Regulated Hatred

Now, Richard Murdoch I respected and enjoyed. Never mind that his nickname was ‘stinker’ – he was a fine man who made fine radio shows.

Iris Murdoch I know less about, but she seems to have been a fairly good writer, and respected by many.

Even Captain H. M. Murdoch on the ‘A’ Team was mildly entertaining.

And that kinda leaves me with no other Murdochs I can quickly think of that I don’t despise. Just Rupert and James.

I’m not going to write much about Roop. Unpleasant, damaging, exploitative – his background is well known. However, this seems to be being taken to new heights and in a particularly noisome way by his malodorous offspring James.

James Murdoch, as is also well known, recently used a high-profile speech to launch an attack on the BBC in some detail. He argued - for instance - that the corporation has a distorting effect on the market and needs to be reined in. Clearly this is in part because of the various commentators who have said exactly the same thing about the Murdochs’ own media empire. So the attack, which also claims that the BBC’s news output is highly biased, is intended in part as a distraction.

At the same time, the commercial broadcasters who rely so heavily on advertising revenues and also, I think, pay-per-view broadcasting, are losing out as a result of the credit crunch. There is less advertising being commissioned and their viewers are less keen to spend at high levels. They are losing money, and see the BBC as a threat. Now, there seems to be only one sane response to the Sky empire feeling threatened:

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…

More seriously, I have no real interest in the commercial broadcasters being weakened too much – at least not the terrestrial broadcasters. ITV has cancelled one or two shows I really liked because they were too expensive, and I don’t like that. But the vicious, pernicious Murdoch News Corporation empire is a different thing. Wapping. Fox News. The Sun. Here is a list of what they own.

One thing is clear from all of this, if we care about our media and what it says about us.

The BBC is far too small.

It needs to be seriously ramped up if these people aren't going to overrun the World. Particularly the Web site and the Commercial arm. In the context of the threat of News Corporation, purchasing Lonely Planet was just too small a deal.

But the people who can make this a reality don't seem to be thinking like this just yet. However, while we wait for them to see sense, there are a few simple steps we can take.

Don't spend money on any Murdoch-owned company or product.
Don't buy the Sun or the Times, or Sky or any of that stuff.
Just don't.

We need to get this nasty empire down to about a quarter of its present size. And damn quickly.

Instead support the Beeb. It's better stuff, better made, and less evil. I was off work on Friday, and was kept happily entertained by the i-Player, watching some fantastic TV I'd missed earlier. Smashing. We should tell them.

You know it makes sense.