Nostalgia for a golden age of television drama? A still from the BBC's Sherlock. Image: Flickr/interior_animus
During the phone hacking scandal that erupted in the summer of 2011, prompting Rupert and James Murdoch to close the News of the World and abandon their bid for the remaining shares of BSkyB, it rapidly became apparent that the political ramifications were more to do with over-concentrated ownership than press regulation. Owning then nearly 40% of the press, and on the verge of taking over Britain’s biggest broadcaster in terms of revenues, Rupert Murdoch was more powerful in media terms than Berlusconi (and the Italian media mogul is at least a citizen of the country he dominates). It was a glaring example of market failure and what Adam Smith calls the ‘special problem’ of monopoly.
Yet, whenever I point this problem out to defenders of News Corp, such as Paul Staines at the Guido Fawkes blog, they come back with the same quick rejoinder: “the BBC is a monopoly too! And one you are forced to pay for…”
