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Originally Posted by !@#$%!
so what youre saying is that the cops should be rioting with the kids? that would be fucking awesome. think of the barricades!
about the UK media-- who owns it, besides murdoch?
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Murdoch owns two newspapers and a satellite TV channel in the UK. His main TV rivals are the BBC and ITN (both of which have more viewers than Murdoch's Sky). He owns the Sun, which is the country's bestselling newspaper and tends to be a symbol of all that's wrong with the UK press - shallow, sensationalist, gossip-ridden - and The Times, which I personally quite like, in spite of its clear right wing sympathies. Personally, I'd say Murdoch's power in the UK, while a problem, is slightly overplayed. There are plenty of popular newspapers available that aren't affiliated with him which, when combined, span most of the political spectrum. It's perfectly easy to read a newspaper and watch 24 hour TV news broadcasts that haven't in any way been touched by Murdoch.
Where his real impact is felt is more in the realms of sports coverage, with Sky virtually owning the premier league: dictating games scheduling to maximise its profits from covering key live games (which viewers have to pay for, either as a subscription or via hefty one-off payments). To be honest, though, if you're not a big football fan, Murdoch has far less influence (besides the political importance of which party The Sun endorses) than is widely thought. That's massively debatable, though.
On the point of the police joining the protestors, it'll never happen, no matter how deep the cuts to their budget. What I can foresee though is the police 'strategically' sending out a skeleton show of strength during a key protest in order to highlight their situation. They'll never explicitely switch sides though. The nearest we've gotten to that was during the miners strike in the 80s when police officers were brought in from areas outside those from the affected regions to avoid the possibility of local sympathies.