Rupert Murdoch visits a London that’s turned on him
Once wary of criticizing him, British politicians take square aim at the media billionaire weakened by the phone hacking scandal. Tabloid News of the World publishes its final issue Sunday…
He’s been one of the most powerful forces in British politics for decades, even though he doesn’t live here and can’t vote in an election. He’s been an honored guest at 10 Downing St., as well as one of the most feared.
But it’s an upside-down world that will greet media kingpin Rupert Murdoch when he arrives in London for an expected visit Sunday as he personally takes on the battle to keep an explosive phone-hacking scandal at one of his tabloids from sinking the rest of his business interests.
Almost overnight, open season has been declared on Murdoch, with politicians once too afraid to criticize him now lining up to rail against the Australian-born billionaire and his vast media holdings. The effect has been of a dam bursting in a country whose people are famed for their reticence.
“We have let one man have far too great a sway over our national life,” Chris Bryant, a member of the Labor Party, declared in Parliament.
“No other country would allow one man to garner four national newspapers, the second-largest broadcaster, a monopoly on sports rights and first-view movies,” Bryant told his fellow lawmakers last week. “America, the home of the aggressive entrepreneur, doesn’t allow it. We shouldn’t.”