The BBC has knuckled under attack from Rupert Murdoch, son James, News Corp’s UK media outlets, revealing plans to cut its activities. With the BBC’s independence under sustained attack from the Conservatives supporting News Corp media outlets in Britain, could the ABC face a similar fate, especially if Tony Abbott wins power?
The extent of the BBC’s capitulation was outlined in London reports over the weekend, and the background to it with the attack by James Murdoch, backed up by stories in The Times UK, The Sun UK and on Sky, all after Murdoch decided to support the Conservatives (after backing Labour for more than a decade). The BBC’s move gives new significance to the breakfast meeting between the Rupster and Tony Abbott last month.
Rather than discuss the generous $250 million rebate for the commercial TV networks, did Murdoch and Abbott discuss the ABC’s expansion plans and its intransigence, in the face of News Ltd pressure, to keep its news content free? The question of the Asia-Pacific service currently run for the Government by the ABC could be very fruitful if Abbott is on message.
The size of the cuts agreed to by the BBC reveal a knee-jerk reaction:
“The BBC is to close down half its website, cut spending on imported American programs and close two radio stations in an admission it has become too large. In a strategic review to be unveiled next month, The Times said the corporation would concede it must give space to its commercial rivals which have been hard hit by an advertising downturn during the recession.
“The British Broadcasting Corporation, funded by the licence fee levied on all those in Britain who own a television, regularly comes under fire from rivals and other critics for its alleged unfair dominance. BBC director general Mark Thompson will announce a cut in its website pages by half, backed by a 25 per cent cut in staff and budget, said the paper.
“It will further close digital radio stations 6 Music and Asian Network and close outlets that target the teenage market, leaving the area free for rivals. And it will order its commercial subsidiary BBC Worldwide to focus on activities overseas and get rid of its British magazines arm.”
The BBC decision came the same week as a British parliamentary committee (dominated by Labour) found that there were still many questions left unanswered by the conduct of the News title, the News of the World and its former deputy editor, Andy Coulson, now chief spinner for Opposition leader David Cameron.
News International is overseen by James Murdoch, who bagged the BBC in a speech last August. He has been silent on the bugging and other activities of News Of The World and its reporters and agents. Imagine the outrage from News if a rival newspaper had hacked into James Murdoch’s mobile phone messages. James Murdoch would have a justifiable complaint, instead of his usual confected rubbish. The Sun and the Times buried the report on the House of Commons Committee criticising the News Of the World and its management (and the management of News International).
The criticism was harsh, and yet News International focused on the so-called “partisan” nature of the report with the committee’s dominance by Labour. The Conservative members tried to hold out parts of the report criticising Coulson. That was overlooked by News and its media outlets, as you would expect from an organisation that condoned its employees and agents breaking the law and hacking into the phone messages of private people.
The Australian‘s Mark Day, a member of the Murdoch Australian establishment, touched on the subject today in the paper’s Media Section.
“It is time we had a full debate about the role of the ABC. It was established in a vastly different media landscape as a taxpayer-funded entity designed to, in part, fill in the market niches not served by the commercial sector. Now, thanks to pay-TV and the digital revolution, those niches are hotly contested.”
The ABC is a more dominant and broader media operator here than News is. The ABC has three free-to-air TV networks, various online sites and businesses, a small retail outlet, which is licenced, magazines, and five radio networks. News Ltd has its newspapers, websites, magazines and management and 25% of Foxtel and 50% of Fox Sports owner Premier Media.
That makes it substantial, but not a major media player in this country. And so far Day has not commented on the House of Commons report on the activities of News of The World and the News International management. If it had been The Guardian in London, or Fairfax here pinged by a Parliamentary committee, News Ltd would have been crawling all over it.
I agree; someone needs to curb the ABC budget. $700 million a year is too much to fund a public broadcaster. ABC should be funded on the same scale as SBS (around $200 million a year). Think of what we could do with the extra $500 million.
that’s a ridiculous argument Scott – $550m is a small amount within the federal budget. also, SBS is currently suffering greatly due to its inability to make and keep programs with its small budget. and this is after taking in the advertising money too!
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I find these recent vicious attacks on public broadcasters by News Corp as frightening and villainous. News Corp is determined to be the sole voice of the media. they want control and power and the public broadcasters are their chief rival. so they attack them. But Mews Corp has a hidden agenda behind all this beyond the never-ending quest for complete dominance and it is the paid content question. If they start charging for content…determined to squeeze even more money out of the people of the world, most other commercial groups will probably follow suit. But the public broadcasters won’t ever do that…after all people have already paid for the content through their taxes! So if a consumer has a choice between free content from an independent news source…or paid content from News Corp..they will always choose the free content! Particularly given the relative quality offered by the ABC/BBC. And News Corp knows that their traditional medium, newspapers, are terminal. So they are scared. But if they succeed then consumers will be worse off, by a mile! they will control and will then decide the level of effort required, and the message required. just look at SKY News. What a lazy operation! what a rubbish channel! and the second the ABC comes along, offering competition they cry foul…well they should have provided a better service!
In short, we must all guard against the aggressive imperialism of News Corp. THey are not out to benefit us…only themselves.
What the world really needs is The Australian TV, with the daily op-eds read out 24/7.
If that isn’t enough to convince most people that Murdoch’s “Flagship” is for the most part a forum for the extreme, obsessed most ranting of right wing spruikers…
Of course, you’d have to subscribe to Daily Tele-tv as well where the daily witticisms of Timmy Blair, fawning over photos of military men, would be broadcast together with video clips of NRL players saying “mate” or maybe even “maaaaate”.
This is what the free market can do for us.
@commentariat: As an optimism tragic I can’t bear to think about Auntie capitulating. But the momentum is with the Orcs in this Age of spiritual despair (Kali Yuga). Galling that under the political constraints of ‘balanced’ coverage she has to directly pander to the enemy. Bring on 2012.