Is The Left Overplaying Its Hand?
Donal Blaney issues a clarion call to stand up to what he terms "the stealth takeover of the media by the BBC, the Guardian, the Labour Party and their union paymasters".
13 Jul 2011, 23:49
I rarely gamble. Once when I lived in the Caribbean, I enjoyed an evening of poker, beers and cigars. Not being as familiar with the game as I now am, I could barely conceal my excitement when I realised I was holding a full house, queens high. Glancing at my pile of chips, I went all in. Next to me my colleague, Kenroy, glowered over his shades. My heart sank. He too went all in. Another full house. Kings high. I had overplayed my hand.
That incident came to mind this morning as I reflected on the leftist establishment's continue campaign against Rupert Murdoch. This is, as I have said before, not about media plurality or journalistic ethics. It is about revenge, plain and simple.
For the BBC it is a chance to cement its media dominance after two decades of growth of BSkyB's reach onto what it regards as its turf.
For News International's struggling competitors it presents a second chance to rescue dying newspaper titles as big beasts from the Murdoch stable fall.
For the unions that fund the Labour Party it is a chance for revenge for Wapping.
For Labour, and particularly the Brownites, it is a chance to get revenge for "It Was The Sun Wot Won It", incessant attacks on Foot, Kinnock and Brown and for Labour Party to cleanse its soul after years of kow-towing to the Murdoch press.
So far the witch hunt is going well from the leftist establishment's perspective. Piously the Guardian and its broadcast arm, the BBC, sit and tut-tut at the Murdochs. Fingers are wagged. Heads are shaken. The words "foreign conglomerate" are spat out with a level of xenophobic class-hating venom not seen since the end of Soviet communism.
A supine government, neutered because the Conservatives somehow failed to win the election that could not be lost in May 2010, is battered hither and thither in the wind. U-turn follows u-turn. With friends like these, who needs enemies?
And yet.
Yesterday Gordon Brown made a complete arse of himself by making wild and unsubstantiated accusations that have proven to be false. It is not news that Gordon Brown lied. He has lied before (how's this period of abolished boom and bust going for you, by the way?). But it is the hysteria and hyperbole surrounding his latest intervention that is particularly noteworthy.
It is as if the leftist establishment - the chattering classes - know that if they do not strike to kill the wounded Murdoch beast, then it will slink away, recover and return stronger than before to wreak unholy revenge on those who dared to attack.
And that is the mess that the leftist establishment is getting itself into. Bereft of statesmen and leadership, the Labour Party is thrashing around to be heard above the din. The BSkyB bid? Sure, let's throw it to the wolves! Rebekah Brooks? Burn her! Rupert Murdoch? Hang him from the nearest tree!!
So far the hacking affair has not had any appreciable effect on public opinion and the political parties' standings. This is not Black Wednesday or the MPs' expenses scandal, no matter how hard Labour and the BBC try. It is the tip of an iceberg that risks submerging all newspapers. The sight of the Mirror and the Mail, in particular, throwing stones at the Murdochs is particularly galling and hypocritical.
The leftist establishment has a goal. The Guardian has been blunt about it. That goal would see a free press muzzled, protecting those who wield power from scrutiny and endangering our fundamental right to freedom of expression.
The Founding Fathers understood this in America, hence the First Amendment. Sadly we have no such protection under English law. Instead we rely on the calm judgment of those we elect to protect our ancient liberties. For centuries that was enough. Now the leftist establishment sees a chance to reshape Britain once and for all.
Having failed to impose its worldview through communism, socialism and after the failures of nationalisation, now the left looks to use regulation as a less overt means to stifle, control and intimidate those it wishes to rule over.
A regulated press is not a free press. While of course there must be safeguards in terms of privacy and defamation, the courts can and should provide a much fairer way of redressing grievances.
But if we don't wake up and stop panicking about what the nasty BBC will say if we dare to stand against the tide of partisan invective that is polluting Westminster this week, we will lose our free press and true media plurality will be destroyed to the lasting gain of the BBC and their friends in the Labour Party, the unions and the Guardian.
The stakes are that high. Wake up.
That incident came to mind this morning as I reflected on the leftist establishment's continue campaign against Rupert Murdoch. This is, as I have said before, not about media plurality or journalistic ethics. It is about revenge, plain and simple.
For the BBC it is a chance to cement its media dominance after two decades of growth of BSkyB's reach onto what it regards as its turf.
For News International's struggling competitors it presents a second chance to rescue dying newspaper titles as big beasts from the Murdoch stable fall.
For the unions that fund the Labour Party it is a chance for revenge for Wapping.
For Labour, and particularly the Brownites, it is a chance to get revenge for "It Was The Sun Wot Won It", incessant attacks on Foot, Kinnock and Brown and for Labour Party to cleanse its soul after years of kow-towing to the Murdoch press.
So far the witch hunt is going well from the leftist establishment's perspective. Piously the Guardian and its broadcast arm, the BBC, sit and tut-tut at the Murdochs. Fingers are wagged. Heads are shaken. The words "foreign conglomerate" are spat out with a level of xenophobic class-hating venom not seen since the end of Soviet communism.
A supine government, neutered because the Conservatives somehow failed to win the election that could not be lost in May 2010, is battered hither and thither in the wind. U-turn follows u-turn. With friends like these, who needs enemies?
And yet.
Yesterday Gordon Brown made a complete arse of himself by making wild and unsubstantiated accusations that have proven to be false. It is not news that Gordon Brown lied. He has lied before (how's this period of abolished boom and bust going for you, by the way?). But it is the hysteria and hyperbole surrounding his latest intervention that is particularly noteworthy.
It is as if the leftist establishment - the chattering classes - know that if they do not strike to kill the wounded Murdoch beast, then it will slink away, recover and return stronger than before to wreak unholy revenge on those who dared to attack.
And that is the mess that the leftist establishment is getting itself into. Bereft of statesmen and leadership, the Labour Party is thrashing around to be heard above the din. The BSkyB bid? Sure, let's throw it to the wolves! Rebekah Brooks? Burn her! Rupert Murdoch? Hang him from the nearest tree!!
So far the hacking affair has not had any appreciable effect on public opinion and the political parties' standings. This is not Black Wednesday or the MPs' expenses scandal, no matter how hard Labour and the BBC try. It is the tip of an iceberg that risks submerging all newspapers. The sight of the Mirror and the Mail, in particular, throwing stones at the Murdochs is particularly galling and hypocritical.
The leftist establishment has a goal. The Guardian has been blunt about it. That goal would see a free press muzzled, protecting those who wield power from scrutiny and endangering our fundamental right to freedom of expression.
The Founding Fathers understood this in America, hence the First Amendment. Sadly we have no such protection under English law. Instead we rely on the calm judgment of those we elect to protect our ancient liberties. For centuries that was enough. Now the leftist establishment sees a chance to reshape Britain once and for all.
Having failed to impose its worldview through communism, socialism and after the failures of nationalisation, now the left looks to use regulation as a less overt means to stifle, control and intimidate those it wishes to rule over.
A regulated press is not a free press. While of course there must be safeguards in terms of privacy and defamation, the courts can and should provide a much fairer way of redressing grievances.
But if we don't wake up and stop panicking about what the nasty BBC will say if we dare to stand against the tide of partisan invective that is polluting Westminster this week, we will lose our free press and true media plurality will be destroyed to the lasting gain of the BBC and their friends in the Labour Party, the unions and the Guardian.
The stakes are that high. Wake up.
Comments (4)
Subscribe to this posts's comments feed
I have a feeling that despite the left's best efforts, this is playing out to the longer term advantage of the broadcast media, and in particular Mr Murdoch.
The politicians will fail, because it is clear that the Murdoch empire, divested of its papers, will easily pass any competition test put before it. The EU has already established this, and the size of the BBC will always be the counter argument. They will have to prove Murdoch personally culpable to press the idea of 'the fit and proper test' - and unless he is charged with a criminal offence he will challenge it at judicial review and win. N.I.is not News Corp, it is only a subsidiary.
The print media however, will be forever diminished - the Guardian/Indy group will have its offshore funds looked at for certain before long, the Sun and heavily loss making Times will probably change hands. The Mirror group is deeper mired in this scandal than N.I., the shoe just hasn't dropped yet, and the Mail is hardly cleaner than clean. The Telegraph might be temporarily safe, but revenge for the expenses scandal would be sweet for the political class.
Then there will be two big players in the field - Murdoch/Sky and the BBC - and Murdoch will keep not only Sky News, but expect to see a truly right wing style news chanel coming to a screen near you before 2015.
14/07/2011 07:48The left is going for broke and who can blame it. The absurd attacks on the BBC come from a right wing fundamentalism that can't bear dissent and there's an argument that their neo-liberal experiment isn't as perfect and flawless and they wish us to believe.
God bless the BBC and the Guardian. They have an agenda, sure, but it's as nothing to the vicious reality distortions of the 'tory press'.
14/07/2011 12:14Regardless of your comical over-analysis, I think the BBC, Labour and any politico with an ounce of sense know that something like this happening 4 years from the general election aren't going to make the blindest bit of difference. Cameron would have had to have hacked Milly's phone himself.
But if your tribalism means that due to the "right wing press" being attacked you feel compelled to somehow blame the outcome on the BBC (?!) then feel free. I'll be sure to treat it with the same "respect" I extend to Liberal Conspiracy - ie, read with amusement then dismiss as tin-foil hat rubbish.
14/07/2011 15:27Of course, when Mr Monbiot said: "This media is corrupt – we need a Hippocratic oath for journalists" he was, of course, not referring to himself. But "That lot over there."
17/07/2011 23:55