ID :
194431
Tue, 07/12/2011 - 09:02
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/194431
The shortlink copeid
UK MPs campaign to prevent Murdoch controlling BSkyB
London, July 12, IRNA – A campaign has been launched in the British parliament calling on the government to block the country's main satellite broadcaster BskyB being taken over by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in the wake of the News of the World's phone hacking scandal.
The campaign comes as Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Monday that he is seeking fresh advice from media regulator Ofcom on the takeover, which he approved just before further details were revealed about the extent of the scandal embroiling Britain's top selling newspaper last week causing the paper to close down.
Hunt said that the closure of the 168-year-old weekly, which is part of Murdoch's existing press portfolio in Britain, made 'a significant change to the media landscape' and that he was asking for a new assessment of the controversial buy-out.
Opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband has also said that he plans to force a parliamentary vote on whether the BSkyB takeover should be delayed pending police inquiries into the hacking.
The scandal caused embarrassment to Prime Minister David Cameron last Friday when he was forced to defend his decision last year to hire former News of the World (NoW) editor Andy Coulson as his official spokesman just ahead of his arrest in connection with the phone hacking scandal.
The hacking scandal began with the jailing of a News of the World editor and private investigator in 2007 for intercepting voicemail messages left for members of the royal household. It led to Coulson's resignation at the paper and subsequent association with Cameron.
Allegations have since continued, regarding numerous public figures targeted by the interceptions over the years, and have extended to relatives of the UK soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and even voicemails left on a phone belonging to schoolgirl Milly Dowler murdered in 2002.
Calls on the government to stop the takeover are being led by veteran Labour MP Austin Mitchell, who raised an Early Day Motion in parliament last week, which condemned the government's approval while there were still “serious questions outstanding over phone hacking.”
“The takeover should not be approved whilst such questions are outstanding,” Mitchell said, urging ministers to intervene to stop the takeover and expanding influence of Murdoch's empire./end
The campaign comes as Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Monday that he is seeking fresh advice from media regulator Ofcom on the takeover, which he approved just before further details were revealed about the extent of the scandal embroiling Britain's top selling newspaper last week causing the paper to close down.
Hunt said that the closure of the 168-year-old weekly, which is part of Murdoch's existing press portfolio in Britain, made 'a significant change to the media landscape' and that he was asking for a new assessment of the controversial buy-out.
Opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband has also said that he plans to force a parliamentary vote on whether the BSkyB takeover should be delayed pending police inquiries into the hacking.
The scandal caused embarrassment to Prime Minister David Cameron last Friday when he was forced to defend his decision last year to hire former News of the World (NoW) editor Andy Coulson as his official spokesman just ahead of his arrest in connection with the phone hacking scandal.
The hacking scandal began with the jailing of a News of the World editor and private investigator in 2007 for intercepting voicemail messages left for members of the royal household. It led to Coulson's resignation at the paper and subsequent association with Cameron.
Allegations have since continued, regarding numerous public figures targeted by the interceptions over the years, and have extended to relatives of the UK soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and even voicemails left on a phone belonging to schoolgirl Milly Dowler murdered in 2002.
Calls on the government to stop the takeover are being led by veteran Labour MP Austin Mitchell, who raised an Early Day Motion in parliament last week, which condemned the government's approval while there were still “serious questions outstanding over phone hacking.”
“The takeover should not be approved whilst such questions are outstanding,” Mitchell said, urging ministers to intervene to stop the takeover and expanding influence of Murdoch's empire./end
