Stop Murdoch Sky takeover bid
6 April 2017

Last year the GMB affiliated to the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom and following discussions with Bert Schouwenburg, our International Officer on how to widen the distribution of our quarterly journal Free Press. With the support of the trades unions, the CPBF was set up in 1979, to campaign for a more democratic and accountable media. 

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BIG MEDIA mogul Rupert Murdoch is bidding to buy up Sky TV. It’s the second time in six years he has tried this. The first time he had the support of the new Tory-led coalition government and expected it to be nodded through.

They had no idea how many and how deeply people resented the abuse of power by the Murdoch media. There was a long and fierce political battle as a growing opposition campaign held up the process for more than a year, until the bombshell revelation that the Murdoch press had hacked the phone of a murdered teenage girl brought the bid crashing down in a wave of public revulsion.

There was a profound inquisition into the unethical practices of the press and the corruption surrounding them. Yet, despite all that came out at the Leveson Inquiry, when a stronger Tory government was elected last year the Murdochs blithely banged in another bid.

Once again they believe they’re home and dry, and once again a popular campaign is out to stop them.

SKY TV is a big company with UK revenues last year of £8.3 billion – well over twice the BBC’s £3.7 billion – and total profits of £1.5 billion.

It is a joint venture resulting from the government-spon­sored merger of two rival satellite TV companies in 1990. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation was restricted to holding 39 per cent. Murdoch has always wanted the whole caboodle and is bidding for it again.

The case against him is even stronger than it was six years ago. In formal terms, there are three main issues:

  • the “plurality” of media ownership;
  • the degree of commitment to the standards of public service broadcasting;
  • whether the Murdochs are “fit and proper” to have total control over such a powerful combination of media. 

THE CAMPAIGN that stopped the Murdochs in 2011 was a rapidly assembled coalition of Labour politicians, media unions, campaigning groups like the CPBF and the new internet “clicktivist” groups Avaaz and 38 degrees.

A 38 Degrees online petition against the first attempt at merger got more than 100,000 signatures.

Avaaz organised a series of demonstrations at Murdoch-related events, including this one with a giant Rupert Murdoch puppet pulling the strings of Prime Minister David Cameron and culture secretary Jeremy Hunt outside his department’s office.

Labour MPs Chris Bryant and Tom Watson fearlessly defied the timid consensus in Parliament to attack the Murdoch press with gusto.

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GMB North West & Irish Region

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GMB North West & Irish Region