Some years ago, when the mean streets of Walsall were being dug up by contractors to lay cables, a young man festooned in corporate branding knocked on the door to offer a discounted subscription to Sky Television. The ensuing entertainment he provided went far beyond the pap that the Murdoch channels currently deliver.
In a stylish shell suit covered in Sky logos and a Sky baseball cap set at a jaunty angle, he resisted any interruption to the well rehearsed spiel printed on his Sky clipboard. When informed that the household had no interest in programmes featuring monster racing trucks, celebrities, ugly, stupid people or when weather forecasters attack, his jaw dropped in disbelief. “What?” he said, “How can you possibly resist this offer of 24 hour television? Hollywood blockbusters on demand? American soaps? REALITY TV?” When told that the only television watched was news broadcasts and the occasional documentary on science or natural history he pounced with the agility of a seasoned predator. “Look”, he said, “we`ve got Inside Hitler`s Bunker and a show that features shagging llamas and we have the award winning Sky News.” Upon hearing that his potential customer did not wish to boost the profits of the mendacious, evil and scurrilous excrement that is Rupert Murdoch, the best that Sky could offer was to retreat, shaking his head in disbelief.
Your humble correspondent has never watched Sky News, preferring Al Jazeera now that the BBC is the press office for the Conservative Party, but thanks to the miracle of social media a clip of Sky News output was viewed this morning featuring a creature calling herself Kay Burley. Quiet how a so-called respectable journalist, without proof or evidence and on live television, could tell two women searching for a child that she was dead is an act of unspeakable cruelty. If that were not enough, the creature calling herself Kay Burley then asked the clearly distraught women: “How are you feeling?”
There are no adequate words to describe this callous insensitivity and brutal intrusion made in the name of sensational and lurid lust for ratings. However, the creature calling herself Kay Burley could only survive in the sordid world of Sky News as part of the Murdoch Empire. Not content with hacking a dead girl`s phone and getting away with widespread, systemic illegality, it would seem that there are no depths that the Murdoch organisation will sink to. Our government still maintains that the Murdoch family are still fit, proper and responsible enough to manage a reputable broadcast company. Tell that to the families of those that have been taken.
The task of the people of a quiet market town currently searching for one of their own has been made more difficult with Murdoch`s blocking every sewer and creatures like Kay Burley lying in every gutter.
“How are you feeling, Kay?”
