Is the BBC about to be the next battle-ground?

Is the BBC about to be the next battle-ground?

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But have its detractors failed to get their case over? There’ve been lots of rumblings during the past three weeks about the size and the dominating impact impact of the BBC and, indeed, the corporation is going to be looked at as part of the post-hacking inquiries. But is there public support for its wings being clipped? One repeated complaint has been its coverage of the hacking scandal itself with many arguing that because its own interests its coverage is…

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Cameron drops to new low with YouGov

Cameron drops to new low with YouGov

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But will this improve as the media interest fades? The weekly YouGov leadership ratings for News International are just out and show a further deterioration in Cameron’s position. For the first time since becoming PM his “well” number is below 40% while his “badly” figure at 55% is the worst that he’s seen. At the end of May, just eight weeks ago, Cameron was on 48% – 46% showing a net positive of 2. Miliband’s 35% – 50% is a…

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Will the Murdoch issue still be potent at party conference time?

Will the Murdoch issue still be potent at party conference time?

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Observer Did NI really bully LDs to get the BSkyB deal? No doubt there’ll be a fair bit in the Sundays about the week’s big domestic news – the developments over New International and the Murdoch’s appearance before the commons committee. There’s a report going in the Observer saying that “….News International launched a campaign of bullying against senior Liberal Democrats in an attempt to force through the company’s bid for BSkyB, high-level sources have told the Observer..Lib Dem insiders…

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Hacking, expenses, banking – what went wrong?

Hacking, expenses, banking – what went wrong?

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How did so many lose the plot over the last decade? Banking, politics and journalism have in the last three years been engulfed in their own crises. Is this just a coincidence? In some ways yes – the problems in finance were international in scope whereas those in politics and the media were domestic – but there are still striking similarities in behaviour and timing. Ed Miliband spoke about it in quite a good speech earlier this week, which touched…

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Is hacking the story that won’t go away?

Is hacking the story that won’t go away?

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Have we only just seen the beginning? Parliament might be in recess and MPs might be flocking to sunnier parts but judging by the past 24 hours hacking is a story that won’t go away. So much has been put on the record in recent days that it’s set off a whole series of other lines of enquiry which might or might not come to something. Where’s it all going to go? Will there be political casualties? How’s the media…

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Will newspaper endorsements matter as much any more?

Will newspaper endorsements matter as much any more?

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The Sun – May 6th 2010 Henry G Manson ponders about the post-scandal media world On Sunday, Damian Thompson, Editor of the Telegraph Blogs launched a striking attack on David Cameron and the News International phonehacking affair. He concluded, “It will be difficult to vote Tory at the next election.” This caught me by surprise and set me thinking if it was at all conceivable that the Telegraph could actually withdraw its support for the Conservatives under David Cameron? What…

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What are the implications of the Greek bail-out?

What are the implications of the Greek bail-out?

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BBC news Will the parliamentary recess make this less of an issue? The big news this evening has been the agreement in Brussels of a bail-out deal try to solve the Greek crisis. For Britain a critical element will be the pressure this takes off UK banks who, after France and Germany, had the greatest exposure. On the political front ministers must be quite relieved that parliament won’t be sitting again until September. @MikeSmithsonPB