British MP calls for curtailment of Murdoch's power

MUMBAI: British Member of Parliament and senior Labour politician Harriet Harman has launched a frontal attack on media baron Rupert Murdoch calling on Britian?s political class to forge unity to break up the Murdoch family?s media empire.

The MP also called for setting tighter limits for media ownership once Lord Justice Leveson?s report into press standards is published in order to limit Murdoch?s power saying that the "we can?t wind up leaving the problem of media ownership untouched".

Harman?s comments came as Murdoch?s daughter Elisabeth was preparing to deliver the MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television festival.

Incidentally, Rupert Murdoch?s younger son James Murdoch?s MacTaggart Lecture in 2009 when he criticised the BBC and Ofcom for undermining free market.

It shows the influence of one family that two members within three years get to deliver this lecture," Harnan lamented.

She said News Corp, the owner of The Times and The Sun, with a 37 per cent market share owned too much of the media for a single publisher.

News Corp?s UK assets include News International the publisher of The Sun and The Sunday Times, British Sky Broadcasting where it holds 39.1 per cent and British broadcast television network ITV where he has 7.5 per cent interest.