THE former Director General of the BBC, Greg Dyke, launched a scathing attack on the Murdoch media empire, describing it as "the leader of vultures circling the BBC", at a top business event in York.

He told more than 500 applauding guests, at the York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner at the National Railway Museum, that he was worried about the future of the BBC, whose charter comes up for renewal at the end of 2006.

He said: "I am worried because the vultures are circling with the intent of doing it serious damage.

"They are led by the greatest vulture of all, the Murdoch organisation, which today has more political power in this country than one could ever have imagined a single commercial organisation could achieve."

Mr Dyke, who in August becomes the new Chancellor of the University of York, where he was once a student, was invited to speak at last night's chamber dinner before he quit the BBC's top post in the wake of Lord Hutton's report into the death of Government scientist Dr David Kelly, in January.

Because he is now writing a book which he sold, in his words, "for an obscene sum of money", to publisher Harper Collins, he had to cancel all his speaking engagements and say nothing controversial in public until publication in September.

But he argued that his university connection made the chamber dinner an exception.

His criticism of the Murdoch media came at the end of a witty speech in which he reminisced about his student years. Then he warned of the dangers of moving away from a broadcasting system which strives not to be influenced by commercial and political pressures, and compared it with the "jingoistic garbage" on virtually all the US networks during the Iraq war.

He accused the "commercial vultures" of wanting the BBC cut down in size and power so that they could be more successful.

Society faced a choice of having a truly British broadcasting system reflecting the nation's culture, society and values, or one increasingly dominated by programming from the US, he said.

"I've left the BBC not of my own choice and not without a great deal of regret and I won't be going back, but I shall support the independence of the BBC and the public financing of the BBC until I drop.

"In our society the BBC is a buffer to the commercial interests of the massive media conglomerates which already dominate broadcasting in the US and long may it remain so."

To a cheering ovation he concluded: "The BBC doesn't belong to the people who work for it and it certainly does not belong to the politicians.

"It belongs to you, and if you believe it should be well-funded and independent it needs you to say so because, believe me, there will be many other interested parties trying to knock it down over the next couple of years when the charter comes up for renewal. My plea to you tonight is: Don't let them."

Updated: 10:22 Thursday, April 29, 2004