|
LONDON – A British minister in the hot seat for his alleged close ties toRupert Murdoch's media empire did lobby Prime Minister DavidCameron to back the tycoon's bid for satellite broadcaster BSkyB,according to a memo made public Thursday. Media Secretary Jeremy Hunt, whose close links to Murdoch's NewsCorp. have cast a cloud over his career, said in a Nov. 19, 2010,letter to Cameron that Murdoch's son James was "pretty furious"about the obstacles being put in the way of the New York-basedcompany's bid for the lucrative pay-TV provider. Hunt said in the memo that James Murdoch hoped themultibillion-pound bid would shake up Britain's media industry thesame way his father had done in the 1980s by revolutionizingnewspaper production when he battled the printing unions. "He wants to create the first multiplatform media operator," Huntwrote. "If we block it our media sector will suffer for years." Hunt's memo was written about a month before he was givenresponsibility for ruling on whether to refer Murdoch's bid tocompetition regulators — a vital quasi-judicial function thathe had promised to carry out impartially. The memo, whose existence was disclosed in testimony to along-running U.K. inquiry into media ethics, showed the degree towhich Hunt sympathized with the New York-based News Corp., whichhas since been plunged into scandal over phone hacking and othershady practices at its subsidiaries. Critics say News Corp.'s influence over U.K. politicians was one ofthe reasons the company was able to get away with wrongdoing inBritain for so long. The inquiry — led by Lord Justice BrianLeveson — is sifting through the scandal's fallout to findout whether press barons like Murdoch got too close to the policeand politicians meant to keep them in check. Whether Hunt acted fairly has been called into question by a massof emails and texts that suggest his office was bending overbackward to help Murdoch — for example by slipping NewsCorp.'s top European lobbyist Frederic Michel intelligence on theprogress of the potentially lucrative bid. The deal, if completed,would have increased News Corp.'s stake in BSkyB from 39.1 percentto 100 percent and reinforced the foundations of Murdoch's digitalempire. Fallout from the phone hacking scandal prompted Murdoch to withdrawthe plan last summer. Hunt has claimed that his special adviser Adam Smith went rogue,sharing too much information with the lobbyist Michel withoutproper authorization. Smith resigned when the evidence was madepublic. But Thursday's testimony did little to help repair Hunt'scredibility, with Michel saying the minister must have known aboutwhat Smith was up to. "I would have to assume that special advisers, and there are notmany around the secretary of state — there were two in thatcase — always represent the view of their boss," he said. "There (were) two or three events where I probably had theimpression that some of the feedback I was being given had beendiscussed with the secretary of state before it was given to me,"Michel added. The testimony also gave a feel for the scale of the contact betweenNews Corp. and Hunt's office. Michel made 191 telephone calls and sent 158 emails and 799 textsto Hunt's office between June 2010, when News Corp. announced itsbid to buy out other BSkyB shareholders, and July 2011, when thehacking scandal — which erupted at Murdoch's News of theWorld tabloid — forced him to drop the plan. Smith, who spoke briefly on Thursday, is to continue his testimonyFriday. Journalists at Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World routinelyhacked phones to get stories, bypassing weak security to illegallyeavesdrop on private conversations of politicians, celebrities,sports stars and other public figures. The scandal has rockedBritain's establishment, leading to the arrest of dozens of peopleand casting a harsh light on relations among Britain's press,politicians and police. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Silly Rubber Band , Yoga Stretch Band, and more. For more , please visit Silicone Kitchenware today!
Related Articles -
China Silly Rubber Band, Yoga Stretch Band,
|
