The Sun King’s crown may be tarnished, but the influence of Rupert Murdoch’s empire continues to weigh on government policy. That’s one interpretation of Ken Clarke’s announcement that cameras will be allowed into courts. It came less than 24 hours after Sky News renewed its demand for court proceedings to be televised, in the light of the August riots; and before the Ministry of Justice has even begun consulting senior judiciary.

As the Gazette has long argued, the claim of broadcasters that televising the courts is ‘in the public interest’ and ‘about democracy’ – seemingly accepted without demur by most senior legal figures – is disingenuous. Their object is the commodification of justice, in the cause of higher viewing figures and a better ‘product’ to punt to a public ravenous for voyeuristic television.

Sky’s campaign is a masterful deployment of ‘salami tactics’. First show that you can be trusted with broadcasting the Supreme Court, the quotidian proceedings of which are of interest to few.

Then redouble your lobbying efforts and, by degrees, edge closer to the real prize – full coverage of sensational (and lucrative) criminal trials.

Sociopathy, pain and dysfunction for profit - a real-life Jeremy Kyle Show is in prospect. At least Baroness Kennedy, seemingly a lone voice among those ‘senior legal figures’, understands that what the public is interested in is not the same as the public interest.