Murdoch on the backfoot in the UK

[Astor]

For the last few years a story concerning a now defunct News International newspaper, The News of the World, hacking into people's (and by people, I mostly mean fornicating politicians and coke-snorting celebrities) voicemails, medical records, e-mails and other personal details has surfaced from time to time only to disappear shortly afterwards. Last time it was in the news it quickly disappeared after the resignation of the Prime Minister's Communications Director, Andy Coulson, who was Editor of the paper at the time hacking was alleged to have occurred.

 

It's not going to disappear so quickly this time, it seems. Last week, details came to light that under Mr. Coulson's predecessor, Rebekah Wade (now Brooks), Investigators working on behalf of the News of the World hacked the voicemail of a missing 13 year old girl, and deleted messages, which not only interfered with the investigation and search, but gave her family false hope that she was still alive.

 

Soon after, it emerged that the paper had also allegedly hacked into voicemails and details of other members of the public, including 9/11 victims, 7/7 victims, and the families of British soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Cue public outrage, and both the public and politicians calling for Rebekah Brooks to resign. Instead, James Murdoch closed the paper she used to edit, and simply removed her from the Corporation's internal investigation into what has now turned out to be a disaster, especially as NewsCorp has been trying to takeover BSkyB, which would give it an even greater share of the British Media market than it already has, which I think is around 40%.

 

And this week it has emerged that the medical records of Gordon Brown's family had been hacked, and that the Royal Family were also targeted.

 

As a result, shares have dropped, less people are buying News International papers, the takeover of BSkyB looks very unlikely, and now Rupert Murdoch himself has been summoned to answer questions from a Parliamentary committee next week.

 

And that's not even getting into both this and the previous Government's incredibly close ties with Murdoch's Empire, which threatens to do some serious damage (although I'm not sure about the claims that it could bring down the Government).

 

So, what are people's views on this? Other than MURDOCH IS EVIL, of course.

 

EDIT: Sorry for not providing any links, but if you visit the Telegraph, Guardian, BBC, or any other British Media site, you'll pretty much be bombarded with information.

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

Rupert Murdoch isn't evil, he is simply a primal force that devours what makes it stronger and destroys that which does not. He is no more evil than an amoeba or storm. In a sense, Rupert Murdoch is a News Elemental.

[mimartin]

Just dig up some links about the “so-called” scandal from FoxNews, I’m sure they will be completely fair and balanced when dealing with this story.

 

If this was a onetime incident I would say fire those in charge and allow the Murdoch’s empire to continue, but this isn’t a onetime incident. It has been reported that they have already paid to settle similar legal cases in the past and have even had their former royal editor jailed for this very thing. So they learned nothing even after getting caught at least once. That makes it look like it has something to do with the culture of the corporation itself. Agree the BSkyb dead is DOA, Murdoch is just trying to prevent the rest of his media empire from evaporating.