British power relations revealed:

From New York Magazine:

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair appeared before the ongoing phone-hacking inquiry to respond to criticisms that he was too cozy with media barons such as Rupert Murdoch, whose newspapers have been accused of tapping phones and bribing police. According to Reuters, Blair said over and over again that the power of the British press "is indisputable," so he had no choice but to manage them as best he could.

With any of these big media groups, you fall out with them and you watch out, because it is literally relentless and unremitting once that happens... If [for instance] you fall out with the controlling element of the Daily Mail, you are then going to be subject to a huge and sustained attack.

... Blair is the godfather of Murdoch's daughter Grace, and acknowledged giving him back-door access to No. 10 Downing Street.

... In defending himself, Blair noted that Murdoch, more than any of his editors, runs the show, and that when "the country's most powerful newspaper proprietor, whose publications have hitherto been rancorous in their opposition to the Labour Party, invites us into the lion's den, you go, don't you?"

So, Rupert Murdoch really is in charge.


posted by Quiddity at 5/28/2012 06:35:00 PM