This is something everybody seems to agree upon: the evil Murdoch Media Empire played dirty and must now pay the price. This article doesn’t intend in any way to condone the use of bribe, beach of privacy, or support any moral assault on people who are already victims. Yet there is another story behind this story and most media outlets seem to ignore it.
Media and Power, Power and Media
More or less controlled by (and not necessarily 100% obedient to) commercial interests, in the free world Media is one of the few ways people can have access to what’s happening behind the closed doors of the various structures of Power. In some cases, journalists use non-orthodox methods to gather information. This information creates the modern panem et circenses. Bred for the journalists themselves and their bosses, yes, but also circus, fun, entertainment and, last but not least, knowledge for the masses.
Partnership between media and financial and/or political interests is common. Many politicians have been on the other side of the pen, microphone or camera not long before becoming who they are now. Normally, politicians and journalists don’t cut each other’s throats. Even less common is for a journalist to attack another.
Surely, there are many other dirty stories of dubious methods used by the media, yet they don’t usually surface. What makes this one special? It’s the timing.
Poor old Rupert looked like a granddad not yet out of his pajamas when the postman called in with the news and it took him days to realize what was actually happening. This proves he had no clue, which, in turn, proves there had been thorough planning into this. If the most powerful media magnate couldn’t get a hint of what was going to come, the information leak had to be sourced inside circles that not even the many sources of the Murdoch Empire had any access to. This kind of information doesn’t just leak. If it leaks,it stops before hitting the front page.
So timing: why release this bombshell in July 2011, years after the hacking had taken place? The answer is, at a superficial level at least, obvious: the deal over BSkyB had to be prevented at any cost.
Who Is to Benefit?
Just ponder: if BSkyB doesn’t change hands, who is to benefit? Not only economically, but politically. Who so desperately needs the status qvo in British Media? Who’s hiding behind the smoke screen?