Laughing third
Guest commentary In the credibility battle between the BBC and Tony Blair, there is only one winner: media mogul Rupert Murdoch. This gives Marcello Foa food for thought.
Guest commentary In the credibility battle between the BBC and Tony Blair, there is only one winner: media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
That gives Marcello Foa food for thought.
Lord Justice Hutton's ruling in the Kelly case is becoming increasingly controversial. Formally, Tony Blair won, indeed triumphed. But it is precisely this that is now causing him a problem. Surveys show that the British public considers the Hutton report to be biased. The BBC is no longer seen as the sole culprit. Both Blair and the broadcaster have lost credibility. Meanwhile, there is one sure winner who has so far remained surprisingly in the background: Rupert Murdoch, who owns around 175 newspapers and TV stations on both sides of the Atlantic, from Sky to Fox News and the Times of London. There are various reasons why he may have hoped for a defeat or at least a major loss of prestige for the BBC. Part of the story is well known: the personal relationship between Murdoch and Blair was crucial to New Labour's electoral success. The British newspapers and television stations, owned by the previously conservative tycoon, had been firmly on Blair's side since his first meeting with the young, charismatic Labour leader. Britain's biggest tabloid newspaper, The Sun, played the leading role. It moved into the left-wing camp for the first time and even convinced moderate Conservatives to support Blair.
The other part is less well known: Greg Dyke, Director General of the BBC, has long been Murdoch's most persistent adversary. As a TV wunderkind at BskyB, Channel 5, and Itn, he has always worked strategically against Murdoch's expansionist ambitions. Under Dyke's aegis, the BBC regained its independence and aggressiveness, and he raised its profile as the most significant anti-Murdoch bastion.
And the BBC made headlines again, for example in the case of the American soldier Jessica Lynch, whose "heroic liberation" from Iraqi captivity had been staged by the Pentagon. In addition, the broadcaster planned a US campaign; BBC programs were to be distributed by a network of local television stations. A plan that the Australian media mogul did not like.
A few weeks later, Blair's former head of communications, Alastair Campbell, launched a fierce attack on Andrew Gilligan, the BBC broadcaster who had questioned the government's credibility. Until then, his program had hardly been noticed. It was Campbell himself who helped her make the breakthrough.
The rest - including the ruling of January 28 - is known. One newspaper reported Hutton's ruling in advance: Murdoch's Sun. And just one day later, his arch-rival Dyke announced his resignation. Coincidence? In any case, only one person benefited from the Kelly affair - and he is eloquently silent.
> Marcello Foa is head of foreign affairs at Il Giornale in Milan and co-director of the European Journalism Observatory at the University of Lugano.
That gives Marcello Foa food for thought.
Lord Justice Hutton's ruling in the Kelly case is becoming increasingly controversial. Formally, Tony Blair won, indeed triumphed. But it is precisely this that is now causing him a problem. Surveys show that the British public considers the Hutton report to be biased. The BBC is no longer seen as the sole culprit. Both Blair and the broadcaster have lost credibility. Meanwhile, there is one sure winner who has so far remained surprisingly in the background: Rupert Murdoch, who owns around 175 newspapers and TV stations on both sides of the Atlantic, from Sky to Fox News and the Times of London. There are various reasons why he may have hoped for a defeat or at least a major loss of prestige for the BBC. Part of the story is well known: the personal relationship between Murdoch and Blair was crucial to New Labour's electoral success. The British newspapers and television stations, owned by the previously conservative tycoon, had been firmly on Blair's side since his first meeting with the young, charismatic Labour leader. Britain's biggest tabloid newspaper, The Sun, played the leading role. It moved into the left-wing camp for the first time and even convinced moderate Conservatives to support Blair.
The other part is less well known: Greg Dyke, Director General of the BBC, has long been Murdoch's most persistent adversary. As a TV wunderkind at BskyB, Channel 5, and Itn, he has always worked strategically against Murdoch's expansionist ambitions. Under Dyke's aegis, the BBC regained its independence and aggressiveness, and he raised its profile as the most significant anti-Murdoch bastion.
And the BBC made headlines again, for example in the case of the American soldier Jessica Lynch, whose "heroic liberation" from Iraqi captivity had been staged by the Pentagon. In addition, the broadcaster planned a US campaign; BBC programs were to be distributed by a network of local television stations. A plan that the Australian media mogul did not like.
A few weeks later, Blair's former head of communications, Alastair Campbell, launched a fierce attack on Andrew Gilligan, the BBC broadcaster who had questioned the government's credibility. Until then, his program had hardly been noticed. It was Campbell himself who helped her make the breakthrough.
The rest - including the ruling of January 28 - is known. One newspaper reported Hutton's ruling in advance: Murdoch's Sun. And just one day later, his arch-rival Dyke announced his resignation. Coincidence? In any case, only one person benefited from the Kelly affair - and he is eloquently silent.
> Marcello Foa is head of foreign affairs at Il Giornale in Milan and co-director of the European Journalism Observatory at the University of Lugano.
