Today published Murdoch scandal Report. You can also view Murdoch scandal video.
The scope of the phone hacking and police bribery scandal surrounding Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. continues to widen, bringing down high-profile media and police officials and prompting the firm’s stock market value to plummet.And, if recent developments are any indication, the situation is only getting worse for the billionaire’s beleaguered business with each passing day.
On Sunday, July 17 was the arrest of Rebekah Brooks — the former chief executive of News International, Murdoch’s British newspaper arm — and the resignation of London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson.
Then on Monday, July 18, Stephenson’s second-in-command, Assistant Commissioner John Yates, announced his resignation.
Both top cops’ resignations come amid allegations police gave British journalists confidential information in exchange for bribes. The Independent Police Complaints Commission, Britain’s police watchdog, said Monday it is launching an investigation into four current or former senior Met officers — including Yates and Stephenson — in connection with the phone hacking scandal.
In addition, U.K. Home Secretary Theresa May announced a broader corruption probe into “instances of undue influence, inappropriate contractual arrangements and other abuses of power in police relationships with the media and other parties.” view video click here
British Prime Minister David Cameron’s own close ties to the scandal have put him firmly in the spotlight, as well. In January, Cameron’s communications chief, Andy Coulson, resigned when news of the phone hacking scandal first broke.
Coulson, a former News of the World editor, was arrested earlier this month. Cameron also has come under fire for his relationships with Brooks and Murdoch’s son, James, and he will cut short a trip to Africa to address Parliament on Wednesday, July 20 — one day after the Rupert and James Murdoch and Brooks will appear before lawmakers in a televised hearing.
Far reaches
The ripples from the scandal are also being felt across the pond here in the U.S.
On Friday, July 15, Les Hinton, publisher of the Wall Street Journal and chief executive of the Murdoch-owned Dow Jones & Co., stepped down. Hinton served as head of News International during the time when thousands of people’s voicemails were illegally hacked by employees.
If all of that was going on at News Corp. companies in Britain, it also begs the question of how far the misdeeds go and whether any U.S.-based Murdoch media organizations also engaged in such unethical, illegal tactics.
News Corp. is the parent company of media properties that include Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.
Several members of Congress have asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate that possibility, as well as whether News Corp. violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it unlawful for Americans or their companies to bribe foreign officials. In addition, the FBI is investigating allegations News Corp. reporters tried to hack into the phones and voicemail of 9/11 victims.
“The reported hacking by News Corporation newspapers against a range of individuals — including children — is offensive and a serious breach of journalistic ethics,” Sen. Jay Rockefeller from West Virginia said in a written statement. “This raises serious questions about whether the company has broken U.S. law, and I encourage the appropriate agencies to investigate to ensure that Americans have not had their privacy violated.”
If News Corp. is found to have broken U.S. law, fines, penalties and even criminal prosecution are all possibilities, depending on the charges. Murdoch’s FCC broadcasting license could also be at risk.
Like journalists around the world, I have been shocked and outraged to hear any journalist would ever stoop to such immoral, illegal tactics to get scoops. It’s a disgrace, and it diminishes the integrity of our entire profession.
I can only hope those responsible are made to answer for their actions quickly so the rest of us can begin rebuilding journalism’s tarnished image and prove to the public that this scandal is solely the work of a few bad apples. [source : moberlymonitor]
NN host Piers Morgan has attempted to tamp down speculation about his activities at the now defunct News Corp. newspaper News of the World, telling viewers on his talk show Monday evening that he was not aware of any illicit efforts to gain information during his tenure at the publication or at the Daily Mirror. "For the record, I do not believe that any story we published" either at News of the World, or at the Daily Mirror, which he also supervised, "was ever gained in an unlawful manner, nor have I ever seen anything to suggest that," he said on CNN Monday evening. Mr. Morgan said he was editor at News of the World between 1994 and 1995 and editor at the Daily Mirror, a British paper not owned by News Corp., from 1995 to 2004
Scrutiny of Mr. Morgan, a relatively minor figure on U.S. TV these days (he also serves as a judge on NBC's "America's Got Talent"), shows how intense interest has grown in the News Corp. scandal, which centers on instances of phone hacking at the company's News of the World. At first blush, the trespass into private phone accounts seemed part of the tabloid game, but as more reports of efforts to hack into phones owned by a murdered British girl or victims of terrorist attacks have come to the surface, any humor that might be found in the situation has flowed down the drain.
Other figures have denied knowledge of phone-hacking practices and have yet been brought to account, which may illumine the reasons why speculation about Mr. Morgan has yet to ebb. During his program Monday, he stated that his tenure at News of the World came some time before the period when the phone hacking was said to have taken place.
Should Mr. Morgan be subsumed by the furor, it would prove a major annoyance to Time Warner's CNN, which is still working to stabilize its prime-time lineup. The network recently canceled "In the Arena," an 8 p.m. talk show hosted by controversial former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, and then moved Anderson Cooper's program to that time slot. CNN is, for the most part, beaten in weekday prime time by rivals Fox News Channel and MSNBC.
While Mr. Morgan has kept his remarks close to the vest on his own program, he's not so demure on Twitter. This morning, he tweeted a note that made it sound as if he was cheering for Mr. Murdoch, who was testifying in front of Parliament in the U.K. "News Corp stock price has risen throughout the hour. Not, I suspect, how the MPs hoped things might go from their interrogation," he wrote. [source : adage]
A former News Of The World show business reporter who said that Andy Coulson personally encouraged phone hacking when he was editor was found dead at home the Guardian reports. The paper says that police are treating the death of Sean Hoare as "unexplained" but "not suspicious," suggesting that it may have been a suicide. Hoare made his charges against Coulson, who went on to become Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman, to The New York Times last year for a magazine story about the phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper. He was quoted as saying that Coulson “actively encouraged me" to hack into other people's cell phone messages. At the time, Coulson responded that he "never condoned the use of phone hacking and nor do I have any recollection of incidences where phone hacking took place." NOTW Managing Editor Bill Akass told The Times "we reject absolutely" that the paper's higher-ups approved hacking and accused the paper of running a story based on “unsubstantiated claims” -- in part to run down a competitor.
But last week Hoare told The Times that "the chain of command is one of absolute discipline and that's why I never bought into it, like with Andy saying he wasn't aware of it and all that. That's bollocks." He added: "There's more to come. This is not going to go away...what you'll find now is a lot of people are going to want to cover their arse." [ source : deadline]
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