BBC inquiry dismisses Rupert Murdoch complaints about documentary series
Rupert Murdoch has largely lost a year-long dispute with the BBC after he objected to a documentary series that "implied he posed a threat to liberal democracy".Murdoch's News UK business complained that a BBC Two documentary unfairly suggested the Australian-born media mogul "exercised malign political influence" through his ownership of news outlets.
It said the BBC program was biased and failed to give enough weight to more positive appraisals of Murdoch's career.In particular, News UK objected to the lack of coverage of Murdoch's financial successes in the world of business, which might have led viewers to reach a different conclusion about the relative success of his career.
Although criticisms of Murdoch's impact on the media industry around the world are common, it is rare for the 90-year-old to pursue an objection to such coverage through a formal complaints process.He now intends to take the relatively rare step of rejecting the BBC's internal conclusions and elevating the complaint to the external body Ofcom, setting up a clash between three of the biggest forces in UK media.
The three-part series, entitled The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty, was first broadcast in July 2020 but the BBC's internal editorial complaints unit has only just ruled on whether its content met the public broadcaster's standards.Although criticisms of Murdoch's impact on the media industry around the world are common, it is rare for the 90-year-old to pursue an objection to such coverage through a formal complaints process.
He now intends to take the relatively rare step of rejecting the BBC's internal conclusions and elevating the complaint to the external body Ofcom, setting up a clash between three of the biggest forces in UK media.The three-part series, entitled The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty, was first broadcast in July 2020 but the BBC's internal editorial complaints unit has only just ruled on whether its content met the public broadcaster's standards.
