Guido cree que la BBC y el The Guardian son los principales promotores de la cultura intervencionista en el Reino Unido. La BBC ha sido tradicionalmente el blanco preferido de los conservadores, pero Guido explica que The Guardian es mucho más vulnerable.
The Guardian is financed by a charitable trust (ironically taking advantage of tax exemptions) the two main sources of income supporting that trust are the profits from Auto Trader and the public sector advertising that fills page after page of the newspaper. One of the first thing the Tories should do in power is set up www.jobs.gov.uk. All available public sector positions would be listed there free of charge, this would save hundreds of millions in advertising costs for the taxpayer and deprive the Guardian of a critical revenue stream.
The second income stream has always been vulnerable to competition. Auto Trader profits have financially supported the salaries of the journalists who write environmentalist anti-car editorials in the Guardian. Now a group of former journalists from Autocar Magazine and Auto Express magazines have launched an online-only magazine Drivers-Republic.com. With a bit of luck it will be a deadly competitor to Auto Trader...
Curiosamente, la primera de las propuestas parece que ya forma parte del programa conservador:
The Conservative Party has promised to overhaul advertising for public sector jobs in a move that could potentially hit The Guardian newspaper. Shadow chancellor George Osborne has vowed to move all public sector job ads from newspapers to a new official website if his party comes to power after the next general election. This plan could result in newspapers, particularly The Guardian's Wednesday Society section, losing around £790m spent by local and central government on job ads each year. The dedicated public sector website would only cost an estimated £5m.
