James Murdoch wants to blow up the BBC. He could yet turn out to be its unwitting saviour.
The chairman of News Corporation Europe and Asia was at least half-right in his recent broadside against the overmighty BBC. He was just as wrong in his analysis that, left to itself, the market would throw up a vibrant and pluralist broadcasting industry.
Mr Murdoch's MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh television festival has caused quite a stir, not least because his father Rupert chose the same platform 20 years ago to launch the opening onslaught on state intervention in the media industry. News Corp's British Sky Broadcasting has since been a pivotal force in the industry.