The Channel 4 "Bidding Wars"

[Brekkie]

Genuine question though - do ITN work to a brief?  ITN make news for ITV and occasionally C5, but they play a much straighter bat whereas C4 does undeniably have a left lean, as does the general vibe of the channel.  I'm not passing judgement on that - it's a channel that was set up to be the alternative and offer counterbalancing forces.  But if a publicly owned C4 changed provider - say to Sky, would that Guardian-style aesthetic still be part of a brief or style guide or whatever?

I've not explained this well but you know what I mean.

Essentially anyone providing a product does so to the customers specification.    And what the Tories tend to forget is it is the Tories themselves who basically set up C4 to be more left leaning, to serve minority groups etc. in a way the BBC and ITV didn't at the time.  

That arguably set the channel up to cater for a liberal audience, though in news terms it's not so much the case that they are more left leaning but more analytical - so rather than reporting on what is happening they analyse why and therefore hold the government of the day to account.    People can moan all they like that they're biased, but they didn't show the Blair and Brown governments any mercy either.    Any credible news organisation will almost be anti-government by default.   That's how you know a free press is functioning as it should.