Media Brief
I'm the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s media correspondent and this is my brief selection of what's going on.
The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ reports that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has been given government approval for its controversial takeover of BSkyB. The green light follows News Corp's offer to spin-off Sky News as an independent company. The decision follows concerns about the concentration of media outlets in the hands of one organisation.
The Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has confirmed that News Corp can buy all BSkyB's shares, without a Competition Commission inquiry, if it spins off Sky News as a separate company with an independent chairman and shareholders. News Corp would still have 39% of the shares and would fund the loss-making company for several years. I summarised the details on R4's Today at 08:10, ahead of a discussion with Andrew Neil, who launched Sky News, and David Elstein, former ITV, Sky and Channel 5 executive.
to the Stock Exchange from the Department of Culture Media & Sport.
the undertaking details last night.
³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Trustee Diane Coyle is the favourite to become vice-chairman of the Trust. The appointment process was suspended while the search for a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ chairman took place. Lord Patten is the government's preferred candidate for the chairmanship.
Kevin Marsh, the editor of R4's Today programme when it broadcast Andrew Gilligan's controversial report on the government's Iraq dossier, is to leave the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ after 33 years. Marsh said he will "finally" be able to give his own account of the corporation's titanic row with Downing Street in 2003. He is taking voluntary redundancy and stepping down as editor of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ College of Journalism, .
As featured in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ newspaper review most papers have in-depth reports on what the Daily Telegraph calls "Gaddafi's bloody onslaught". It describes how pro-Gaddafi forces launched an offensive in the east of Libya to try to regain ground.
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