Corporate whores

There are many reasons to dislike our current ConDem government, but one that to first glance seems less important has really underscored things for me. Going after the BBC World Service, essentially trimming its coverage of world languages, is an absurd foot-shooting exercise that can only diminish both the availability of quality news coverage to parts of the world that desperately need it, and erode the UK's soft power. But an entirely predictable one given Tory love for NewsCorp, and their Pavlovian prejudice against the BBC. They're not up with the Republicans in terms of shameless fawning to corporate media interests, but they're showing some alarming parallels. Would Thatcher have been so cowed by, and compliant to, such vested interests?