Pie in the Sky?

16 March 2017 — 38 Degrees

This is huge. You – along with thousands of other people – have helped throw a major spanner into Rupert Murdoch’s plans to take full control of Sky. Karen Bradley, the Culture Secretary, just announced an investigation into the takeover. [1]

This means that instead of getting waved through, Murdoch’s plan faces a fresh obstacle. Ofcom, the media watchdog, now has to look into Murdoch’s dodgy media empire. Spoiler alert: Rupert Murdoch probably won’t like what they say. [2]

Here’s how we helped make this happen:

When news broke about his takeover back in December, we sprung into action. Over 319,000 of us signed a petition asking Karen Bradley to refer the deal. [3] We delivered it straight to the government – and it was covered in national newspapers! [4]

When we found out Karen Bradley was on BBC Question Time, we all chipped in to drive a huge mobile billboard to the studio, so it was right in front of her as she arrived. 38 Degrees-ers took to Twitter, sending thousands of tweets asking her to refer the deal. [5]

Next, we crowdfunded an advert in a national newspaper with the total petition signatures, asking Karen Bradley to stop the deal – even when other papers refused to publish it because it was so controversial. [6]

And on the same day, we parked the mobile billboard outside Karen Bradley’s office, the Department of Media, Culture and Sport – and delivered hundreds of leaflets to her staff as they arrived for work. [7]

Last time Rupert Murdoch made a bid to take over Sky, it was public opposition to the phone hacking scandal that stopped him. [8] Today’s news proves that if enough of us get involved we can stop him again. [9]

It’s not everyday you can say that you’ve helped stop someone as powerful as Rupert Murdoch. So please take a moment to give yourself a pat on the back.

Today’s news is a huge step towards stopping the takeover. In the next few weeks, we will have more to do. But for now, why not take a minute to watch this video on all we’ve done – then share it with your family and friends?

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