My first temptation is to delete the BBC classification of Business in the headline since this is much more than a business matter but I’ll just make this observation instead. Murdoch jnr sums up his address with these lines – “for a better society…the only reliable, durable and perpetual guarantor of independence is profit” – this is clearly much more than an address about business!
Is this just a version of the 4th estate claim his father was so enthusiastic about? Murdoch jnr certainly seems to think that “state” sponsored journalism is an evil, even citing Orwell’s 1984 to support his case. Orwell of course was considered a socialist so Rupes jnr probably thought his argument was pretty clever but despite his concerns for a better society the obvious issue at stake here is simply self interest, not, as Rupert jnr claims, social good.
Pure and simple, free news from the Beeb or any other state sponsored media outlet is a direct threat to the pay-news model that News Corp wants to foist onto the world. The BBC just happens to be the biggest threat. I think there’s more here to ponder since Murdoch jnr is clearly staking out an ideological position – “There’s a land grab pure and simple, going on and in the interests of a free society it should be sternly resisted.” Presumably a free society is not one that can consume news and information for free. Indeed he claims that “It is essential for the future of independent digital journalism that a fair price can be charged for news to people who value it,” so its reasonable to assume that (in Murdoch’s view) only people who can pay for news should be entitled to access the news.
But the other key point I think is this notion of independent journalism, the famous 4th estate claim. Frankly I think it’s a load of twaddle coming out of the mouths of the Murdochs and company. The notion of independence is surely the idea that something does not depend (for survival) on something else. What Murdoch jnr should be saying in fact is “independent of the state” but of course that brings into question what sustains this independent-of-the-state journalism. Obviously this independent-of-the-state journalism depends on the free enterprise system for its survival. The problem here is that such journalism is unlikely to be critical of the free enterprise system. Its even debatable that it can be critical of the free enterprise system.
The argument about independence that Murdoch jnr applies to state sponsored journalism also applies to free enterprise journalism. Unfortunately for the debate and for the future of a free society, the matter of dependence as it applies to free enterprise journalism is hardly ever called into question.
BBC NEWS | Business | Murdoch attack on ‘dominant’ BBC.
