» SubscribeMain section
-
Top story
Leveson Inquiry shock news: Rupert Murdoch says his political influence was just 'a myth'
Nicholas Jones
DATELINE: 25/4/12
It has been a wait of nigh on thirty years to hear a chapter and verse explanation of the unprecedented access which Rupert Murdoch has enjoyed with successive Prime Ministers as he shamelessly exploited the pages of the Sun to influence the course of British politics. But time again, as Murdoch was confronted at the Leveson Inquiry (25 April 2012) with entries from an engagement diary and telephone log which stretched back as far as a hitherto secret lunch at Chequers with Margaret Thatcher in 1981, Murdoch denied the recollections of those involved and their interpretation of events.
He was adamant that he had never used the Sun – or any of his other newspapers – to further his commercial interests. Robert Jay QC was left floundering as he struggled to persuade Murdoch to accept that there must have been a pay-off for the Sun's endorsement during general election campaigns; and that even if there was no empirical basis for thinking there was a quid pro quo that was at least the perception and the influence of the Murdoch press had distorted the democratic process. Murdoch smiled enigmatically at Jay's life line: "Yes that perception irritates me...because I think it is a myth. Everything I do every day proves it is a myth."
All those who have had dealings down the years with Murdoch's press and television companies must have been screaming at Jay to ask the necessary rejoinder: Was Murdoch seriously trying to suggest that the repeated failure of governments to refer Murdoch's take-overs and acquisitions to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and to other regulators was just a happy coincidence? Why were the business interests of News International safeguarded so frequently? Whether it was Police protection at Wapping, a loophole to keep out the trade unions or a refusal to investigate predatory pricing Murdoch had invariably managed to get his way.
His replies were a master class in obfuscation. He never wavered in his stance: it was Prime Ministers who initiated meetings or telephone calls and when it came to the accounts of others, from former editors Sir Harold Evans and Andrew Neil, to diarists such as Alastair Campbell and Lance Price or the likes of Woodrow Wyatt and Jonathan Aitken, he either could not remember what happened or their versions were incorrect.
When asked about his 1981 meeting with Mrs Thatcher in advance of his purchase of Times Newspapers, he denied that one of the issues was his determination to defeat the printing unions (a point faithfully recorded in Bernard Ingham's note of the discussion): "I didn't have the will to crush the unions, I might have had that desire but that took several years."
He had never asked Mrs Thatcher for anything and the same went for Tony Blair. "I, in ten years he was in power, never asked Blair for anything, nor did I receive any favours." Murdoch rejected Jay's assertion that he must have discussed his newspapers' support for the Iraq War during three telephone calls with Blair in 2003. "I don't remember the calls."
When it came to the Sun abandoning Gordon Brown at the 2009 Labour Party Conference, Murdoch acknowledged there had been a fraught conversation. Brown said: "Your company has declared war on my government and we have no alternative to make war on your company. I said 'I'm sorry about that Gordon, thank you for calling' and that was that."
But of all the telling contradictions in Murdoch's testimony perhaps the most revealing was his repeated mantra that the Sun was interested in political issues and not political parties. Therefore Prime Ministers had no need to keep seeking his views: "If Gordon Brown – or any other Prime Minister – wanted my opinion he only had to read editorials in the Sun." Again the obvious supplementary eluded Robert Jay: how did News International's editors know instinctively the line to take if Murdoch was not giving instructions to his editors?
ends
Last modified: Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Your comments:
Does nobody wonder why NOT A SINGLE BAD WORD has ever been said about J.K.Rowling in any of Murdoch's rags or the fact that she is bosom friends with Gordon Brown? Or why the case against her - The Willy the Wizard case was treated there so badly... if at all, the whole thing stifled out of existence just as it was by Schillings later on in the High Court.... not that there could possibly be a connection. Perish the thought!
Posted by: John Clarke: 27 Jun, 2012 00:38:41
» Click here to add your comment.
Comments will be subject to approval and should not be defamatory, obscene, racist, in breach of copyright, or contrary to law. The CPBF is not reponsible for any views expressed here.
Previous Leveson Inquiry stories
Now we come to the dark heart of this strange affair
Leveson Inquiry: Rupert Murdoch and son to appear
Money talks: no wonder so many rival journalists were beaten by the Sun's exclusive stories
If the Sun hates attacks on press freedom, how must it despise itself!
Jeremy Hunt calls for regulation of press content free of political interference...but no promise that politicians will refrain from meddling in media ownership
Iraq War: "Implacable support" of Murdoch press a key factor for Blair
Women's groups - Leveson must back ban on sexualized images in media
Ofcom and BSkyB bid: We should have looked at News Corporation's political influence
Leveson Inquiry: PCC chief says appetite for fresh start
Chilling effect on BBC journalism of licence freeze: a warning to Leveson Inquiry
Co-ordinating Committee for Media Reform call for change
BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten rebukes David Cameron
Opinion: "Leveson: reasons to be wary of press promises"
Cameron's links with the Murdoch press: only superficial probing at Leveson
Press Freedom: a democratic rubric
Leveson Inquiry edges closer to Cameron
James Murdoch 'shown damning email'
Rupert Murdoch met David Cameron at Downing Street twice during BSkyB bid
The Leveson Inquiry: Should We Care?
Leveson Inquiry kicks off but ministers could still act
Ditch the PCC: CPBF backs inquiry into the ethics and culture of the press
-
Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
-
Previous stories
Leveson Inquiry
Now we come to the dark heart of this strange affair
Leveson Inquiry: Rupert Murdoch and son to appear
Money talks: no wonder so many rival journalists were beaten by the Sun's exclusive stories
If the Sun hates attacks on press freedom, how must it despise itself!
Jeremy Hunt calls for regulation of press content free of political interference...but no promise that politicians will refrain from meddling in media ownership
Iraq War: "Implacable support" of Murdoch press a key factor for Blair
Women's groups - Leveson must back ban on sexualized images in media
Ofcom and BSkyB bid: We should have looked at News Corporation's political influence
Leveson Inquiry: PCC chief says appetite for fresh start
Chilling effect on BBC journalism of licence freeze: a warning to Leveson Inquiry
Co-ordinating Committee for Media Reform call for change
BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten rebukes David Cameron
Opinion: "Leveson: reasons to be wary of press promises"
Cameron's links with the Murdoch press: only superficial probing at Leveson
Press Freedom: a democratic rubric
Leveson Inquiry edges closer to Cameron
James Murdoch 'shown damning email'
Rupert Murdoch met David Cameron at Downing Street twice during BSkyB bid
The Leveson Inquiry: Should We Care?
Leveson Inquiry kicks off but ministers could still act
Ditch the PCC: CPBF backs inquiry into the ethics and culture of the press
