Labour leader Ed Miliband says Rupert Murdoch's empire must be dismantled

Labour leader urges for new media ownership rules saying News Corporation chief has too much power in the UK

Toby Helm, Jamie Doward and Daniel Boffey
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 16 July 2011 21.00 BST

Ed Miliband has demanded the breakup of Rupert Murdoch's UK media empire in a dramatic intervention in the row over phone hacking.

In an exclusive interview with the Observer, the Labour leader calls for cross-party agreement on new media ownership laws that would cut Murdoch's current market share, arguing that he has "too much power over British public life".

Miliband says that the abandonment by News International of its bid for BSkyB, the resignation of its chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, and the closure of the News of the World are insufficient to restore trust and reassure the public.

The Labour leader argues that current media ownership rules are outdated, describing them as "analogue rules for a digital age" that do not take into account the advent of mass digital and satellite broadcasting.

(More here.)