In Great Britain, resistance is growing to the takeover of two influential conservative media titles by investors backed by the Abu Dhabi ruling family from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The battle for the future of the Daily Telegraph and The Spectator magazine is becoming increasingly heated. More than a hundred MPs signed a letter this week that effectively calls on the London government to veto the takeover. This threatens freedom of the press, warn the MPs.
“A bulwark of democracy is at risk”
Former minister Robert Jenrick said on the BBC that a “fundamental bulwark of democracy” would be at risk if foreign state powers were able to acquire the newspapers. Suella Braverman, the former conservative interior minister, assisted in an op-ed in the Telegraph on Friday with the headline: “UAE takeover of 'Telegraph' is a threat to national security.” She warned that there was media influence in the Gulf state and censorship is the order of the day. There is a kind of Ministry of Truth that controls the press. The UAE government, which has close ties with China, is repressing dissidents. Freedom of the press should not be for sale in Great Britain.
A spokesman for the US company Red Bird IMI, which wants to buy the media, rejected the allegations against the investors. “IMI, a UAE-based private investment vehicle, is a purely passive investor in Red Bird IMI and will have no role in the management or operation of The Telegraph.” The director is Jeff Zucker, the former CNN boss. But 75 percent of the company belongs to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the Emirates, known in England as the owner of the Manchester City football club.
The Telegraph and Spectator are up for sale because their previous owners, the Barclay family, are heavily indebted. The family is under pressure from its creditor bank, which wanted to sell the newspaper titles in an auction – for an estimated £600 million. In the autumn of last year, to everyone's surprise, Barclays accepted a capital injection of 1.2 billion pounds from Red Bird IMI. Now the UAE investor wants to have the media titles overwritten.
The “Daily Telegraph” is something like the house paper for the ruling Tory Party, also jokingly called the “Torygraph”. The traditional newspaper shapes and reflects the debates within the party. In almost daily articles, she makes no secret of the fact that she is fighting tooth and nail against the Emirati takeover. Conversely, access to the “Telegraph” could open up interesting opportunities for influence for the ruling family from Abu Dhabi.
The closer the time comes to when the London government has to decide whether to approve it, the more pressure is growing on Culture and Media Minister Lucy Frazer to block the takeover. Members of the upper house are also committed to this. Next week, the media regulator is due to hand over to Frazer the results of an audit into how it assesses a UAE takeover. Blocking the takeover would be extremely sensitive for the government, because the sheikhs, as billionaire investors, already have their foot in the door in numerous companies and in high society. If London were to show the UAE leadership the red card when buying the Telegraph, it would also be tantamount to a diplomatic affront.
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