The Murdoch Empire's Greatest Test

[robertlouis]

Years ago we were told computing was sending us to a paperless society -the police yesterday admitted they have literally thousands of documents to go through, and have yet to identify all of the 4,000 people whose phones were hacked. It was on the news yesterday evening also, that its possible taps were put on land-line phones, and homes broken into as part of the News International campaign -and so far noone has mentioned hacking into computers which I would expect....this isn't a rotten barrel, its a coal mine of dirt...

STOP PRESS. News International has withdrawn its bid for BskyB. Where that leaves Murdoch's strategy for his empire is anyone's guess - given that it seems to have been pretty well predicated on seizure of all of Sky's revenues as it moves into serious profit.

So he's lost the best-selling Sunday newspaper, plus its profits, withdrawn from this attempt to get hold of the jewel in the crown, the UK's politicians seem to have grown their balls back, and for what?

Saving a red-headed editor and gaining the wrath of shareholders on both sides of the Atlantic.

It doesn't look good, Rupe.

[Prospero]

Ahh but Rebekah does have a gorgeous head of hair, doesn't she. it would be a shame if she ended up as just another presenter on Britain's Got Talent or something.
But Rupert - yep I reckon the knackers yard beckons. Who is that tapping on his shoulder wearing a dark robe and armed with a scythe?

[Miss Aeryn]

it ain't over till the fat lady sings lol

[Stavros]

I don't think the full force of the reputation issue has hit NewsCorp in the USA yet, although some of the smaller shareholders are taking their own company to court over the Shine deal, NewsCorps share price rallied after the news. If there are issues that matter in American that will make it worse for Murdoch, its: the bribing of police officers: if proven in court here, that will make NewsCorp liable to US law.
Murdoch has 'saved' $8bn not buying BSkyB but spent $5bn of it on a share buy-back -ultimately its his control of the Company and his inability or refusal to change the journalistic 'practices'/dark arts at the top level in News International that could see his Empire fall to pieces. I doubt he will remain in the UK to go before a Parliamentary committee.
BP was considered 'too big' to fail, is the same true of NewsCorp? If it collapsed, it would surely just mean other players taking up those assets -?

I also note that our American friends don't seem to have much to say on this story.

[robertlouis]

Steve Bell in today's Guardian.

Perfect.

[Stavros]

What would we do without Steve Bell's cartoon terrrorism? Brilliant!

Now we have to suffer the embarrassment of watching the moral guardians of the universe throw shit at Ms Brooks and whichever of the Murdochs bothers to turn up to the Culture, Media, and Sport Committee -after her gaffe a few years ago when she said 'We have paid the police for information' which the same committee failed to follow up (as in, having Ms Brooks arrested) we now expect these people to do what? Are these people going to incriminate themselves? What about seeing them in a court of law -that's where people who break the law should go -if they have indeed done this. What should be a serious investigation is becoming a circus...I want the truth, but not this way.

[Miss Aeryn]

Oh please, o please yes...

The Age

THE fallout from the Murdoch phone-hacking scandal in Britain could reach Australia, where there is a growing push from politicians for an independent inquiry into the media.

The government is considering backing a Greens move for a Senate or independent inquiry that would include media ownership laws, newspaper self-regulation, journalist ethics and opinion masquerading as news.

[robertlouis]

What would we do without Steve Bell's cartoon terrrorism? Brilliant!

Now we have to suffer the embarrassment of watching the moral guardians of the universe throw shit at Ms Brooks and whichever of the Murdochs bothers to turn up to the Culture, Media, and Sport Committee -after her gaffe a few years ago when she said 'We have paid the police for information' which the same committee failed to follow up (as in, having Ms Brooks arrested) we now expect these people to do what? Are these people going to incriminate themselves? What about seeing them in a court of law -that's where people who break the law should go -if they have indeed done this. What should be a serious investigation is becoming a circus...I want the truth, but not this way.

I agree, Stavros, to the extent that they will take the UK equivalent of "pleading the fifth" and sit silently as questions are thrown at them. The Murdochs are, of course, flag-of-convenience US citizens, so the committee's scope for dealing withe them is limited. Not so Ms Brooks, who could be challenged further both within and beyond the remit of the committee.

Some interesting US input on Newsnight this evening which suggest that the FBI's interest in the affair is likely to develop pretty quickly, which could serve further to put the skids under Rupe's personal control of News Corp.

And Aeryn is helping to keep us up to date with events down under as well, where it appears that he is just as unpopular in his homeland as everywhere else.

[Stavros]

I have a suspicion that the FBI probe is a case of Democrats baiting NewsCorp for political capital at a time of maximum pressure over the debt negotiations. I am not sure when the hacking culture began, and here it was reliant on complicity with the police, I don't know if they were or would have been able to do it in the US in 2001. I am also now sceptical about Gordon Brown's rage in the commons, given Allison Pearson's claims in yesterday's Telegraph, not that I consider he a reliable witness to history. His personal relations with Brooks and Murdoch don't seem to have nose-dived when they made him cry...I think we are rapidly getting to a stage where some hard evidence in court needs to be proven, we are sinking in a blizzard of allegations, and ultimately, its the Metropolitan Police who are looking like the most vulnerable part of this.

[robertlouis]

I have a suspicion that the FBI probe is a case of Democrats baiting NewsCorp for political capital at a time of maximum pressure over the debt negotiations. I am not sure when the hacking culture began, and here it was reliant on complicity with the police, I don't know if they were or would have been able to do it in the US in 2001. I am also now sceptical about Gordon Brown's rage in the commons, given Allison Pearson's claims in yesterday's Telegraph, not that I consider he a reliable witness to history. His personal relations with Brooks and Murdoch don't seem to have nose-dived when they made him cry...I think we are rapidly getting to a stage where some hard evidence in court needs to be proven, we are sinking in a blizzard of allegations, and ultimately, its the Metropolitan Police who are looking like the most vulnerable part of this.

It's also been suggested that it's a Democrat tactic to gag or put a leash on the excesses of Fox News before the 2012 election. Is that credible?

Leaving aside one's opinions of Gordon Brown and his seeming reticence till this week, what sort of unspeakable arrogance was it that allowed Rebekah Brooks to think that she was the person who could decide when, where and how to announce to the world that the Browns' son had cystic fibrosis? And where the hell is the "public interest" element in that? Despicable beyond words.