Bitter Mandy blows off Murdoch

One of the 21st century's great unrequited love affairs has simmered to the boil again this week. Drawing comparisons with Brad and Jennifer, Clinton and Lewinsky and perhaps even Peter and Jordan, Peter Mandelson has passionately criticised one of his most famous exes, Aussie press baron Rupert Murdoch.

The courtship rituals of these two timeless hate figures are more complex than -- and have more than a little in common with -- the penis jousting contests practiced by hermaphroditic flatworms.

In a tale fit for a Hollywood rom-com -- starring Ian Beale and Marlon Brando in the lead roles -- the couple began their love-hate relationship in the mid-1990s.

Mandy, then sporting a rather dashing moustache, wined and dined Rupert alongside soon-to-be prime minister Tony Blair in the hope that the Sun would express support for the Labour Party in the run-up to the 1997 elections.

The relationship was consumated with New Labour's victory and remained relatively stable until Rupert filed for divorce in September this year, citing a new partnership with David Cameron's Tories.

Mandy removed any prospect of love rekindling earlier this week by suggesting that Murdoch's News Corp International is "imperilling the traditions" of British broadcasting and journalism.

Speaking at a reading of the government's upcoming Digital Britain Bill, Mandy said: "They believe that profit alone should drive the gathering and circulation of news rather than allowing a role for what they call 'state-sponsored journalism'."

While I agree with Mandy's argument about the importance of the BBC, it does seem a little rich coming from a man who has faced more than a few accusations of cuddling-up a little too tight to Rupert.

Whatever happens next, I eagerly anticipate the inevitable competing OK! and Hello interview spreads that have become synonymous with very public break-ups.

*Incidentally, the BBC Trust sensibly ruled earlier this week that an analogy used by the political correspondent Nick Robinson comparing Mandy's political career with manure was an "accurate assessment", which seems fair.

Blood-suckers Bite Murdoch

*Disclaimer - For anyone who dislikes the use of extended metaphors, I apologise in advance.

Having conquered cinema, fiction and television, vampires have turned their attentions the world of journalism. But this is not a Twilight-esque tale of teenage angst in small town America. No, the mythical beings, which exist by feeding on the blood of living creatures, have infiltrated our traditional media in the form of a new breed of publishers.

Is this part of a global conspiracy by the undead to control our communication channels? Not quite. The technological advances of the 21st century have created a number of news providers that exist with the sole purpose of repackaging existing stories. These range from aggregators to self-titled 'news agencies' that have no intention of sniffing-out original leads or angles themselves.

On Monday (December 2nd), Rupert Murdoch, Managing Director of News International, said that he will place his news sites behind a pay wall -- removing all partnerships with 'vampire' aggregators, as he considers this a form of theft. I maintain, however, that this may have more to do with the contractual legalities of his existing pact with the Devil.

Following the Dirty Digger's comments, Arianna Huffington, founder and editor of the The Huffington Post -- a half-human, half-vampire news provider offering both repackaged and original content, think Wesley Snipes' day-walker character in Blade -- yesterday made a passionate rebuke.

Offering a more nuanced view, the online news innovator suggested that Rupert -- yes we are on first name terms -- has confused aggregation with wholesale misappropriation.

She said: "Be careful what you wish for because as soon as you … start denying your content to other sites that aggregate and link back to the original source, you stand to lose a large part of your traffic overnight."

Unfortunately, having seen the way these organisations work from the inside, I have to agree with Rupert -- not a sentence I ever imagined writing. The majority of these vampires do not exist to inform and entertain their audience. Instead, they are looking for potential consumer markets to feed upon.

The credibility of the internet as a news source is being destroyed by a percentage of these organisations. If they are left to scavenge upon the remaining remnants of our media landscape, forever replicating the same sources over and over again, journalism will lose the one attribute that vampires hold so dear - immortality.