Let's get down to the nitty gritty. Murdoch doesn't like the BBC, its website or its 24-hour news channel because it means he can't charge for the equivalent services that he offers when they're around. So he wants rid of them so that suddenly Sky News can be subscription only and he can charge for online content too without losing "customers" to the BBC.

Well I say [LIFTED] Murdoch, who's with me? As John Prescott pointed out recently, the BBC costs each household just 39p per day, which is less than half of a decent newspaper. The BBC, whilst not quite at the quality level I expect (there's a lot of dumbing-down I feel), is most certainly the best news broadcaster around at the moment.

I have absolutely no faith in BSKYB, Fox News or Sky News to present news in a manner that is impartial, to tell the whole story or even report stories that are negative for their companies/partners. Instead, they will use their news channel to push their own point-of-view, their own agenda and selectively report the news, much like Murdoch already does with the Scum.

There's already a thread here clciky

+1, and it'll never happen, but I'd find a neutral ground televised (or even online video debate) with, say, James Murdoch and the BBC's DG Mark Thompson very interesting

BBC's Robert Peston in furious face-to-face row with James Murdoch

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/au ... urdoch-bbc

While that was funny and informative , this bit caught my eye:



Doesn't exactly mark Ofcom out as being an 'independent regulator', does it? Especially considering he appears to already be voicing his views in a debate that could actually go somewhere...