I’ve signed petitions/donated money to a campaign that’s trying to stop it going ahead cozie. This was the latest email update from Tuesday:
I told a group of government officials they should block Rupert Murdoch's Sky takeover last Friday. [1] Overall, I think it went well.
The meeting was with the watchdog who are currently investigating the Murdoch deal and have the power to block it. It was held at their London HQ, in a giant conference room with government officials, their lawyers and economists.
I was joined by representatives of some other organisations with concerns about Murdoch. I got a few minutes to speak, then answered some questions. I tried to get across one simple message: the public are against Murdoch's takeover of Sky.
I shared the results from our massive survey setting the reasons why we think a Murdoch takeover would be bad for the media and bad for democracy. I used the research which 38 Degrees members had paid for, to back up our arguments.
The government officials didn't give much away. But I could see them taking notes as I laid out the overwhelming evidence that the public don't trust Murdoch.
It meant a lot to know I was there to represent the voices of thousands of 38 Degrees members. Here are just a small selection of the quotes I was able to hand in to the inquiry. You can read the entire report I delivered to them here.
“Murdoch is already too powerful, and this would exempt him from any kind of democratic accountability. He already interferes too much in our politics.”
Alan Matthews, 38 Degrees member from Dorset
“It isn’t just television but newspapers. We already saw what happened with News of the World in defiance of UK laws. The ethics of these companies controlled by Murdoch are questionable.”
Andrea Titterington, 38 Degrees member from Lancashire
The room was full of lawyers, economists and media experts. There were lots of complicated and technical arguments. I hope I did a decent job of explaining that alongside the technical arguments, there are important principles at stake and that the public expect the government watchdog to stand up to Murdoch.
Since the Murdoch's takeover bid was announced last December, thousands of us have been doing all we can together to stop it:
We helped make this watchdog's investigation happen in the first place. 122,372 of us signed an open letter asking the Secretary of State for Culture, Karen Bradley, to make sure there was a deeper inquiry into the deal. Then we fundraised for the letter to run in Karen Bradley's local papers. [2]
We proved the public are against the takeover. Together, 38 Degrees members raised the money to pay for professional opinion polling from YouGov - not once, but three times - which showed a clear majority don't trust Murdoch.
We gathered expert evidence. We raised money to pay expert media researchers to show Rupert Murdoch already has too much influence on our politicians. Then we got the research in the papers. [3]
In a few months, the government watchdog will report back with their proposals. We'll all be ready to speak up again then. But in the meantime, I hope you feel proud to be part of the huge effort to block Murdoch's takeover. I definitely do!
Thanks for being involved,
David Babbs
Executive Director
NOTES:
[1] The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is currently conducting an investigation into Murdoch's Sky takeover bid on two grounds: media plurality and commitment to broadcasting standards. You can read more about their investigation here:
UK Government: 21st Century Fox / Sky merger inquiry:
www.gov.uk/cma-cases/twenty-first-century-fox-sky-merger-european-intervention-notice
The Guardian: Sky takeover bid inquiry to assess potential influence on Sky News:
www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/10/sky-takeover-bid-cma-investigation-scope-murdochs
[2] 38 Degrees: Karen Bradley: Stop Murdoch's Sky takeover:
speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/2365