> > Subject: "Freedom of the Press"? What an "Outmoded" Notion! >
> Guardian gagged from reporting > [on proceedings in] Parliament > * David Leigh <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/davidleigh> > * guardian.co.uk <http://www.guardian.co.uk/> , Monday 12 October 2009 20.31 > BST > * > http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/12/guardian-gagged-from-reporting-par > liament > <http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/12/guardian-gagged-from-reporting-pa > rliament#history-byline> > The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/theguardian> has been prevented > from reporting parliamentary proceedings on legal grounds which appear to call > into question privileges guaranteeing free speech established under the 1688 > Bill of Rights. > > Today's published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a > minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP > who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer > it, or where the question is to be found. > > The Guardian is also forbidden from telling its readers why the paper is > prevented for the first time in memory from reporting parliament. Legal > obstacles, which cannot be identified, involve proceedings, which cannot be > mentioned, on behalf of a client who must remain secret. > > The only fact the Guardian can report is that the case involves the London > solicitors Carter-Ruck, who specialise in suing the media for clients, who > include individuals or global corporations. > > The Guardian has vowed urgently to go to court to overturn the gag on its > reporting. The editor, Alan Rusbridger, said: "The media laws in this country > increasingly place newspapers in a Kafkaesque world in which we cannot tell > the public anything about information which is being suppressed, nor the > proceedings which suppress it. It is doubly menacing when those restraints > include the reporting of parliament itself." > > The media lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC said Lord Denning ruled in the 1970s > that "whatever comments are made in parliament" can be reported in newspapers > without fear of contempt. > > He said: "Four rebel MPs asked questions giving the identity of 'Colonel B', > granted anonymity by a judge on grounds of 'national security'. The DPP > threatened the press might be prosecuted for contempt, but most published." > > The right to report parliament was the subject of many struggles in the 18th > century, with the MP and journalist John Wilkes fighting every authority up > to the king over the right to keep the public informed. After Wilkes's > battle, wrote the historian Robert Hargreaves, "it gradually became accepted > that the public has a constitutional right to know what their elected > representatives are up to". > > > > If NBC carries Leftist commentators like Keith Olbermann, Rupert Murdoch can > easily shut them up the American way -- by buying the parent company > > News Corp, Liberty could enter mix for NBC Universal > > http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/losangeles/stories/2009/10/12/daily6.html > <http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/losangeles/stories/2009/10/12/daily6.html> > # > The future of NBC Universal > <http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/gen/NBC_Universal_157E0274CD9D48EDB3E8F > 2283E2DDE4A.html> remains in flux, and now, News Corp > <http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/related_content.html?topic=News%20Corp> > . and Liberty Media > <http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/gen/Liberty_Media_0D6712DEB45C426FA1132 > 8612D974C99.html> have expressed interest in a possible stake in the company, > according to reports from CNBC. > > NBCU, which is 80 percent owned and controlled by General Electric Co. > <http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/gen/General_Electric_Co._2F27E4D20E1A4A > 35A2148CEEF443FFB5.html> , has been rumored to be looking at a deal with > Comcast > <http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/gen/Comcast_79BCC71D8F10439F935C37A5844 > B86B1.html> that would have the company 51 percent owned by Comcast and 49 > percent owned by GE > <http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/losangeles/stories/2009/09/28/daily35.html> > . > > The report goes on to say that GE is looking to have a pair of "puts" placed > into a deal with Comcast that would have GE put some of the 49 percent stake > onto Comcast after three and seven years after the new NBC Universal is > created. > > The report says that NBCU would be spun off and merged with Comcast's content > assets and cash, and that "many of the terms for that deal have already been > negotiated." > > Although News Corp. and Liberty are looking at a possible deal, GE remains > focused on a Comcast deal or a initial public offering, the report says. > > Any potential purchase involving News Corp. would likely draw scrutiny from > federal regulators, as the company is the owner of the Fox television network. > > > Feud Fuels Bill O'Reilly's Blasts at GE > > > > By Howard Kurtz > Washington Post, May 19, 2008 > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR200805180231 > 3.html > > Bill O'Reilly, the Fox News star, is mounting an extraordinary televised > assault on the chief executive of General Electric, calling him a "pinhead" > and a "despicable human being" who bears responsibility for the deaths of > American soldiers in Iraq. > > On the surface, O'Reilly's charges revolve around GE's history of doing > business with Iran. > > But the attacks grow out of an increasingly bitter feud between O'Reilly and > the company's high-profile subsidiary, NBC, one that has triggered > back-channel discussions involving News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch, Fox News > Chairman Roger Ailes, NBC chief executive Jeff Zucker and General Electric's > CEO, Jeffrey Immelt. > > Ailes called Zucker on his cellphone last summer, clearly agitated over a slam > against him by MSNBC host Keith Olbermann. According to sources familiar with > the conversation, Ailes warned that if Olbermann didn't stop such attacks > against Fox, he would unleash O'Reilly against NBC and would use the New York > Post as well. > > Both Fox and the Post are owned by Murdoch, who complained about Olbermann's > conduct in separate calls to Zucker and Immelt. > ------ End of Forwarded Message
