BBC launches public attack on Murdoch 'imperialism'
By Vincent Graff, Media and Culture Editor
25 August 2003
The controller of BBC1 launched an unprecedented attack on Rupert Murdoch
yesterday, calling the media billionaire a "capital imperialist" who wants
to destabilise the corporation because he "is against everything the BBC
stands for".
Lorraine Heggessey said Mr Murdoch's continued attacks on the BBC stemmed
from a dislike of the public sector. But he did not understand that the
British people "have a National Health Service, a public education system"
and trust organisations that are there for the benefit of society and not
driven by profit.
Her controversial comments, in an interview with The Independent, are
believed to be the first time a senior BBC executive has publicly attacked
the motives of the media tycoon. They follow an intensification of anti-BBC
rhetoric from Mr Murdoch's side.
The BBC has been alarmed by the increasingly close relationship between the
Government and Mr Murdoch's British newspapers, at a time when the BBC's
relationship with New Labour is strained as never before. The frostiness of
the relationship has raised speculation that the Government will consider
abolishing the licence fee in its forthcoming review of the BBC's charter.
Ms Heggessey's remarks will cheer supporters of the corporation who fear
the BBC has kept quiet for too long in the face of attack from Mr Murdoch
and his most senior employees.
Her comments come in the wake of a speech to the country's senior
broadcasting executives by Tony Ball, chief executive of British Sky
Broadcasting, in which Mr Murdoch's News Corporation is the major shareholder.
Mr Ball told the Edinburgh International Television Festival last week that
the BBC ought to be forced to sell its most successful programmes, such as
EastEnders, Casualty and Have I Got News For You to its commercial rivals,
who would screen all future episodes instead. The money raised by such
sales should then be ploughed into experimental programming, he said.
Executives at the BBC and elsewhere see the plan as a Murdoch-inspired
attempt to cripple the corporation by depriving it of its most popular
shows - and the large audiences that go with them.
Mr Ball told a questioner at the festival that it "would not be such a
disaster" if the BBC were eventually to become a marginal broadcaster.
But Ms Heggessey retorted: "It wouldn't be such a disaster for Sky because
he hopes that the less successful we become, the more people will subscribe
to Sky. It would be a disaster for the BBC."
Supporters of the BBC say Mr Ball's proposal, intended to influence the
Government's hand as it considers the renewal of the BBC's charter, follows
relentlessly negative reports in Mr Murdoch's British newspapers about the
BBC's conduct in the David Kelly affair. The Times and The Sun, in
particular, have come under attack for what is perceived as anti-BBC bias.
"I would suspect that everybody who works for Rupert Murdoch knows what he
expects of them and they know that if they don't deliver they will be
booted out," said Ms Heggessey. Newspaper readers "know when they are being
peddled a line," she added.
In his speech, Mr Ball proposed two further restrictions to be placed on
the BBC, which he argued would prevent the corporation it from straying too
far into territory he regards as the sole domain of commercial broadcasters
such as his own.
The BBC should be banned from buying any foreign-made material, he said.
This would prevent the BBC from pushing up the price of American sitcoms,
Hollywood movies and Australian soap operas, the staples of many commercial
channels. "I really cannot see why public money is being diverted to those
poor struggling Hollywood studios," he said.
Ms Heggessey said BBC1 did not run any overseas-originated programmes
during peak time but "the audience expects us to run movies and we do"
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<h1><b>BBC launches public attack on Murdoch 'imperialism'<br><br>
<br>
</b></h1><h3><b>By Vincent Graff, Media and Culture Editor</b></h3>25
August 2003<br><br>
The controller of BBC1 launched an unprecedented attack on Rupert Murdoch
yesterday, calling the media billionaire a "capital
imperialist" who wants to destabilise the corporation because he
"is against everything the BBC stands for".<br><br>
Lorraine Heggessey said Mr Murdoch's continued attacks on the BBC stemmed
from a dislike of the public sector. But he did not understand that the
British people "have a National Health Service, a public education
system" and trust organisations that are there for the benefit of
society and not driven by profit.<br><br>
Her controversial comments, in an interview with <i>The Independent</i>,
are believed to be the first time a senior BBC executive has publicly
attacked the motives of the media tycoon. They follow an intensification
of anti-BBC rhetoric from Mr Murdoch's side.<br><br>
The BBC has been alarmed by the increasingly close relationship between
the Government and Mr Murdoch's British newspapers, at a time when the
BBC's relationship with New Labour is strained as never before. The
frostiness of the relationship has raised speculation that the Government
will consider abolishing the licence fee in its forthcoming review of the
BBC's charter.<br><br>
Ms Heggessey's remarks will cheer supporters of the corporation who fear
the BBC has kept quiet for too long in the face of attack from Mr Murdoch
and his most senior employees.<br><br>
Her comments come in the wake of a speech to the country's senior
broadcasting executives by Tony Ball, chief executive of British Sky
Broadcasting, in which Mr Murdoch's News Corporation is the major
shareholder.<br><br>
Mr Ball told the Edinburgh International Television Festival last week
that the BBC ought to be forced to sell its most successful programmes,
such as <i>EastEnders</i>, <i>Casualty</i> and <i>Have I Got News For
You</i> to its commercial rivals, who would screen all future episodes
instead. The money raised by such sales should then be ploughed into
experimental programming, he said.<br><br>
Executives at the BBC and elsewhere see the plan as a Murdoch-inspired
attempt to cripple the corporation by depriving it of its most popular
shows - and the large audiences that go with them.<br><br>
Mr Ball told a questioner at the festival that it "would not be such
a disaster" if the BBC were eventually to become a marginal
broadcaster.<br><br>
But Ms Heggessey retorted: "It wouldn't be such a disaster for Sky
because he hopes that the less successful we become, the more people will
subscribe to Sky. It would be a disaster for the BBC."<br><br>
Supporters of the BBC say Mr Ball's proposal, intended to influence the
Government's hand as it considers the renewal of the BBC's charter,
follows relentlessly negative reports in Mr Murdoch's British newspapers
about the BBC's conduct in the David Kelly affair. <i>The Times</i> and
<i>The Sun</i>, in particular, have come under attack for what is
perceived as anti-BBC bias.<br><br>
"I would suspect that everybody who works for Rupert Murdoch knows
what he expects of them and they know that if they don't deliver they
will be booted out," said Ms Heggessey. Newspaper readers "know
when they are being peddled a line," she added.<br><br>
In his speech, Mr Ball proposed two further restrictions to be placed on
the BBC, which he argued would prevent the corporation it from straying
too far into territory he regards as the sole domain of commercial
broadcasters such as his own.<br><br>
The BBC should be banned from buying any foreign-made material, he said.
This would prevent the BBC from pushing up the price of American sitcoms,
Hollywood movies and Australian soap operas, the staples of many
commercial channels. "I really cannot see why public money is being
diverted to those poor struggling Hollywood studios," he
said.<br><br>
Ms Heggessey said BBC1 did not run any overseas-originated programmes
during peak time but "the audience expects us to run movies and we
do"<br><br>
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