News International Hosted Nearly Quarter of Hospitality Enjoyed by Cameron's Inner Circle

[Hissyspit]

Source: Bureau of Investigative Journalism

News International hosted nearly quarter of hospitality enjoyed by Cameron’s inner circle

July 23rd, 2011 | by Alice Ross and Nick Mathiason | Published in Carousel

Downing Street’s close relationship with News Interational revealed

Rupert Murdoch’s media businesses entertained David Cameron’s closest advisers more than any other organisation according to the latest data accessed by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

This investigation, coming at the same time News International is the centre of world-wide media attention, reveals how close the relationship of the Conservative party with Mr Murdoch’s companies is.

Almost a quarter of all lunches, dinners and hospitality enjoyed by 10 Downing Street’s senior political staff in the first seven months of the Coalition government came from News Corporation and News International, an analysis of the register of special advisers’ gifts and hospitality shows.

Rupert Murdoch’s executives and journalists hosted 26 of the 111 events on the register, amounting to 23 per cent of all entertainment.

Read more: http://thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/07/23/news-international-hospitality

[dipsydoodle]

1. May have been proportionate

to overall sales of News International owned newspapers here in the UK : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_United_Kingdom_by_circulation That's quite aside from ownership of Sky News.

Figures will obviously have change now since the demise of the NOTW. Cannot find any figures to demonstrate which paper have benefited from that demise but the overall feeling was that the main change would be an overall reduction in Sunday newspapers sold to the detriment of the print and associated distributive industry.

[Downwinder]

2. Sounds like big time arm twisting.

News International 'bullied Liberal Democrats over BSkyB bid'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/23/news-international-liberal-democrats-bskyb