Mike Sergeant:- BBC numpty

"Rupert Murdoch is a libertarian - against too much state control, and in favour of individuals taking responsibility."

Mike Sergeant, BBC 'political correspondent'

Fuck me. There are a number of explanations for the above:

A) Mike Sergeant, notwithstanding his well-salaried position at one of the foremost media corporations in the world, is an ignorant cunt, who really doesn't know what the L word means.

or

B) Mike Sergeant, working for the foremost state propaganda outfit in the world, is using the L word in order to tarnish it by association with an unpopular rightwing oligarch. It is imperative for the statists to make sure that the people do not see the present economic hardships as the inevitable and foreseen results of massive state intervention, but rather something to do with evil capitalists and too much economic freedom.

or

C) A combination of the two.

There is scant evidence that Murdoch is a libertarian, and much to the contrary, if his media outlets are anything to go by. Even in the speech that is the subject of the BBC's propaganda bulletin, he blots his credentials thus:

Mr Murdoch, whose News Corporation owns the Times, the Sun and Sky News, among other media outlets, also said a free society needed an independent press, adding it would "serve the interests of the powerful if professional journalists were muted, or replaced as navigators in our society by bloggers and bloviators"

I've no idea what a 'bloviator' is, but the message underlying this is not one of freedom, I smell a protectionist! It has been well-noted that some of the foremost enemies of capitalism are plutocrats such as Murdoch. The last thing they really want is free competition. Hence the key role of the big corporations in lobbying for regulations.

Hat tip: The Appalling Strangeness & DK.