Submitted By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Britain’s largest weekly tabloid, News of the World, closes today, but not from lack of advertisers or readers. Instead, the Rupert Murdoch led tabloid succumbed to its own excesses amid shocking allegations of interceptions of cellphone voice mails of the families of a murdered 13-year-old girl, servicemen and women slain in Afghanistan, and victims of the 2005 London terrorist bombings. Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator who worked for News of the World, is accused of the electronic hacking.
One of the victims, Graham Foulkes, whose son, David, died in the 2005 London attack, said “Janet and I were obviously having very intimate personal phone calls with friends and family. To think that when you’re at the lowest time in life that somebody, for the sake of a cheap story, is maybe listening to you, it’s just beyond words.”
The outrage from the British public has been complete and has political overtones. Perhaps not too surprisingly, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has been almost alone in not calling for the paper’s editor, Rebekah Brooks, to resign. Murdoch’s News International syndicate was a tireless and enthusiastic supporter of Cameron in last year’s British parliamentary elections. The cozy relationship between Brooks and the PM resulted in Cameron spending the Christmas holiday with Brooks and her family.
Criticism for the PM’s reluctance is growing and Cameron has moved to call for a complete investigation. Cameron is also dealing with the fact that his Director of Communications, Andy Coulson, is a former editor of NOW. Coulson resigned in January citing another scandal as a “distraction,” but the British public is all too aware that Coulson, while editor, was accused of paying police tens of thousands of pounds from NOW funds.
James Murdoch, son of the undisputed guru of sensationalist journalism, said the scandal will result in punishments for the newspaper’s culpable employees. “Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad and this was not fully understood or adequately pursued.” He pledged that “those who acted wrongly will have to face the consequences.” NOW has published for 168 years and is wildly profitable. The closing has real effects on the Murdoch Empire and is the most serious challenge to the what some regard as the voice of conservatism on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond. Murdoch’s Fox News is a vocal backer of conservative candidates in the U.S. as well, and has faced its own share of criticism in that enterprise.
As for Murdoch, Sr., he seems to realize the gravamen of the situation deciding to fly to London and axe the paper in an attempt to stem the wave of criticism. The mogul may be the victim of his own doing as well. Many newspaper scandals in the past have been ameliorated by the presence of strong and independent boards of directors who act immediately to discharge the offending editors and restore the paper’s image. Not so with Murdoch’s companies, whose boards show a disturbing lack of resistance to Murdoch’s will. Simon Duke, a financial writer for the UK’s “This is Your Money” website puts it this way, “All too often, Murdoch Sr has been able to bend the board to his will with embarrassing ease. The directors all appear to rub along very smoothly; so much so that the 80-year-old has been able to rail-road through a series of deals that, to the outside world, look a lot like pandering to the whim of the chief executive.”
Is this a “Rosebud” moment for the all-powerful tabloid mogul? Only time will tell, but what is beyond doubt is that the drive for sensationalism has shaken to the foundation the once unassailable House of Murdoch.
Sources: This Is Your Money; Washington Post
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Gene H:
Activists Push FBI, SEC to Investigate Murdoch’s NewsCorp
By Sarah Seltzer | Sourced from AlterNet
July 13, 2011, 8:17 am
“For the most part, the scandal growing around Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp, the parent of Fox News, has been focused on the company’s illegal and unethical hacking and corruption in Britain, via British tabloids.
But what if this activity, even taking place across the bond, broke the rules Stateside? A group of activists is pressing federal authorities to do just that.”
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/633467/activists_push_fbi%2C_sec_to_investigate_murdoch%27s_newscorp/
“Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has announced that it is dropping its planned bid to take full ownership of satellite broadcaster BSkyB.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14142307
“Tom Crone, the legal manager at the Rupert Murdoch U.K. newspaper arm fighting widespread hacking allegations, has left the company, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Wednesday. ”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43737404/ns/business-us_business/
Phone Hacking: Rupert Murdoch Thinking Of Selling News International
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/13/phone-hacking-rupert-murdoch-news-international-b-sky-b-inquiry_n_896777.html
Excerpt:
Rupert Murdoch is considering selling off his British newspaper division as a way to extract himself from the hacking scandal and save his company. Meanwhile, the British government fully turned against him and announced an inquiry into the crisis.
A Wednesday report in Murdoch’s own Wall Street Journal said that the option of selling News International is one of several that parent company News Corporation is exploring. The Financial Times also reported Tuesday night that the idea is being “discussed.” (The idea has been floated in the press for some time.)
According to the Journal, News Corp has discreetly tested the corporate waters to see if any buyers are interested. So far, nobody has seemed willing to buy the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times. This is not hugely surprising; the newspaper market is on a long-term downslide, and two of the three papers are themselves mired in the hacking scandal.
Even if Murdoch rids himself of the papers, it might not be enough to save what is surely his biggest desire: the full takeover of BSkyB. All three main parties are expected to vote for a resolution calling on News Corp to drop the bid entirely–a stunning reversal of fortune for the man who has wielded such power in British politics.
RPT-COLUMN-It pays to be Murdoch. Just ask US gov’t: DCJohnston
by David Cay Johnston
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/12/column-dcjohnston-murdoch-idUSN1E76A1NH20110712
Excerpt:
(Reuters) – Rupert Murdoch may not garner as much attention for his financial savvy as he does for his journalistic escapades, which last week led to the shuttering of Britain’s oldest tabloid. But that doesn’t make his money management any less impressive.
Indeed, when it comes to taxes, instead of rendering unto Caesar, Murdoch has Caesar rendering unto him.
Over the past four years Murdoch’s U.S.-based News Corp. has made money on income taxes. Having earned $10.4 billion in profits, News Corp. would have been expected to pay $3.6 billion at the 35 percent corporate tax rate. Instead, it actually collected $4.8 billion in income tax refunds, all or nearly all from the U.S. government.
The relevant figure is the cash paid tax rate. This is the net amount of corporate income taxes actually paid after refunds. For those four years, it was minus 46 percent, disclosure statements show.
“Rupert Murdoch was asked to appear in front of the British Parliament next week to be grilled about the illegal “dark arts” employed by some of his journalists.”
~NY DailyNews
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/07/12/2011-07-12_gordon_brown_says_rupert_murdochs_staff_used_criminal_methods_to_find_his_son_ha.html
Let me get this party started: “Oh, we didn’t know, we didn’t know, we didn’t know ….”
Ex-PM Brown alleges Murdoch paper used criminals
DANICA KIRKA, Associated Press, ROBERT BARR, Associated Press
Updated 04:14 a.m., Tuesday, July 12, 2011
http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Ex-PM-Brown-alleges-Murdoch-paper-used-criminals-1461908.php
Excerpt:
LONDON (AP) — Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday accused Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers of employing criminals to obtain confidential information about his family, his private financial affairs and the lives of ordinary people who were at “rock bottom.”
Brown’s furious denunciation of the politically powerful News International papers came a day after questions were raised about how The Sun newspaper obtained confidential information in 2006 that Brown’s infant son Fraser had cystic fibrosis.
In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., Brown said he and his wife Sarah were in tears after being informed by Rebekah Brooks, then the editor of The Sun and now the chief executive of News International, that the paper knew about his son’s illness.
Brown also accused The Sunday Times of employing criminals to hack into his bank and tax records.
Prime Minister David Cameron said Brown had highlighted what “looks like yet another example of an appalling invasion of privacy and the hacking of personal data,” and said he was determined that the current investigations would get to the bottom of it.
Trouble For Murdoch: Feds Collecting Billions In Fines, Sending Executives To Jail For Corruption Abroad
Think Progress
By Judd Legum on Jul 11, 2011 at 6:50 pm
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2011/07/11/265932/murdoch-fcpa-record/
Over the last several years, the United States Department of Justice has aggressively prosecuted U.S. companies involved with corrupt activities abroad, collecting billions in fines and sending executives to jail. These legal actions, pursued under the auspices of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, could spell trouble for Rupert Murdoch.
Among other corrupt practices, The News of The World, a subsidiary of Murdoch’s U.S.-based News Corp, is accused of bribing UK police officers for information on former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Here are just a few recent examples of the U.S. Government pursuing similar cases:
In 2008, Siemens paid over $1.6 billion in disgorgement and fines to settle alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act. The SEC complained alleged that “Between March 12, 2001 and September 30, 2007, Siemens violated the FCPA by engaging in a widespread and systematic practice of paying bribes to foreign government officials to obtain business.” [SEC]
Former KBR chairman and CEO Albert Stanley was accused of making illicit payments to Nigerian officials to obtain contracts. In 2008, Stanley pled guilty to “conspiracy to violate the FCPA” and other charges. He agreed to face up to seven years in jail and pay $10.8 million in restitution. [Department of Justice]
Last year, Filmmaker Gerald Green and his wife Patricia were sentenced to six months in prison and fined $250,000 after they were found guilty of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Greens bribed a Thai tourism official to secure a contract with the Bangkok film festival. [ABC News]
Individuals who have been found to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act have been sentenced to as much as 87 months in jail. Roger Witten and Jay Holtmeier, two attorneys that specialize in FCPA cases, note that “recent large settlements have set new standards for the government, and penalties are likely to be higher in the future than for comparable conduct in the past.”
The U.K. Daily Telegraph reports that News Corp would have to foot the bill for any investigation, even if they are never prosecuted, which could cost more than $100 million. A global investigation into Avon Products, started in 2008 and still ongoing, has so far cost the cosmetics giant $154 million.
Mespo: “Anyone think there’s more going on with Murdoch-Brooks than mentor/mentee?”
—————–
Don’t know. I think her major value is in passing on info. I’d not take any boat rides if I were her.
Murdoch’s Watergate?
His anything-goes approach has spread through journalism like a contagion. Now it threatens to undermine the influence he so covets.
by Carl Bernstein
July 11, 2011
Newsweek
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/07/10/murdoch-s-watergate.html?om_rid=DwqwVD&om_mid=_BOGnn2B8cR2MFA
Excerpt:
The hacking scandal currently shaking Rupert Murdoch’s empire will surprise only those who have willfully blinded themselves to that empire’s pernicious influence on journalism in the English-speaking world. Too many of us have winked in amusement at the salaciousness without considering the larger corruption of journalism and politics promulgated by Murdoch Culture on both sides of the Atlantic.
The facts of the case are astonishing in their scope. Thousands of private phone messages hacked, presumably by people affiliated with the Murdoch-owned News of the World newspaper, with the violated parties ranging from Prince William and actor Hugh Grant to murder victims and families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The arrest of Andy Coulson, former press chief to Prime Minister David Cameron, for his role in the scandal during his tenure as the paper’s editor. The arrest (for the second time) of Clive Goodman, the paper’s former royals editor. The shocking July 7 announcement that the paper would cease publication three days later, putting hundreds of employees out of work. Murdoch’s bid to acquire full control of cable-news company BSkyB placed in jeopardy. Allegations of bribery, wiretapping, and other forms of lawbreaking—not to mention the charge that emails were deleted by the millions in order to thwart Scotland Yard’s investigation.
All of this surrounding a man and a media empire with no serious rivals for political influence in Britain—especially, but not exclusively, among the conservative Tories who currently run the country. Almost every prime minister since the Harold Wilson era of the 1960s and ’70s has paid obeisance to Murdoch and his unmatched power. When Murdoch threw his annual London summer party for the United Kingdom’s political, journalistic, and social elite at the Orangery in Kensington Gardens on June 16, Prime Minister Cameron and his wife, Sam, were there, as were Labour leader Ed Miliband and assorted other cabinet ministers.
Murdoch Goes From Party Darling to Pariah
By Thomas Penny and Robert Hutton – Jul 11, 2011 7:38 PM ET
Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-11/murdoch-goes-from-party-darling-to-pariah.html
Excerpt:
When he returned to the city two days ago, the 80-year-old was jostled by camera crews and faced shouted questions. Asked if David Cameron was likely to speak to Murdoch during this week’s visit, an official in the prime minister’s office struggled to answer over their laughter at the idea.
Allegations last week that News Corp. staff hacked into the phones of murdered schoolgirls and terror victims and paid police for stories prompted Murdoch to close the 168-year-old News of the World tabloid on which his U.K. media empire was founded. Politicians from all parties have called for his planned purchase of British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (BSY) to be scrapped and some question whether his company is fit to own a broadcasting license at all.
“The days of Rupert Murdoch as a man that people will fly halfway around the world to see, whose phone calls get taken, are over,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Sussex University and the author of “The Conservative Party From Thatcher to Cameron.” “All the party leaders have been distancing themselves.”
Anon nurse:
“I am holding you, Mr. Creedy, personally responsible.”
From the BBC:
“Labour leader Ed Miliband was cheered on by his MPs when in particular he questioned David Cameron’s account of how he came to hire Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World, as his head of communications. He said it “beggars belief” that none of Mr Cameron’s officials passed on warnings about Mr Coulson and added: “This issue goes to the heart of the prime minister’s integrity.”
What about the integrity of the Wall Street Journal and Faux News? Barely a mention there until things have blown up!
LK/Elaine:
This has all the earmarks of a stunning collapse. Anyone think there’s more going on with Murdoch-Brooks than mentor/mentee?
Elaine, I only cite the 2005-2006 time frame because that’s when the first public knowledge of it came to the fore. Your 2002 mark (or even before that) would not at all surprise me. I recall the scandal over the Royal’s phone conversations being intercepted- it was those messages between Charles and Camilla. Ouch. I though at the time that that just can’t be legal, not even in Britain with the laissez faire attitude Britain seemed to have regarding privacy. I was amazed that nothing seemed to come of that. Maybe the chickens have started to come home to roost.
Murdoch’s Company Improperly Targeted PM Gordon Brown, Could Face Criminal Prosecution In U.S.
By Alex Seitz-Wald on Jul 11, 2011 at 12:43 pm
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/07/11/265202/murdoch-gordon-brown-fcpa/
Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has become the latest known victim of extra-legal information gathering orchestrated by U.K. newspapers owned by NewsCorp Chairman Rupert Murdoch. The quickly developing scandal has moved far beyond the now-defunct News of the World, with the U.K’s Guardian reporting that journalists from across the News International newspaper group, owned by NewsCorp, “repeatedly targeted” the liberal Brown for more than 10 years while he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and then Prime Minister.
Con-men and private investigators working for the papers, including the Sunday Times — the most reputable publication of the group — appear to have illegally gleaned banking, phone, and other records about Brown, including medical data on his infant son, the Guardian reports:
• Scotland Yard has discovered references to both Brown and his wife, Sarah, in paperwork seized from Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who specialised in phone hacking for the News of the World;
• Abbey National bank found evidence suggesting that a “blagger” acting for the Sunday Times on six occasions posed as Brown and gained details from his account;
• Brown’s London lawyers, Allen & Overy, were tricked into handing over details from his file by a conman working for the Sunday Times;
• Details from his infant son’s medical records were obtained by the Sun, who published a story about the child’s serious illness.
Brown joins other members of his Labour Party, members of the royal family, victims of terrorism, murder, and their family members in being targeted with shady or allegedly illegal practices by the newspapers. Journalist Carl Bernstein, whose investigation into the Watergate break in helped bring down President Nixon, has dubbed the rapidly expanding scandal “Murdoch’s Watergate.”
Much of the scandal has focused on Rebekah Brooks, the CEO of News International, who was previously editor of the News of the World and the Sun. It was Brooks who contacted the Browns in 2006 to tell them that she had obtained — likely in violation of privacy rules– records showing that their four-month-old son Fraser was suffering from cystic fibrosis.
But while victims have demanded that Rebekah Brooks resign, Murdoch has given her an “extraordinary show of support,” taking her to dinner yesterday and saying she is his “top priority.”
But Murdoch may soon have bigger problems on his hands. Legal experts told the AP today that his company could face criminal prosecution in the U.S. for his U.K. papers’ alleged bribery of British police officers, which would be a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). According to the the Department of Justice, “The FCPA prohibits payments made in order to assist the firm in obtaining or retaining business.” Thus the papers’ use of bribery to obtain information which helped sell newspapers could fall under the act’s purview. And even though the bribery occurred entirely in Britian, NewsCorp is an American company, incorporated in Delaware, and held accountable for its foreign subsidiary’s actions. Even if the corporation wasn’t directly involved in bribery, it could be found in violation of the law for turning a “blind eye.”
The legal experts told the AP they would be surprised if the Securities and Exchange Commission and the DoJ have not already opened investigations into the matter and said the decision to shutter News of the World was potentially an attempt to limit Murdoch and NewsCorp’s legal exposure.
NewsCorp is also the parent company of the Wall Street Journal and Fox News, which have largely ignored the scandal.
lottakatz,
Missing Milly Dowler’s voicemail was hacked by News of the World
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/04/milly-dowler-voicemail-hacked-news-of-world
Excerpt:
The News of the World illegally targeted the missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler and her family in March 2002, interfering with police inquiries into her disappearance, an investigation by the Guardian has established.
Scotland Yard is investigating the episode, which is likely to put new pressure on the then editor of the paper, Rebekah Brooks, now Rupert Murdoch’s chief executive in the UK; and the then deputy editor, Andy Coulson, who resigned in January as the prime minister’s media adviser.
The Dowlers’ family lawyer, Mark Lewis, this afternoon issued a statement describing the News of the World’s activities as “heinous” and “despicable”. He said this afternoon the Dowler family was now pursuing a damages claim against the News of the World.
Milly Dowler disappeared at the age of 13 on her way home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, on 21 March 2002.
Detectives from Scotland Yard’s new inquiry into the phone hacking, Operation Weeting, are believed to have found evidence of the targeting of the Dowlers in a collection of 11,000 pages of notes kept by Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed for phone hacking on behalf of the News of the World.
“I agree but it’s in our nature to crush fools so we do it. I am trying to quit but they are amusing.”
Mespo,
As you well know from my own past history it has been an area of great amusement for me and I have at times done it with volatility. You may also have noticed that I am usually welcoming here to anyone new, even if they state things with which I disagree. However, after seeing many comments from someone using his type of dishonest tactics I seek amusement and then play back to them their own tactic, with a bit of vicious ad hominem thrown in. I only do this when I’m convinced that “it” is a nonredeemable troll.
My decision is based mainly on gut instinct that tells me here is a person whose persona is unreal. We know nothing of our current “it.” We don’t even know its’ sex despite its ugly icon. This isn’t someone using internet anonymity to create a false image. There is no image. “It” isn’t a real personality, mainly a construct whose game is disruption.
Someone like Roco, who I mainly disagree with, nevertheless strikes me as authentic. He does vary his opinions and his positions are not always predictable, beyond his addiction to Rand. Mostly I disagree with him, but once in a while I agree with a position he takes. He will respond to points made. I sense humanity behind his pseudonym. With “it” there is no sense of humanity, just the attempt to introduce disruption and with it a schoolyard style of debate.
I’ve had it with “it” and I’ll no longer read his comments nor respond to him. I recommend this course of action to everyone, because the alternative is to let him “win,” which he does each time he hijacks a thread and that has become far too frequent. His aim is not to win arguments, or even present viewpoints, it is simply to disrupt and we all have allowed him to do so far too often. Incidentally, as you no doubt have realized, part of his disruption tactic is to pick apart something commented on that is tangential to the general point of the article. The argument then becomes that tangential point and the original topic is lost in a mire of back and forth byplay.
Because of my resolve in this I hadn’t read his comment regarding Steyn and I won’t, therefore I have no thoughts to share on that issue.
lottakatz,
I believe the phone hacking may go back even further than 2005–maybe to 2002.