Members of the 800,000-strong online pressure group which claimed victory in overturning the sell-off of Britain’s forests have turned their ire on Rupert Murdoch as the fall-out from the News of the World hacking scandal continues.
According to the 38 Degrees: “One of Rupert Murdoch’s papers stands accused of hacking the phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler, causing her family even more pain, and risking a police inquiry.
“At the same time, this week, Murdoch is expecting to get the green light from the government for his takeover of BSkyB. How can it make sense to reward him with even more media control?
“Let’s get over 100,000 signatures by midday on Friday 8th July to help break Murdoch’s grip. Sign the petition now!”
38 Degrees joins a growing band of online groups which have sprung up since the scandal first broke, including a Twitter campaign which has published a list of News of the World advertisers with a link to a pre-prepared tweet asking if they will be reconsidering their advertising. Advertisers include a host of household names including @TheCooperative, @easyjet and @VirginMedia among others are being contacted by Twitter users.
There is also a Facebook campaign, Boycott News of the World, which has nearly 7,000 members.
Since being set up at the end of last year, 38 Degrees has fought the forests sell-off, stopped a giant US-style cow factory farm being built in the UK, and prevented billionaire Donald Trump from evicting local people from their homes to make way for a luxury golf course.
