9 May 2002
“How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws”
Lewis Carroll may not have had Rupert Murdoch in mind when he wrote those lines, but he would surely recognise the media mogul’s reaction to the government’s latest capitulation in his favour. The Aussie-cum-Yank is to be given free rein to bid for Channel 5TV, giving him the long-sought opportunity to fasten his teeth into terrestrial television, in addition to controlling 30 per cent of national newspaper readership and BSkyB. He will, it is true, face possible competition from European or US media groups, but the betting has to be on Uncle Rupert pulling it off.
The question is: what will this mean for journalistic standards in this country? If past experience is anything to go by, not a lot. In the quest for profit, Murdoch has sent all that he touches zooming down-market, and the forecast “lighter touch” content regulation by Ofcom offers little hope of any meaningful curb in future. It is noteworthy that on Monday, the day of the Dutch political assassination, the arrival of Ariel Sharon in Washington, and the Bethlehem siege apparently moving to a conclusion, Murdoch’s Fox News in the US devoted 90 unbroken minutes to a Californian car chase.
The draft Communications Bill pays scant regard to the desirability of improving journalistic standards, though in a country where only 20 per cent of the population believes what it reads in the newspapers one would think it might be worth a passing thought. Instead, it pointedly ignores the opportunity to bring the newspaper side of the media industry under Ofcom regulation, and leaves it in the self-financed and self-serving hands of the PCC.
The Bill would seem to be purely concerned with “competition”, though how this will be achieved with more cross-media ownership and ever greater concentrations of power it is hard to see. The prospect of large chunks of British public opinion being influenced by the likes of Disney or AOL Time Warner is scarcely less palatable than the spread of the Murdoch octopus. Journalists, with fewer and fewer prospective employers to choose from, may find themselves toeing the corporate line even more in future if they want to keep their jobs. Rather like New Labour MPs, come to think of it.
No doubt the government, with a mind to future elections, will be purring gently at the thought of having kept the media barons on side. But ministers should be aware that, having created enormous power by this act of deregulation, it may not always be used for their benefit. As Lewis Carroll also wrote: “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!”
Bill Norris
Associate Director
(Bulletin No 64)