Is the BBC Just Like NewsCorp?

Andrew Sullivan takes me mildly to task for my comments on the Murdoch/NewsCorp scandal, arguing that NewsCorp never had a monopoly on the news in Britain and pointing out that I failed to mention the BBC, which is the world’s largest news organization and obviously a looming presence in British media. Two points. First, I never ...

Walt-Steve-foreign-policy-columnist20
Walt-Steve-foreign-policy-columnist20
Stephen M. Walt
By , a columnist at Foreign Policy and the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University.
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Andrew Sullivan takes me mildly to task for my comments on the Murdoch/NewsCorp scandal, arguing that NewsCorp never had a monopoly on the news in Britain and pointing out that I failed to mention the BBC, which is the world's largest news organization and obviously a looming presence in British media.

Andrew Sullivan takes me mildly to task for my comments on the Murdoch/NewsCorp scandal, arguing that NewsCorp never had a monopoly on the news in Britain and pointing out that I failed to mention the BBC, which is the world’s largest news organization and obviously a looming presence in British media.

Two points. First, I never said nor implied that Murdoch had a monopoly; my main point was it was a problem when "any single company or individual exercises excessive influence in media circles." Judging from the information released thus far, it seems clear that British politicians and public officials were intensely aware of the power that Murdoch & Co. wielded, and did a variety of regrettable things in an attempt to curry favor with them. 

Second, Andrew’s point about the BBC is well taken, at least in the abstract. A  government-sponsored media giant can also skew what citizens know or believe, as state-controlled media in various dictatorships demonstrates. In a democracy, however, these dangers can be ameliorated by regulatory measures designed to insulate state-subsidized media organizations from political pressure. I haven’t researched it in detail, but I’d argue that the BBC’s record over the years, while far from perfect, has displayed a level of journalistic integrity that far exceeds NewsCorp. And any organization that could bring us both HardTalk and Monty Python can’t be all bad.

But I take it that Sullivan and I agree on the main point: For democracy to function well, citizens have to be able to hear lots of competing views, including views that challenge powerful interests and the government. To me that is still the main lesson of the NewsCorp business.

Postscript: By the way, who has been Rupert Murdoch’s most effective defender? Not his wife Wendi, who demonstrated superb reflexes and excellent hand-eye coordination when a moron tried to throw a shaving cream pie at Murdoch during his testimony. In fact, it was the pie-thrower himself who did the most to aid Murdoch’s cause. Not only did this stupid act (temporarily) turn Murdoch into an object of sympathy, but it has led a raft of reporters and pundits to focus on Murdoch’s wife and her entertainingly deft response. In short, all the assailant managed to do was distract us (once again) from the bigger issues. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I might even suspect that the pie-thrower had been hired by NewsCorp to stage the attack, but even I don’t think they are that far gone.

Stephen M. Walt is a columnist at Foreign Policy and the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University. Twitter: @stephenwalt

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