The Church of England has come out in opposition to Rupert Murdoch’s
News Corp.’s £7.8 billion ($12.4 billion) bid for the rest of British
Sky Broadcasting Group Plc.
The Church joined newspapers and other broadcasters in resisting the deal yesterday.
Both the Church of England and Methodist churches disinvested from BSkyB when it launched the Playboy Channel in 1995.
The Business Secretary Vince Cable has directed media regulator Ofcom
to review whether the takeover of Britain’s largest pay-TV operator by
the owner of four of the biggest-selling UK newspapers would give too
much media control to News Corp.
UK newspapers, the BBC and BT have called for the bid to be challenged.
In a submission to Ofcom, the Church's spokesman on media issues, the
Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, Bishop of Manchester, said: "There is an
ongoing need for strong and effective regulation of cross-media
ownership and media plurality. In Lord Puttnam’s words, the ‘overriding
interest of the citizen’ demands that there should be no diminution in
the range of views and voices that can hold government and other
interests to account. It is important to preserve a healthy media
environment in which many different and diverse organisations, including
public service broadcasters, can flourish.
"Our concerns are not about the nature of News Corporation: indeed,
we would make these comments whichever commercial organisation might
find itself in a potentially dominant market position.
"A News Corporation in full control of BSkyB would combine one of the
three significant suppliers of TV news (BBC, ITN and BSkyB), one of the
two suppliers of radio news (BBC, BSkyB) and the group with the biggest
market share of national press in the UK. It would dominate both the
television and newspaper landscape."
Many critics of the bid have highlighted the potential dangers to
the integrity of Sky News. Sky News has won a well-deserved reputation
for innovation and the quality of its journalism.
Though BSkyB is not a
public service broadcaster, Sky News contributes to public service
purposes in the broadest sense.
Even though its market share is small it
has, for example, often been an influential voice in political debate.
If BSkyB comes under the full control of News Corporation, however, the
fear is that even though Sky News would still have to abide by
requirements for due impartiality, there would always be the potential
for the exercise of subtle editorial influence, not least in the process
of selecting which news items are to be covered and which left out.
"In the case, therefore, that the bid is allowed, the public have a
right to expect, at the very minimum, an assurance that the independence
and editorial integrity of Sky News will be preserved. Even if the News
Corporation bid is not allowed, it would be a positive commitment to
media plurality if BSkyB were to take the opportunity to reassert its
existing commitment to the editorial independence of Sky News and its
continuing contribution to public service purposes."
Commenting on the Church’s statement, Jonathan Bartley, co-director
of the thinktank Ekklesia which monitors and analyses the Church’s
investment policies said: “What is notable about this intervention is
that the Church holds no big shareholdings in News Corporation or BSkyB
having disinvested on ethical grounds many years ago.
“The Church has justified the maintenance of shareholdings in
controversial companies over the last few years on the basis that this
gives it sway in the decisions that companies make. But here we see the
church campaigning on an issue despite having no financial interest.
Indeed, the Church may well be in a position to speak out more
forcefully and effectively, since it has no direct financial interest
which might compromise its position."
SIC: Ekklesia/UK