Sky could yet end up in Murdoch’s hands – and we know what that means

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/16/rupert-murdoch-sky-theresa-may

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She had no real choice. The culture secretary, Karen Bradley, this morning referred to Ofcom the Murdochs’ 21st Century Fox bid to take over all of Sky. Ownership of the remaining 61% would bring them enormous future profits and greatly expand, yet again, their control over British media.

But don’t imagine that political influence ends at Ofcom’s door. Although this is a quasi-judicial matter, so long as legal niceties are scrupulously obeyed, in the end Theresa May, via her culture secretary, will decide whether to give Rupert Murdoch what he wants.

From all that we now know about our increasingly unenigmatic prime minister, it doesn’t take much pressure from the right wing and its press for her to crumple spectacularly: ask her wretched chancellor this week.

Ruefully, we may recall her inspiring words on entering Downing Street: “When we take the big calls, we’ll think not of the powerful, but you. When we pass new laws, we’ll listen not to the mighty, but to you.” Here’s the most vital test of her willingness to stand up to the “powerful” and the “mighty”. Don’t hold your breath.

The grounds on which Bradley today referred the Sky bid are important, limited to questions of broadcasting standards, and of media plurality. What is just as crucial is an assessment of whether the Murdochs pass a “fit and proper” test to seize this dominating height of British broadcasting – which Ofcom now says it will do. Last time, remember, the Murdoch bid was withdrawn only at the last moment after the Guardian’s Nick Davies revealed the hacking of a dead child’s phone, exposing widespread malpractice that ended with 10 people jailed.

Rupert Murdoch’s fake “most humble day of [his] life” in front of the commons select committee hardly lasted that long. Usually a company shamed by disclosure of illegal and shameful behaviour cleans out everyone and starts again: never the Murdoch empire.

Rebekah Brooks, after a reported £10m payout, is back in her old job. What should be of special interest to Ofcom is that James Murdoch is now executive chairman of Sky, despite severe reprimands over his role at now rebranded News International. As a select committee report said, he showed “wilful ignorance of the extent of phone-hacking” and found him “guilty of an astonishing lack of curiosity” over it. Both father and son “should ultimately be prepared to take responsibility” for the outrages at News International.

Back in the last bid, the fact that James was only one director and the Murdochs only held a 39% share did not let his unsuitability stand in the way, but now he will be charge of the whole company. How fit is governance at 21st Century Fox, where Fox News is revealed by New York magazine as being under investigation by federal prosecutors for possibly covering up in accounts payoffs it made to silence former employees about sexual harassment? Bad governance is the hallmark of Murdoch operations.

Rupert Murdoch has always operated by launching media businesses that can twist politicians’ arms to let him skirt regulations and avoid taxes. Margaret Thatcher let him tear up media plurality laws to acquire unprecedented dominance in taking over the Times, Sunday Times, Sun and others. Again, Thatcher forced EU media content laws to be set aside so he could launch Sky.

John Major in his autobiography marks his downfall from the moment Murdoch turned his press against him. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, we know from Murdoch’s mouth, craved his approval. Now it emerges that since 2015, the Murdoch empire has had 20 ministerial meetings: 18 with the prime minister, chancellor or culture secretary, seven with Murdoch himself.

Murdoch’s Fox News has been instrumental in putting Donald Trump into the White House, and he is now a close Trump ally. The revelation that Michael Gove never mentioned that Murdoch was present at his recent “exclusive” Times interview with Trump was even more extraordinary than Murdoch’s presence itself. Given the unfolding investigations into the close relations between Trump’s coterie and Russian officials, oligarchs and hackers, Ofcom might consider refusing Murdoch’s bid as matter of national security.

Ofcom may stand firm, its chief executive Sharon White as straight as a die. But it doesn’t have the power to command documents be revealed or to force witnesses to attend – and, above all, the final decision doesn’t lie with Ofcom. It will only make a recommendation to the secretary of state, who is free to reject the regulator’s advice, so long as she is careful with the legal details.

Taking Ofcom’s advice into account, she could choose to make a deal with the Murdochs with an “undertaking in lieu”. They could offer, as they did before, to put Sky News into a separate independent entity for 10 years, to get over the media plurality issue. That deal was accepted by the government last time – before the hacking scandal blew it all apart. Does anyone seriously doubt May won’t accept some such deal this time round?

After 10 years, the deal last time said, Sky News would revert to Sky control. In those 10 years we can expect to see a groundswell of pressure to change the laws that impose strict impartiality on British broadcasting. Hear the drumbeat already. How stiff and staid is our TV news! How old-fashioned, in the new media circus of raucous opinion! Fox News makes a fortune, unlike Sky, which loses heavily, so take off the gag, let news be noisy and exciting!

The Murdochs tend to get their way. Alt-right news would become a norm, helping to shift British culture the way it has corrupted and corroded American discourse. Let’s see if May can stand up to the “powerful” and the “mighty” this time.