48 hours to stop Murdoch's UK media takeover

Thought this should have it's own thread:

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Cut and pasted from:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/murdoch_messages_2/?fp

(it takes just a few seconds to sign the petition, just need you name, email address and post code)

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Dear friends across the UK,

Last week Jeremy Hunt said he'll allow Murdoch to own all of BSkyB. Now a series of reports of criminal and indecent Murdoch journalism are coming out -- hacking murdered Milly Dowler, the Soham girls, and the 7/7 families! We have 48 hours to flood the BSkyB public consultation and stop the deal.

We've done it before -- in the last consultation Hunt said our avalanche of 40,000 messages delayed the deal as his officials had to read each email carefully, fearing a legal challenge. Now our voices could halt the deal and get a full inquiry into this vile hacking.

Murdoch's media tramples standards and ignores ethics, and the whole country is horrified. But the government is pushing to give him full control of our largest commercial broadcaster. It's an outrage and threatens the very pillars of our democracy! The official consultation ends on Friday. Send a message now calling on Hunt and Cameron to refuse Murdoch's BSkyB deal until there's a full Competition Commission review and a full public inquiry into phone hacking:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/murdoch_messages_2/97.php?cl_tta_sign=3f423a97d275d0d1965f1e550b3cd0db

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation already owns 40% of British newspapers and 40% of BSkyB, the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster. In the US, Australia and elsewhere this degree of media dominance would not be allowed. News Corporation has admitted responsibility for hacking the phones of politicians and celebrities, and now stands accused of listening to messages of a murdered 13 year old girl. But our government wants to give Murdoch power over half of our media, allowing him to then squeeze out his rivals one by one.

Since November we’ve repeatedly rallied to stop Murdoch. We've sent messages, phoned ministers, done stunts, and funded adverts and legal challenges. Jeremy Hunt says our actions have delayed the deal and persuaded him to make changes to how Sky News will be treated if Murdoch takes over BSkyB. He's had to hire extra lawyers and is nervous about a battle in the courts. We're making an impact, but the conditions Hunt plans to put on the takeover won't work, as Murdoch regularly runs rings round regulators.

Now is the moment to stand up for our media and our democracy and build pressure on the government. Let's send messages calling on Jeremy Hunt and David Cameron to refuse Murdoch's BSkyB deal until the deal has been reviewed by the Competition Commission and a full judge led public inquiry into the hacking scandal is conducted and completed. Send a message now, and encourage your friends to do so.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/murdoch_messages_2/97.php?cl_tta_sign=3f423a97d275d0d1965f1e550b3cd0db

An independent and diverse media is vital for holding governments to account and should not be in the hands of someone known for unethical journalistic practices and who often seeks favours in return for endorsing politicians and parties. But people power can stop this deal. If we all stand up together now in the UK, we’ll give hope to independent media advocates across the world.

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