Last week we discovered that Jeremy Hunt had entered into confidential meetings with Rupert Murdoch over the future of Murdoch’s BSkyB bid.

In November 38 Degrees handed in 60,000 messages to Ofcom asking them to get the bid in front of the Competition Commission. At Christmas an Emergency Petition was put forward pointing out that Jeremy Hunt would not make an impartial judge. On New Year’s Eve Hunt got Ofcom’s report and has been sitting on it ever since.

It has now emerged that Hunt has been having meetings with Murdoch’s people. He could be trying to find ways to make a deal with Murdoch’s advisers.

Now it’s our turn to get involved. Together we can get in touch with our MPs and ask them to put pressure on Hunt to ensure the report goes public and into the hands of the Competition Commission. But we don’t have long.

This is a fast moving campaign that needs quick responses. We’ve already had success in standing up to Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB power grab and now we need to do it again. To take action click here:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/hunts-secret-meetings

Here’s Robert Peston’s blog outlining more of the details: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2011/01/ofcom_says_news_corps_sky_bid.html

This morning was one which Ofcom won’t forget in a hurry. Their usually quiet office was transformed! Journalists and photographers, box loads of letters, and one powerful message from all of us: Stop the Murdoch Power Grab.

Together with our friends at Avaaz, we handed in over 60,000 personal messages to Ofcom. You could see how big an effect we were having from the faces of the Ofcom staff – they’d never seen anything like it! As they arrived to work, everybody had to walk past our massive stack of messages, each one telling them to stop Murdoch.

As we struggled to carry the heavy boxes of submissions into the building, we saw that rest of the Ofcom office had come to a standstill as people crowded round to watch. Everyone knew why we were there.

Ofcom usually hear from media insiders, including Murdoch’s own henchmen. This time we’ve made sure the public is impossible to ignore. As they sit down to discuss their next move, our huge response will be weighing on their minds.

Photograph by 38 Degrees

Photograph by 38 Degrees

Photograph by 38 Degrees

Photograph by 38 Degrees

Photograph by 38 Degrees

Update: Here’s a (slightly noisy) video of David at the Ofcom office

Stop Murdoch’s Power Grab – petition hand-in from 38 Degrees on Vimeo.

Earlier this week we had a massive campaign breakthrough. Vince Cable ordered a review of Rupert Murdoch’s big to take total control of BSkyB. Over the last few months thousands of us have been campaigning hard urging Vince to order this review – so it was fantastic news to hear that he’d ordered the review just hours after Murdoch submitted.

But we can also be sure that Murdoch will have had his lawyers, strategists and spin-doctors working flat out over the last few months to come up with a plan to allow him to take total control of BSkyB.

Now we need to redouble out efforts to stop Murdoch’s takeover plan. If you’ve got ideas of what we should do next I’d love to hear them. Please share your ideas, and comment on other people’s ideas in the comments below:

We’ve just sent out this email – more to follow soon!

Amazing news! We’ve had a huge breakthrough in our campaign to stop Rupert Murdoch grabbing full control of BSkyB. Just hours after Murdoch put in the paperwork, Vince Cable accepted our demand and called an inquiry. [1]

Thousands of us have worked together to take on one of the most powerful men in the world.When we started, political insiders said we didn’t have a hope of winning. But we knew that Murdoch grabbing even more power would be bad for our democracy. So we had to try to stop this deal going through on the nod. Today, we did it!

Rupert Murdoch will be furious. But he won’t have given up just yet. His lobbyists will be all over Westminster today. His newspaper editors will be getting ready to attack. They’ll do everything they can to make sure the inquiry is soft on Murdoch.

Today we need to make sure MPs are hearing from us more than Murdoch’s lobbyists. If MPs are lining up to tell Vince they’re on his side, we can make sure he knows he’s got public support for a proper investigation with teeth.

Click here to send your MP an email asking them to back Vince’s stand against Murdoch:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/stop-murdoch

We know that Vince Cable has stuck his neck out on this. There are reports of splits in the government. Murdoch has powerful allies and they’ll be pushing hard to restrict what the investigation can look at. If thousands of us email our MPs today, we can make sure hundreds of them get behind Vince’s decision quickly. [2]

An inquiry with teeth would investigate what the Murdoch BSkyB power grab means for all UK media, now and in the future. It would look at everything under Murdoch’s control, not just BSkyB. That’s the last thing Murdoch wants. But if enough of us contact our MPs today, we can make sure his lobbyists don’t get their way.

It’s not often MPs hear from lots of us to say we are pleased with a government decision.But today Vince Cable needs public support for taking the right decision:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/stop-murdoch

Getting Vince Cable to call an investigation really is a massive victory for people-power. Together, over 30,000 of us signed the petition, another 20,000 of us signed our open letter to Vince, and thousands of us have already emailed our MPs. But while we’re celebrating this huge achievement, let’s also keep the pressure up by emailing our MPs again today and telling them to support Vince in holding an inquiry with real teeth. [3]

Write to your MP by clicking here:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/stop-murdoch

Thanks for being involved,

Hannah, Johnny, David, and the 38 Degrees team

P.S. When you hear back from your MP, please share what they say so we can keep track of which MPs back an enquiry with teeth and which ones are in Murdoch’s pocket. You can share your MP’s reply, and see what other MPs are saying, here:http://www.38degrees.org.uk/murdoch-mp-replies. Today though, let’s make sure MPs are hearing from thousands of us – click here to send your MP a quick message: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/stop-murdoch.

NOTES:
[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11691728
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/04/news-corporation-bskyb-cable-labour
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/latest/2010/11/04/cable-intervenes-over-bskyb-bid-115875-22691305/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/vince-cable-intervenes-in-news-corp-bskyb-bid-2124828.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/epic/bsy/8109419/Vince-Cable-refers-News-Corps-bid-for-BSkyB-to-Ofcom-on-public-interest-grounds.html
[2] Financial Times: Tension rises as cabinet split over BSkyB bid: http://bit.ly/cvdOMQ
[3] http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2010/10/11/weve-delivered-our-message-to-vince-cable/

We’ve just heard some huge news. Our campaign to stop Rupert Murdoch’s powergrab to take control of BSkyB has worked. There’s a risk that the inquiry will be nothing but a rubber-stamp of Murdoch’s plans so over the last few hours thousands of 38 Degrees members have been writing to their MPs urging them to make sure the inquiry has real teeth.

If we all share our replies, we can build up a national picture of which MPs are backing Murdoch and which will stand up to him. Once you hear back from your MP share their reply by adding it to this form.

Update 1-Thanks to Steve for pointing out that there was a problem with the form. That’s now fixed so please enter your MPs responses to the form below and then they’ll display in the clever spreadsheet which you can see and search through below the form.

MP replies we’ve received so far:

Many 38 Degrees members thought the BBC should be defended.

38 Degrees members have been defending the BBC ever since James Murdoch’s attack on it in August 2009. The reports that the government was pushing the BBC to accept “a license fee raid” triggered a discussion about what we should do on our facebook page, and thousands of 38 Degrees members quickly contacted their MPs speaking out against these deep cuts being forced through behind closed doors.

We were worried about what this would mean for BBC programmes we all enjoy – cuts of over 20% could mean whole channels closing down. Secondly, members were worried about the long term future of the BBC. Many members believed that this decision to raid the BBC was influenced by Rupert Murdoch. Decisions about the licence fee were meant to be taken until next year, and there was a process that was meant to be followed. This deal was forced through behind closed doors and in less than 24 hours.

We’ll have to wait to see what the full effects of these cuts will be, and if they lead to specific issues we will want to campaign about. It it is clear though that the  and this probably isn’t the last time we’ll see politicians attacking. 38 Degrees members don’t think the BBC is perfect, but we do think it’s worth standing up for.

We will also need to keep up the pressure on Vince Cable to call a review of Rupert Murdoch’s plans to seize full control of BSkyB.

Thousands of 38 Degrees members emailed their MP’s, asking them to get Vince Cable to block Murdoch’s power grab.

To find out what MP’s have been saying about Murdoch you can look here: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/content/stand-up-to-murdoch/

If your MP has replied to you, you can add their response here. There’s also a chance to share ideas about how to respond to MPs’ replies in the comments section below.

Photograph by World Economic Forum

Our campaign to block Rupert Mudoch’s plans to buyout the rest of BSkyB has just received some powerful backing: heads of the BBC, Channel 4, the Telegraph, Guardian, Mirror and Daily Mail have all signed a letter to Vince Cable, telling him to block Rupert Murdoch’s power grab at BSkyB.

38 Degrees members have been leading the way with this campaign. Last week we handed in an open letter with nearly 19,000 member signatures. More and more people are joining in but we need to keep increasing the pressure.

We need Vince to know that when he makes the right choice he has our support. You can email your MP in 2 minutes to get them on board and tell Vince that we don’t want the Murdoch empire to grow in strength.

Over 30,000 of us have signed the petition so far and we’ve been raising funds for adverts when Murdoch tries to get permission to go ahead with his buyout plans. The more MPs hear from their voters, the more pressure they’ll feel to tell Vince to stop the buyout. Click here to email your MP: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/stop-murdoch-power-grab

Photograph by 38 Degrees

On Friday, 38 Degrees volunteers Eleanor, Sophie and Rob went to the Business, Innovation and Skills Department in central London and delivered our open letter to Vince Cable’s private secretary at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. Nearly 19,000 38 Degrees members had signed the letter, to send Vince the message that we’d be behind him if he decides to stop Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB power grab.

The Minister wasn’t around for a photo, but we’re hoping the civil servants put the the open letter on his desk ready and waiting to make sure he got our message.

There have been lots of reports that Murdoch is ready to put forward the takeover bid in Europe in the next month. The pressure is building for Vince to call the deal in for a proper review: as well as nearly 20,000 38 Degrees members, Mark Thompson (Director General of the BBC), Lord Putnam and the Financial Times have also come out with warnings of the dangers of the takeover bid.

So over the next few weeks keeping on the pressure is vital, letting the Vince know that we’re counting on him to make sure he makes the UK’s media freedom his top priority.  We also need to make sure our petition to Vince keeps on growing, to make sure there are tens of thousands of backing our message ready to be delivered to Vince once Rupert Murdoch applies for permission to go ahead with the take – click here to sign: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/murdoch