More cracks in Old Media: James Murdoch’s tirade at the BBC

DUNCAN GRANT
Thank you Tasmanian Times for a free and open source of news, debate and opinion. Contrast this to James Murdoch’s extraordinary attack on the BBC which he claims threatens independent journalism. What he means of course is that public broadcasters such as the BBC and ABC threaten his ability to make even more money. Mr Murdoch claimed that free news on the web provided by the BBC made it “incredibly difficult” for private news organisations to ask people to pay for their news. Murdoch is perhaps suggesting that all news information should be paid for and that public broadcasters should introduce pay for view charges creating a level playing field with the private news organisations. In my humble opinion, access to information, including knowledge and news, should be a human right, and any attempt to weaken public broadcasters is an attack on this right. It is shameful that Murdoch uses the cry of `independent journalism’ where if he had his way the middle classes would be fed on a corporate world view while the poor would wallow in ignorance.