Jeremy Hunt says he'll let Rupert Murdoch own all of BSkyB, despite the hacking outrages. We have 48 hours to flood the public consultation with requests to stop the deal, and call on the government to initiate a public inquiry into the hacking scandals. Let's save our media and democracy. Send a message now.
Dear friends across the UK,
Last week Jeremy Hunt said he'll allow Murdoch to own all of BSkyB. Now a series of reports of criminal and indecent Murdoch journalism are coming out -- hacking murdered Milly Dowler, the Soham girls, and the 7/7 families! We have 48 hours to flood the BSkyB public consultation and stop the deal.
We've done it before -- in the last consultation Hunt said our avalanche of 40,000 messages delayed the deal as his officials had to read each email carefully, fearing a legal challenge. Now our voices could halt the deal and get a full inquiry into this vile hacking.
Murdoch's media tramples standards and ignores ethics, and the whole country is horrified. But the government is pushing to give him full control of our largest commercial broadcaster. It's an outrage and threatens the very pillars of our democracy! The official consultation ends on Friday. Send a message now calling on Hunt and Cameron to refuse Murdoch's BSkyB deal until there's a full Competition Commission review and a full public inquiry into phone hacking:
www.avaaz.org/en/murdoch_messages
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation already owns 40% of British newspapers and 40% of BSkyB, the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster. In the US, Australia and elsewhere this degree of media dominance would not be allowed. News Corporation has admitted responsibility for hacking the phones of politicians and celebrities, and now stands accused of listening to messages of a murdered 13 year old girl. But our government wants to give Murdoch power over half of our media, allowing him to then squeeze out his rivals one by one.
Since November we’ve repeatedly rallied to stop Murdoch. We've sent messages, phoned ministers, done stunts, and funded adverts and legal challenges. Jeremy Hunt says our actions have delayed the deal and persuaded him to make changes to how Sky News will be treated if Murdoch takes over BSkyB. He's had to hire extra lawyers and is nervous about a battle in the courts. We're making an impact, but the conditions Hunt plans to put on the takeover won't work, as Murdoch regularly runs rings round regulators.
Now is the moment to stand up for our media and our democracy and build pressure on the government. Let's send messages calling on Jeremy Hunt and David Cameron to refuse Murdoch's BSkyB deal until the deal has been reviewed by the Competition Commission and a full judge led public inquiry into the hacking scandal is conducted and completed. Send a message now, and encourage your friends to do so.
www.avaaz.org/en/murdoch_messages
An independent and diverse media is vital for holding governments to account and should not be in the hands of someone known for unethical journalistic practices and who often seeks favours in return for endorsing politicians and parties. But people power can stop this deal. If we all stand up together now in the UK, we’ll give hope to independent media advocates across the world.
With hope and determination,
Loup Dargent
On behalf of Alex, Sam, Brianna, Alice, Ricken, Luis and the whole Avaaz team
More information
- Power that threatens both an industry and democracy
- News Corp's battle for BSkyB shows global ambition
- News Corp/BSkyB deal underlines Murdoch's political clout
- Rupert Murdoch: Empire of the Sun
- Police to meet NoW executives over Milly hacking claims
- Cameron: Dowler phone hack allegations 'truly dreadful'
- 7/7 families may be phone hacking victims
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