Hands off media, Murdoch tells the state

James Murdoch

MEDIA boss James Murdoch called yesterday for a wholesale retreat of state intervention in broadcasting and the press, denouncing regulator Ofcom and the BBC for stifling independence and killing commercial profits.

Twenty years after his father, Rupert Murdoch, used the keynote address at the Edinburgh International Television Festival to announce the dawn of the digital media age, the younger Murdoch used the same MacTaggart lecture to attack the BBC's "landgrab" in an "all-media world".

He called for a "dramatic reduction of the activities of the state in our sector" and ridiculed Ofcom for launching 450 consultations in the last five years.

Murdoch also lamented "ever increasing planning and intervention", that had left the UK "the Addams family of world media".

"Every year, roughly half-a-million words are being devoted to telling broadcasters what they can and cannot say," he said.

It is hardly unusual for a prominent member of the powerful Murdoch dynasty – James Murdoch is chairman and chief executive of News Corporation in Europe and Asia – to fire a broadside at the BBC. But observers said his speech may herald a shift in the political tide.

The Tories' culture spokesman waded into the attack yesterday, saying a Conservative government would aim to make the BBC Trust publish details of stars' salaries.

"We want to make that happen," said Ed Vaizey, the shadow culture spokesman. "The BBC still has a reputation for being profligate."

BBC director of vision Jana Bennett argued publishing salaries could warp the market and lead to price setting by politicians. "Would you tell a buyers' market what you were willing to put your house up for sale at?" she asked.

The three-day television festival drew media celebrities including Peter Andre, Ant and Dec and Jeremy Clarkson to Edinburgh yesterday.

Charles Fletcher, of Caledonia Media, said the attacks on the BBC and Ofcom were a warning for the corporation of changes to come. He said: "I'm a great supporter of the BBC but it is going to have to change the way it functions. The political atmosphere has changed."

Rupert Murdoch argues that newspapers should charge for web access.

His son declared: "Dumping free state-sponsored news on the market makes it incredibly difficult for journalism to flourish on the internet."