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Episode details

Radio 4,25 Apr 2012,30 mins

Rupert Murdoch at the Leveson Inquiry

The Media Show

Available for over a year

Steve Hewlett canvasses reaction to today's evidence from Rupert Murdoch with Ben Fenton of the Financial Times and Sarah Ellison, formerly of the Wall Street Journal and now contributing editor of Vanity Fair. Steve traces the rise of the Murdochs - and politicians' interest in them - from Margaret Thatcher onwards, with former cabinet member Lord Fowler, former Guardian editor Peter Preston and Claire Enders of Enders Analysis. Moving on to the BSkyB takeover that dominated yesterday's coverage of James Murdoch's evidence, the panel are joined by Steward Purvis, formerly of OFCOM. Are the controls on media ownership, which the Murdochs have challenged over the decades, as relevant now as they were before the rise of the internet? Should politicians be taken out of decisions about media ownership? The producer is Simon Tillotson.

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