Perhaps the theories about internal co-operation at Rupert Murdoch’s companies are exaggerated after all.
The Sunday Times’s TV staff were clearly unimpressed with Sky Atlantic’s failure to give them the inside track on the opening episode of the new season of Game of Thrones.
So, in retaliation, the preview page in its Culture section carried this odd headline
G*** of T******
with the following paragraph below it...
We don’t know what we did to upset them, but the folk at Sky Atlantic decided the Sunday Times TV desk should not be invited to the launch of their latest series of the blood, sex and dragons saga. The channel rarely makes any effort to keep us onside and we use Twitter to find out what it is up to. We have no idea if this week’s episode is any good, but we asked people who were at the launch and their response was: “It’s ok, nothing great, bit of sex, but not much happens this week.” More updates as we get them.
Well, golly gosh. A definition (or, pun intended, stark example) of journalistic pique. Overt message: how dare publicity people keep us in the dark! Below-the-line message: don’t you guys at Sky Atlantic (owned by 21st Century Fox) realise that us guys at the Sunday Times (owned by News Corporation) should have special privileges?
Mind you, the Sunday Times did give Game of Thrones a generous boost on the front of its news review section, Here be dragons, in which we discovered that the TV series “draws up to 1m UK viewers and is the most-watched HBO series of all time in America”.
Culture also carried a spread, Life beyond Westeros, and the results of its favourite GoT character poll (spoiler alert: Tyrion Lannister came top with Daenerys Targaryen second).
I admit I’m hooked. Can hardly wait for tonight. Will the dragons turn on their mother? Where will Tyrion end up? Will Brienne of Tarth get it on with Jaime Lannister?
