The real scandal in England?

[malaise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/20/scandal-exposed-scale-elite-corruption
<snip>
But the real frenzy isn't the exposure of the scandal – it's the scale of corruption, collusion and cover-up between News International, politicians and police that the scandal has revealed. As the cast of hacking victims, blaggers and blackmailers has lengthened, and the details of the incestuous payments and job-swapping between News International, government and Scotland Yard become more complex, it's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture that is now emerging.

If it were not for the uncovering of this cesspit, the Cameron government would be preparing to nod through the outright takeover of BSkyB by News International, taking its dominance of Britain's media and political world into Silvio Berlusconi territory. But what has been exposed now goes well beyond the hacking of murder victims and dead soldiers' families – or even the media itself. The scandal has lifted the lid on how power is really exercised in 21st-century Britain – in which the unreformed City and its bankers play a central part.

Murdoch's overweening political influence has long been recognised, from well before Tony Blair flew to Australia in 1995 to pay public homage at his corporate court. What has been less well understood is how close-up and personal the pressure exerted by his organisation has been throughout public life. The fear that those who crossed him would be given the full tabloid treatment over their personal misdemeanours, real or imagined, has proved to be a powerful Mafia-like racket.

It was the warning that News International would target their personal lives that cowed members of the Commons culture and media committee over pressing their investigation into phone hacking too vigorously before the last election. Barely a fortnight ago, Ed Miliband was warned that Murdoch's papers would "make it personal" after he broke with the political-class omerta towards the company. The same vow of silence meant that when Rebekah Brooks told MPs in 2003 her organisation had "paid the police for information", the bribery admission sank like a stone.

[ejpoeta]

1. and a very good reason why one corporation should not be allowed to own so much of the media.

period. or so few should be able to own ALL the media. that was the reason we had regulations about these things in america which has, of course, all been chipped away at so that basically we have about six major corporations (?) owning everything here in this country and probably everywhere else too if not less than that now what with all the mergers. We need to break this shit up.

[lunatica]

2. Karmic adjustments are in progress

[EFerrari]

5. If corporations are people, maybe they should be required to take

citizenship tests.

[malaise]

8. You know when we get right down to it

Reagan and Thatcher really fucked up this planet with their New World Order.

[salin]

3. good article!

[malaise]

4. It really is an excellent article

The Sopranos style is deeply embedded in the Murdoch dynasty. When the New Labour culture secretary Tessa Jowell broke up with her husband in 2006 as he faced Berlusconi-linked corruption charges (he was later cleared), Brooks took her out, letting her cry on her shoulder – just as News International was hacking into the couple's phone. Jowell has now called in her lawyers, but that didn't stop her attending Elisabeth Murdoch's lavish Chipping Norton party earlier this month, along with David Miliband and other Blairite luminaries. The family demands respect – even from those it has punished.

Of course, the British press has a long history of megalomaniacal, reactionary and criminal proprietors. Some, such as Conrad Black, ended up in prison – or, in the case of Robert Maxwell, would have done if he hadn't died. Others, such as the migrant-and-Muslim-baiting pornographer Richard Desmond, merely emphasise how narrow and dysfunctional media ownership is in Britain.

But Murdoch is a case apart, not only because of his commanding position in both print and satellite TV, but because of the crucial part he played in cementing Margaret Thatcher's political power and then shaping a whole era of New Labour/Tory neoliberal consensus that delivered enfeebled unions, privatisation and the Iraq war. His role in breaking the print unions at Wapping in the 1980s by sacking 5,000 mostly low-paid workers is still hailed in parts of the media as a brave blow for quality journalism.

[salin]

6. before his empire's possible implosion goes the likely crack-up of Cameron's

position. Yesterday did not go well for him.

[malaise]

7. Cameron is in deep trouble

not just for hiring Coulsen but for the lack of security vetting. He has admitted to discussing BSkyB with Brooks - I don't see how he survives this scandal - the collusion between the police, Murdoch and politicians is inescapable. Add to that the ubiquity of Wallis in all three institutions and all illusions about an accountable and transparent political system are shattered.
Looks like the Murdoch Fourth Estate in Britain is the new owner of the plantations, the overseers and the slaves.

[myrna minx]

9. They run their "business" like the mafia. This is a very good article.

Thanks for posting. K&R