7-11-2011

Murdoch media empire caught hacking

Rupert Murdoch's media empire was besieged Monday by accusations that two more of his British newspapers engaged in hacking, deception and privacy violations that included accessing former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's bank account information and stealing the medical records of his seriously ill baby son.

His reporters were also accused of paying Queen Elizabeth II's bodyguards for secret information about the monarch, potentially jeopardizing her safety.

If proven, the charges by rival newspapers would dramatically increase the pressure on top Murdoch executives so far largely insulated from the scandal.

The 80-year-old Murdoch arrived in the U.K. on Sunday to take charge of the widening crisis.

They said Murdoch's News Corp. might be liable to criminal prosecution under the 1977 Corrupt Foreign Practices Act, a broad act designed to prosecute executives who bribe foreign officials in exchange for large contracts.

A group of News Corp. shareholders already have sued the company over the phone-hacking scandal, accusing News Corp. of large-scale governance failures. The lawsuit was filed late Friday in Delaware Chancery Court by shareholders led by Amalgamated Bank, and several municipal and union pension funds joined in.

The shareholders own less than 1 percent of News Corp.'s stock combined. The lawsuit is part of an amended complaint. The shareholders are also challenging News Corp.'s acquisition of Shine Group Ltd., founded by Murdoch's daughter. News Corp. didn't immediately return messages for comment on the lawsuit.

Murdoch, his son and daughter should be in prison for a long time.

America wouldn't do anything with him and his empire but looks like the U.K. will.

Hopefully this spells the end of the anti-American Fox fake News too.

U.S. is finally getting involved now

7-14-2011

FBI probing News Corp. 9/11 phone link

The FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. sought to hack into the phones of Sept. 11 victims, a law enforcement official said Thursday.

Murdoch began his media career in Australia in 1952 after inheriting The News newspaper after the death of his father, and he has built News Corp. into one of the world's biggest media groups. Assets include Fox News, the 20th Century Fox movie studio, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and three newspapers in Britain — down from four with the death of the News of the World.

Also Thursday, Scotland Yard said it had made its seventh arrest related to the inquiry into phone hacking at the now-defunct tabloid, whose closure was a doomed effort to keep alive a bid for the highly profitable network British Sky Broadcasting. Police didn't disclose the name of the arrested man.

7-17-2011

UK's top police chief quits over hacking scandal

Britain's top police chief resigned and the former head of Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper business was arrested on Sunday over a phone-hacking scandal that is lapping at Prime Minister David Cameron's door.

Analysts said the gathering pace of heads rolling had turned up the heat on Cameron and Murdoch over their handling of the scandal, with the media tycoon due to be questioned by parliament in a possible showdown on Tuesday.

Paul Stephenson, London's police commissioner, quit in the face of allegations that police officers had accepted money from Murdoch's News of the World paper and not done enough to investigate hacking charges that surfaced as far back as 2005.

The scandal has shocked the public and raised concerns not only about unethical media practices but about the influence Murdoch has wielded over British leaders and allegations of cozy relationships between some of his journalists and police.

With politicians from Australia to the United States demanding to know if similar abuses occurred elsewhere in Murdoch's global media business, the 80-year-old has been forced on the defensive and the position of his son James as heir-apparent has been called into question.

Murdoch, who some media commentators say at first misjudged the strength of public anger, published apologies in several British newspapers at the weekend.

He lost another loyal executive on Friday when Les Hinton, another former head of his UK newspaper business, resigned as chief executive of Murdoch's Dow Jones & Co which publishes The Wall Street Journal.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that members of the board of BSkyB, where James Murdoch serves as chairman, were due to meet in a special session on July 28 to discuss his future.

If James were to be felled by the scandal, British media speculated that his sister Elisabeth could secure the eventual succession to their father.

Phone hacking whistleblower found dead







"not suspicious", yeah riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!

Murdoch obviously still has some well paid "friends" in Scotland Yard......