Although not everyone follows the delicacies of media ownership, yesterday's news of Michael Grade's defection were hardly delicate.  Instead, the haste of his departure was as rushed as the cancellation of Celebrity Wrestling, and from the tone of BBC reports on the night, achieved nearly as much grace.

There's lots of coverage in the papers today.  The FT have no fewer than 7 stories on the issue, including a leader column in which it describes the move as a "serious setback" for the beeb.

The Times takes a different line:

Michael Grade’s “defection” from the BBC to ITV has been treated in some quarters (not least sections of the BBC itself) as if it were the moral equivalent of Sir Alex Ferguson abandoning Manchester United for Chelsea. If there is an analogy with football here, it would be a switch to Everton — a club that was highly successful two decades ago, but which, with all due respect, cannot be compared with Manchester United now.

The Times - 29th November 2006

However, with News International only last week acquiring a 20% stake in ITV, making it the largest shareholder, and with the Times also being owned by News International, how certain should we be to trust their judgement on this matter?

Also in today's news

• Sarah Ludford and other MEPs condemn Britain's role in torture flights in The Guardian.
  
• Don Foster MP comments on the hurried departure of Michael Grade to ITV in The Guardian.
• Tania Branigan has written a piece, also in The Guardian on the latest party funding figures from the Electoral Commission which reveal that Labour have £23.4m of loans - of which they must repay £11 in 12 months time.  The Conservatives have £35.3m of loans and need to repay £20m by July (though the Conservative figures are somewhat distorted by their purchase of their famous Smith Square premises) and the Lib Dems owe £1.1m.