the Beeb.’
But beyond vindictiveness, there are two main arguments against a lack of plurality in the media market – one economic and the other legal. On the economic side, dominance of the media market by a single player could squeeze out other players, or, in the case of a state provider, crowd out private competitors.
However, as has been argued on right-wing blogs, in the age of the internet the entry costs for new players in the media market is very low, and so it is questionable whether it is possible to stop new players entering the market. The more serious accusation is legal: that if a media conglomeration grows too large, it may, through a mixing of schmoozing and bribing the police, bullying and flirting with politicians, and a revolving door between all three, evade the law.
That is the accusation laid at the door of News International.
The BBC could not do this even if it wanted to do so, as it is subject to Freedom of Information requirements of which its right-wing critics already take advantage. Unless the government intends to pass a Freedom of Information bill on private companies, there is no equivalence between the Corporation and Murdoch’s empire.
We are talking here about upholding the rule of law. According to traditional Tory philosophy that, in conjuction with national defence, are the twin priorities of government that matter before all else. Yet government backbenchers in yesterday’s emergency debate repeatedly asked if we could all move on and talk about something else. The most disappointing thing about conservatives is when they aren’t really conservative.
52 Responses to “Cameron fuels right’s hate fixation on the BBC”
Ploppy
Hmmmm. Nick ‘Tory’ Robinson as BBC’s Chief political editor; Andrew ‘NOTW’ Neil as the face of This Week; and Coulson’s replacement (Craig Oliver) is a former BBC man.
Perhaps if Polly Toynbee was appointed as the politician editor of The Sun then Camerom might have a point. Until then, it’s fairly obvious clipping the BBC’s wings is still on the Tory agenda. I also expect some sort of resurrection of the BSkyB bid.
Sarah Corlett
Re: comment by Selohesra ‘I suspect the BBC may come to regret their appalling efforts over the last few weeks’… what are these appalling efforts? There certainly has been pretty blanket coverage of the goings on in the Murdoch empire, alleged police complicity/ corruption, and alleged inappropriate relationship with government but (whatever we think of the emphasis) this has consumed all the media as far as I can see including all TV channels, online sites, and newspapers. Perhaps I am less allergic to bias than Selohesra and his wife but I have not been aware of inaccuracies or of major bias one way or the other. My concern is that whilst the media are focused on this which is of extreme interest to the Westminster Village, they do not focus on the really important aspects such as police corruption (and indeed the probity and transparency of government), and the risk that they miss some of the policy changes in other areas that are being brought in at breakneck speed and which could have more profound effects on people’s health and wellbeing eg the health bill and all its complex ramifications and policy papers etc, changes to the benefits system, the impact on schools and education of ‘localism’ and so on. These are all huge issues that people need to have more open debate on.
StephenH
selo- you’re talking pants. Like most other media outlets the BBC studiously ignored this story despite copious evidence until the Milly Dowler angle blew it wide open. Since then everyone has piled in- including SkyNews, The Times, The Mail and most damagingly The Telegraph. Where they lead the BBC follows.
Anon E Mouse
My business partner and family now feel sorry for Rupert Murdoch (despite still reading the Mirror) and even David Cameron has been described as “he’s quite nice really”.
Mind you when I showed her a picture of Ed Miliband she called him David so it doesn’t mean much.
Like Ed Miliband, the BBC has overplayed this story and as I said elsewhere it will secure Ed Miliband’s position as leader of the Labour Party which will in turn secure Cameron’s position as Prime Minister of this country at the next election.
Even the Lib Dem’s have had a jump in the polls of 2% but for Labour they are still on 42% and the Tories are still on 36% – they haven’t moved at all before and after this whole thing.
The biggest shock I think will come when the enquiry finds out that Mirror Group Newspapers, in particular Piers Morgan were all up to the same thing only on a bigger scale.
The BBC needs bringing down to size. Not because not paying for it can result in a prison sentence which any liberally minded individual should be against but because it is just doesn’t know when to stop.
The hacking story is old news now and it’s boring and that was in a major way the fault of the BBC which has made Ed Miliband’s greatest efforts (and well done for that) seem nerdy and obsessive…
Rep in the Region
Cameron fuels right's hate fixation on the BBC: http://bit.ly/r8BrjS writes @DanielElton #hackgate #NewsCorpse