Spent some time reading about James Murdock and his FANTASTIC speech to the British self-anointed media elites and left-wing nobs this week, about the government’s meddling in media. James is the son of Rupert, owner of News Corp., and Fox news, and many other media-related properties.
James Murdock’s head would explode if he came to Canada and studied how liberals and further leftists work. And how they have worked through their government bureaucracies to effectively control media; and they effectively banned Fox News Channel from Canada, until the likes of PTBC and me pressured them into unbanning it (I’ve blogged about this countless times now —here was my latest); and how the Canadian government persists in competing against its own citizens with its state-owned, state-run, socialism-reliant, and far-left CBC and its many related offshoots, and its ever-expanding media presence —in our supposedly free country.
I think he sounds a little like me. I think anybody who thought about it enough would sound a little like me.
James Murdoch: unchecked BBC expansion is ‘chilling’
An out-of-control BBC and addiction to central planning by regulators are damaging democracy and media choice in Britain, James Murdoch said in Edinburgh last night.
Giving the annual MacTaggart lecture to an audience of television executives, Mr Murdoch, 36, the son of Rupert Murdoch, called for a “dramatic reduction of the activities of the State” in broadcasting, arguing that it effectively treated viewers like children.
He contrasted the prevailing political attitude to mainstream broadcasting with the lightly regulated newspaper, film or book industry where consumer choice predominates.
Mr Murdoch, chief executive of the European and Asian operations of News Corporation, parent company of The Times, said: “In the regulated world of public service broadcasting, the customer does not exist: he or she is a passive creature — a viewer in need of protection.
Rupert Murdoch attacks ‘fossilized’ television, 1989“In other parts of the media world, including pay television and newspapers, the customer is just that: someone whose very freedom to choose makes them important.”
He said that the “chilling” expansionism of the BBC meant that commercial rivals and consumer choice were struggling. In particular the “expansion of state-sponsored journalism” in the form of BBC News online was “a threat to plurality and the independence of news provision, which are so important to our democracy”. …
… He said: “The consensus appears to be that creationism — the belief in a managed process with an omniscient authority — is the only way to achieve successful outcomes. There is general agreement that the natural operation of the market is inadequate, and that a better outcome can be achieved through the wisdom and activity of governments and regulators. This creationist approach is similar to the industrial planning which went out of fashion in other sectors in the 1970s. It failed then. It’s failing now.” …
He didn’t say what I always say: state-owned and state-run media should be banned in this country, and that notion should be enshrined in our constitution.
Read these, which are some of the articles i read this morning about James and Rupert Murdock:
• James Murdoch: unchecked BBC expansion is ‘chilling’ (as above)
• James Murdoch: the MacTaggart lecture
• Rupert Murdoch’s 1989 MacTaggart speech is still remembered in the television world
• ‘Fossilized’ television attacked (1989!)
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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