| Rupert Murdoch to honour Thatcher in speech News Corporation chairman and chief executive to praise Baroness Thatcher's contribution to the British economyRupert Murdoch will deliver a rare public lecture in London later this month in honour of Baroness Thatcher.The News Corporation chairman and chief executive will make his address on 21 October at an event organised by the Centre for Policy Studies, the rightwing thinktank founded by the former prime minister and the late Keith Joseph, one of her political mentors.Murdoch will give the inaugural Baroness Thatcher lecture at a key moment for News Corp, which is trying to take full control of pay-TV company BSkyB. He is expected to use the speech, "Free Markets and Free Minds", to praise Thatcher's contribution to the British economy.The takeover has alarmed Murdoch's critics, who claim it will consolidate his dominant position in UK media. News Corp is expected to formally notify the European Commission of its intention to buy the 61% of Sky it does not already own in the next fortnight.That will trigger a regulatory process which is likely to lead to the proposed takeover being referred by the business secretary, Vince Cable, to the competition authorities and media regulator Ofcom. Cable has the power to veto the deal on public interest grounds.Murdoch's UK papers, the Sun, News of the World, Times and Sunday Times, offered the former prime minister unstinting support throughout her time in office.The News Corp chairman has made relatively few set-piece speeches in the UK, despite owning media assets here for more than 40 years, and some of his public interventions has backfired.In 1993, he told an audience in London that information disseminated on the internet threatened the power of totalitarian regimes, a comment which angered the Chinese government at a time when News Corp was trying to make inroads into the country.In 1989, Murdoch delivered the annual MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV festival, chastising the British broadcasting establishment for making programmes he claimed were "no more than a reflection of the value of the narrow elite".• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".Rupert MurdochNews CorporationMedia businessThe SunNewspapers & magazinesNewspapersNews InternationalNational newspapersMargaret ThatcherVince CableJames Robinsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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