News International

In my blog of the 2nd June, I pointed to the dangers of big businesses becoming so large they have an impact on the way countries are run.
With this week's news, we can see that the media company News International is one such company.

Politicians need the oxygen of publicity and even more they need the support of newspapers for their policies. This can lead to an unhealthy alliance of the owners of the newspapers and people with influence. News International, owners of the News of the World, The Times, the Sunday Times and the Sun is in a position to influence voters and therefore must play a part in the exercise of democratic Government.

The Company is not only influential, it is also very wealthy and therefore, of course, very powerful. As I said in my previous blog, this can lead not only to the undermining of the democratic process, it can also impinge on the very essence of capitalism, when too many titles are held in the same hands. The people need to have confidence that decisions taken by politicians in respect of the News International take-over of B-Sky-B are in the public interest.