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Global Journalism Review

The Guardian goes behind the scenes

Murdoch’s classic move on Channel Five

The full story of a classic move by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch was told in The Guardian on January 3 in a special report by David Leigh and Rob Evans. They showed that Freedom of Information files released to the paper revealed how Murdoch wields extensive lobbying clout over the Blair government. He secured private reassurances from ministers during heavy lobbying that he would be able to buy Channel Five if he wanted to, according to partly censored documents released by the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell.

Representatives of the Murdoch empire “were able to lobby ministers six times in a crucial five-month period when an important bill was passing through parliament. Citizens' groups have said they were unable to get similar face-to-face access to ministers.”

There two writers looked at the longstanding speculation that Murdoch wanted to buy Five, although he had denied it. They say his opponents feared that he would exert too much power if he was able to own a terrestrial channel as well as the satellite station Sky.

“In what was called the ‘Murdoch clause’, ministers proposed to relax the rules and allow newspaper owners to buy terrestrial television channels. Campaigners have alleged the clause was inserted by Downing Street after Mr Murdoch lobbied Tony Blair. It provoked fierce opposition from MPs and peers led by Lord Puttnam, the film-maker.”

The bill became law in July 2003. The documents released under FoI provisions showed that as the bill started to go through the Commons in 2003, Murdoch's lobbyists stepped up pressure on ministers. “They wanted to confirm their free hand to take over other papers and TV stations.”

The documents showed that Les Hinton, the chief executive of News International, led a group of newspaper industry executives who met Ms Jowell on February 13. Top of the agenda were proposals in the bill to reform the rules under which newspaper owners could buy other papers.

The Guardian article says that ten days later, on February 24, “Ms Jowell went to a News International drinks party for the outgoing Sun editor, David Yelland. Shortly afterwards, she had a private lunch with Mr Hinton, on March 5. On April 2, three Sky executives met Ms Jowell to set out their concerns about the bill. Sky's chief executive, Tony Ball, head of government affairs, Sheila Cassells, and lawyer Deanna Bates presented Ms Jowell with a list of their worries.”

The writers continue: “The Sky executives were troubled about one of the main clauses of the bill which imposed a specific duty on the new regulator, Ofcom, to maintain a diverse range of owners of television and radio stations. According to the briefing papers prepared before the meeting by Ms Jowell's officials, Sky ‘are querying whether this duty could be used to block the government's liberalisation of cross-media ownership rules or to block a merger of licensees’".

Ms Jowell was advised to reassure the Sky executives that there would be no impediment to buying Five. "Ofcom will not be able to block mergers by virtue of this duty nor will it be able to make a 'U-turn' on the Channel Five ownership policy. In other words, it will not be allowed to reinstate the ownership rules preventing Channel Five licences to be held by newspaper proprietors."

The Guardian article continues: “The partially censored minutes of the meeting say: ‘The secretary of state made it clear this is not our intention, and said we would be happy to say so in parliament.’ The documents also show that at the April meeting, Sky protested at government plans to charge fees for registering satellite broadcasters in the same way as terrestrial television and radio stations. In May, Ms Jowell wrote personally to Mr Ball answering several points that he had raised in the meeting. She again reassured him that ‘there is no intention that [the clause] could be used to block a merger’".

When they approached Sky, the company said that the executives were merely "seeking clarification" of the government's plans, adding : "We have stated then and since that Sky is not intending to buy Channel Five. We are very insistent on that point."

Granville Williams, of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, said after studying the files that Sky's lobbying showed "they certainly do have some interest in the acquisition of Channel Five, although they know that it would be foolish to state this publicly until they are ready to make a move".

Read the full documents at guardian.co.uk/freedom or at politics.guardian.co.uk/foi

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