Mark Thompson’s MacTaggart Lecture impressed many with its effective rebuttal of James Murdoch‘s earlier address and its principled defence of public-service broadcasting.
A significant chunk of the speech was devoted to Sky, which the BBC director general criticised for not investing enough in original British programming. Thompson also warned that, if successful, Rupert Murdoch’s bid to take full ownership of BSkyB (News Corp already owns a 39 per cent stake) would lead to a “concentration of cross-media ownership which would not be allowed in the United States or Australia”.
But you wouldn’t know it if you only read the Times. The News Corp-owned paper reported on Thompson’s speech (£) but somehow glanced over his remarks on Sky and its parent company. Contrast that with the approach of the BBC, which last year reported extensively on James Murdoch’s polemical assault on its “chilling” ambitions.
The paper’s failure to report Thompson’s speech properly certainly wasn’t due to a lack of interest in the Edinburgh TV Festival or in the BBC. So here, in full, are links to every story published by the paper and its Sunday sister since the festival began:
Big names to depart BBC as director general pledges deeper cuts 28 August
BBC must allow competition, says Culture Secretary 28 August
Simpson rails at BBC over fat-cat pay deals 29 August
BBC should be cut down to size, warns Michael Grade 29 August
Open up all your accounts or else, BBC is warned by Culture Secretary 30 August
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