James Murdoch expected to be called back before the House of Commons after evidence reveals he may have lied in earlier testimony. A Murdoch lying? Oh the humanity!

Courtesy of the Daily Mail:

Yesterday it was suggested that James Murdoch must have known as long ago as 2008 that phone hacking was widespread at the News of the World, MPs were told. 

The News International chief executive had informed the Commons Culture, Media and Sport select committee in July that as far as he knew, voicemail interception had been limited to one ‘rogue’ reporter. 

But devastating evidence yesterday from two of his most senior managers alleged that he was alerted three years ago to the existence of an e-mail indicating that journalists other than Clive Goodman, who was jailed in 2007, had been engaging in illegal hacking. 

Former News of the World editor Colin Myler and ex-legal manager Tom Crone told the committee the e-mail strongly implied that others at the paper were deeply involved. 

Mr Crone said it was ‘absolutely inconceivable’ that the full significance of the e-mail had not been explained to Mr Murdoch who is now expected to be recalled to give evidence to MPs. He said last night that he stands by his testimony. 

Less than 24 hours after the pair delivered their powerful testimony before MPs, police this morning arrest a 16th suspect in their investigation of phone hacking at the News of the World.The 35-year-old man was arrested at his north London home in a dawn raid and has not been named.

Yes I am still paying attention to this case, and I still am of the opinion that it might very well eventually have a damaging effect on Fox News, and by association the Republican party. Well at least that is my hope.

I believe that the investigation on this side of the pond is just now getting started, however the recent revelations of just how chummy Murdoch was with Tony Blair should make investigators salivate at the possibility of finding some very high placed politicians with some very difficult to explain connections to the media mogul.

Did you know that Tony Blair was the godfather of Murdoch's daughter?

Oh yes, this could get very juicy indeed!

FBI might be prepared to investigate News Corps under RICO statutes. In other words the same statutes they use to investigate the Mafia.

Courtesy of AdWeek:

Well-sourced information coming out of the Department of Justice and the FBI suggests a debate is going on that could result in the recently launched investigations of News Corp. falling under the RICO statutes. 

RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, establishes a way to prosecute the leaders of organizations—and strike at the organizations themselves—for crimes company leaders may not have directly committed, but which were otherwise countenanced by the organization. Any two of a series of crimes that can be proven to have occurred within a 10-year period by members of the organization can establish a pattern of racketeering and result in draconian remedies. In 1990, following the indictment of Michael Milken for insider trading, Drexel Burnham Lambert, the firm that employed him, collapsed in the face of a RICO investigation. 

Among the areas that the FBI is said to be looking at in its investigation of News Corp. are charges that one of its subsidiaries, News America Marketing, illegally hacked the computer system of a competitor, Floorgraphics, and then, using the information it had gleaned, tried to extort it into selling out to News Corp.; allegations that relationships the New York Post has maintained with New York City police officers may have involved exchanges of favors and possibly money for information; and accusations that Fox chief Roger Ailes sought to have an executive in the company, the book publisher Judith Regan, lie to investigators about details of her relationship with New York police commissioner Bernie Kerik in order to protect the political interests of Rudy Giuliani, then a presidential prospect. 

Here is where the RICO logic comes in. The usual path of a criminal investigation follows the crimes back to the source—that’s what happened to News Corp. in the U.K. when the royal family discovered that its voice mail messages were appearing in the press. But in a RICO investigation, you are really following the ethos and methods of operation of a group or organization to the crime. In other words, criminal activity is not seen as an isolated or particular event—as News Corp. has desperately and unsuccessfully tried to portray the crimes that occurred in the U.K.—but as an established pattern of conduct. 

As it happens, much of this pattern of conduct at News Corp. has long been hiding in plain sight. How the company has gotten away with such behavior is, in fact, a subtext of the investigations that are now unfolding. 

Partly, the company has escaped legal scrutiny because this is a boys-will-be-boys sort of story. News Corp.’s by-any-means aggressiveness has become so much a part of its identity that it seemed almost redundant to find fault with it. Everybody knew but nobody—for both reasons of fear and profit—did anything about it; hence its behavior has become, however unpleasant, accepted. 

And partly, it’s because the fundamental currency of the company has always been reward and punishment. Both the New York Post and Fox News maintain enemy lists. Almost anyone who has directly crossed these organizations, or who has made trouble for their parent company, will have felt the sting here. That sting involves regular taunting and, often, lies—Obama is a Muslim. (Or, if not outright lies, radical remakes of reality.) Threats pervade the company’s basic view of the world. “We have stuff on him,” Murdoch would mutter about various individuals who I mentioned during my interviews with him. “We have pictures.” 

Similarly, the Post and Fox News heap praise and favors on partisans, who in turn do them favors (the police, in New York as well as London, receive and return the favors). 

This reward and punishment has translated into substantial political power, both in terms of regulatory advantages and, too, in the ability of the company to shield itself from the kind of scrutiny that it has taken a perfect storm of events to have it now receive.

Use the same methods to investigate News Corp that the FBI used to investigate, and imprison, Mafia members? 

Considering what we know about how Fox News has used its influence to control elections, cover up for their favorite politicians, and attack competitors, it makes perfect sense to me.

Stephen Colbert ridicules the coverage of the Oslo terrorist attack by Fox News and other conservative news outlets.

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I thought this was one of Colbert's most brilliant segments ever.

It demonstrated just the right amount of seriousness about the attack themselves before using comedy to mock Fox, and other Murdoch owned media, for using the attacks to fan the flames of Islamic hatred.

Rupert's son, James Murdoch, may have been caught lying to the British Parliament. Anybody surprised?

Courtesy of The Guardian:

Tom Crone and Colin Myler must have been well aware that the statement they were about to make could prove fatal to James Murdoch.

When the Guardian pointed out in the wake of his parliamentary testimony that Murdoch's son had sought to blame them for concealment, a friend of the two men said: "To contradict James will be as good as coming out and calling him a liar."

Myler and Crone, the News of the World's then editor and News International's top newspaper lawyer, both of whom have lost their jobs in the wake of the phone-hacking affair, subsequently spent the day debating what to do.

If their statement of Thursday night is correct, then Rupert's son will have proved to have misled parliament. It will also have destroyed the Murdoch family's last line of defence against the scandal: that they knew nothing, and had been betrayed by those underlings they trusted.

I knew the little prick was lying right off the bat.

Gee I wonder who Rupert will have left to hide behind after Junior gets tired of taking the heat and turns on him?

Well I guess he always has that Ninja trained attack wife of his.

The obvious hypocrisy demonstrated by Fox News in not covering the News Corp phone hacking scandal is tailor made for the Daily Show.

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Ruopert Murdoch nearly hit by pie plate full of whipped cream while testifying today. Updated with Tweets!

(This is a replacement video, because the first one was yanked.)



I LOVE that Murdoch's ninja wife knocked the snot out of this guy before security can even reach him.

I will add my tweets later.

Update: Here are my tweets during the Murdoch's testimony before the British Parliament.

Murdoch's statement that this is "the most humble day of my life" in front of UK Parliament, may qualify him for a Razzie. Horrible acting!

So to be clear Rupert Murdoch has absolutely NO idea what is going on in his companies. Is that about right?

Is that Murdoch's wife behind him? The cameras should focus on her face while he testifies. I don't believe she has a good poker face.(Murdoch's wife, Wendi Deng, kept shifting her position and making faces behind her husband while he was testifying. You could tell when she was concerned about what he was saying. At this point I had no idea she was preparing for battle.)

Proof that Murdoch is an American Republican. He says he is NOT responsible for what happened at News Corp.

James Murdoch is a very accomplished bullshit artist. Surprisingly Rupert, much less so.

Parliament needs to focus on Murdoch senior. He is the weak link here. Junior is VERY slick.

That "Willful blindness" question seems to have effectively harshed young James Murdoch's mellow. Don't you agree?

Somebody tried to jump Murdoch? THAT is the guy I want to see interviewed. (I missed the initial attack, and only saw it seconds later on playback form MSNBC, which at first was only showing the reaction from James and Wendy Deng slapping the comedy right out of the guy, before her non-ninja approved high heels made her lose her balance.)

Damn! His wife totally bitch slapped the guy!

It looks like the guy got pied. (At this point I had no idea what was all over him.)

Oh, the guy tried to hit Rupert Murdoch with a pie. Apparently thinks he is on the Benny Hill Show.

Murdoch's ninja trained wife stopped the guy from getting goo on her sugar daddy.

Yes I know that "goo on her sugardaddy" sounds vaguely sexual, but that was probably just an accident on my part.

MSNBC is reporting that the man tried to hit Murdoch with a "white substance." Just leave it alone Gryph. Don't make the bukakke joke. Damn! (Someday I am confident I will mature.  Just not today.)

Murdoch has NOT considered resigning? That arrogance will be his downfall.

At the closing of the testimony from Charles Montgomery Burns and his sidekick, Smithers, they were allowed to read from a prepared statement which you can find here.

I have to say I found that testimony fascinating, but I do not think that even Murdoch's super slick son was effective enough to convince the Parliament that there was not some serious wrong doing on the part of father and son.  Well father at least. 

Rachel Maddow reveals that phone and computer hacking just business as usual for companies owned by Rupert Murdoch.

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What goes around, comes around, as News Corp's "The Sun" gets hacked.

 Courtesy of Neowin:

There's been a lot of media coverage around the News of the World hacking scandal this week, it appears that Lulzsec has stepped up against the parent company, Media Corp's other publications and has hacked Rupert Murdoch's major newspapers website, The Sun.

The website today redirected to an article on a elaborate copy of the official Sun website, that claimed Rupert Murdoch had died, and had been found in his garden. 

The Lulzsec official Twitter account claimed they were behind the hack, tweeting; "We have owned Sun/News of the World - that story is simply phase 1 - expect the lulz to flow in coming days." and with a later tweet saying "The Sun's homepage now redirects to the Murdoch death story on the recently-owned New Times website. Can you spell success, gentlemen?"

Oh sweet irony.  I am not much of a fan of those that hack websites, but considering the garbage that Murdoch and his minions are involved with, I think this time I will side with the hackers.

Aspiring Opera Singer Sits on New Corp.'s Board of Directors

"Natalie Bancroft: Perhaps the best example of how Murdoch has rigged the game. Bancroft, 31, an aspiring opera singer whom Murdoch handpicked to be the only woman on the board. (At the company's annual meetings, Murdoch is often asked about the lack of female representation on the board; once, in rehearsing his answer to that question, he quipped, 'They talk too much.') Bancroft has her seat thanks to her family’s decision to sell Dow Jones & Company and The Wall Street Journal to News Corp. One condition of the deal was a guaranteed seat for a Bancroft family member on the board until 2018. 'At the time, she was literally the least equipped person to do that job,' a Bancroft family member told Adweek. 'This nice girl had never had any involvement in any family business.' According to the family member, Natalie Bancroft’s appointment was seen by her family as a 'ploy by Rupert'—he kept to the letter of the deal, but it was all for show. When a reporter asked Bancroft in 2008 whether she was planning to get an MBA to help prepare her for the position, she responded, 'In journalism?'” [Source]

Another photo (with interesting caption) after the jump.

We knew it was coming! Fox News has "Brain Room" where the phone records of Americans are being hacked.

Courtesy of Business Insider:

A former producer with Fox News claimed in a lengthy essay gaining new traction this week that the conservative television station has a "Brain Room" in its New York headquarters, which enables employees to view private telephone records with ease.

Though published years ago, the allegations have returned to relevance in the wake of the phone hacking scandals that have rocked News Corporation to its very core, threatening to topple one of the world's largest and most powerful media conglomerates.

According to former Fox News executive Dan Cooper, whose gripes with his former employer run quite deep, Fox News chief Roger Ailes allegedly had him design the so-called "Brain Room" to facilitate counter-intelligence efforts and other "black ops."

In a lengthy 2008 diatribe said to have doubled as a book pitch, Cooper claimed his own phone records had been hacked by Fox News employees, who he says used them to pinpoint him as a source used by David Brock, who founded liberal watchdog group Media Matters.

"Ailes knew I had given Brock the interview," he wrote. "Certainly Brock didn't tell him. Of course. Fox News had gotten Brock's telephone records from the phone company, and my phone number was on the list. Deep in the bowels of 1211 Avenue of the Americas, News Corporation's New York headquarters, was what Roger called the Brain Room. Most people thought it was simply the research department of Fox News. But unlike virtually everybody else, because I had to design and build the Brain Room, I knew it also housed a counterintelligence and black ops office. So accessing phone records was easy pie."

See?  I told you it would lead back to Fox News!

My fervent hope is that the FBI get themselves a search warrant and GAIN ACCESS TO THAT ROOM!

Ladies and gentlemen I would bet my house that if they could get in there THAT would be the end of Fox News, Roger Ailes, and Rupert Murdoch.  There is no doubt in my mind.

You know the part that really pisses me off?  That I already KNEW about this story, and even wrote about it, but it completely slipped my mind until I read this article.

Some investigative reporter I turned out to be.

Rupert Murdoch protege, Rebekah Brooks, arrested over phone hacking scandal! Update!

Courtesy of The Daily Mail:

Former News International executive Rebekah Brooks was today sensationally arrested over the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

The 43-year-old was held when she arrived for a pre-arranged appointment at a central London police station - two days before she is due to give evidence to MPs. 

The ex-News of the World editor, who is tenth person to be arrested in connection with allegations of corruption and phone hacking, resigned from her job on Friday.

Mrs Brooks is believed to be being held at Lewisham police station. She attended voluntarily and said she is 'assisting police with investigations'.

She is in custody as part of the ongoing investigations by officers from Operation Weeting looking at phone hacking and Operation Elveden, investigating inappropriate payments to police.

She was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications.

Mrs Brooks' arrest comes after it was revealed that Britain's top police officer accepted a free five-week stay at a top health spa where News of the World hacking suspect Neil Wallis was a PR consultant.

She is "assisting police with investigations." If you don't think those words send a chill up the spine of Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes than you have not been paying attention.


I have a feeling that this thing is still only at its beginning stages, and that when the dust finally settles there are going to be some very serious changes in how journalism is conducted in Britain, and hopefully America as well.

Update: It looks like another domino just fell.

The commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police Services, Sir Paul Stephenson, resigned his post on Sunday just hours after his officers arrested Rebekah Brooks, the former chief of Rupert Murdoch’s media operations in Britain, as damage from a phone-hacking scandal moved to the highest levels of British public life.

In a news conference, Sir Paul said his position was “in danger of being eclipsed by the ongoing debate by senior officers and the media. And this can never be right,” according to a report by The Guardian.

The Metropolitan Police, commonly referred to as Scotland Yard, has come under harsh scrutiny in recent days, accused in the press and by British politicians of currying too close a relationship with tabloid executives.

Like I said this thing is just in the beginning stages. So far almost every day has seen the new allegations and new resignations, from my perspective it feels like the momentum is picking up NOT getting ready to crest nor diminish.


Anybody of a differing opinion?

Clearly Rupert Murdoch is in a panic and desperately trying to control the damage before it spreads too far to contain. But will it be enough?

From Yahoo News:

Rupert Murdoch apologized to victims of criminal phone hacking by one of his tabloids and accepted the resignations of News Corp's top two newspaper executives, Rebekah Brooks and Les Hinton.

Moving to gain control of a scandal washing over his global business, the U.S.-based magnate made a personal apology to the parents of a murdered schoolgirl in what appeared to be an admission that the News of the World, then edited by Brooks and overseen by Hinton, had in 2002 hacked into the voicemails of their missing daughter.

It was that damning allegation, in a rival newspaper 10 days ago, which reignited a 5-year-old scandal that has forced Murdoch to close the News of the World, Britain's best-selling Sunday paper, and drop a $12 billion plan to buy full control of highly profitable pay-TV operator BSkyB.

The crisis has broken the grip that Murdoch, 80, had over British politics for three decades as leaders from Margaret Thatcher, through Labor's Tony Blair to current Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron sought his support.

It has also forced him to make concessions to public calls that the executives who were in charge at the time of the scandal be held accountable.

Somebody left a comment on another thread that I should not get my hopes up about this scandal damaging Fox News, or destroying their credibility along with the other News Corp entities.

Yeah maybe not, but this has been a pretty satisfying summer so far, so I think I will follow my President's advice and embrace the audacity of hope.

How about you guys?

Rachel Maddow interviews Bill Moyers on his views concerning the Rupert Murdoch scandal and the state of journalism in America.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This is an interview of one of the giants of American journalism in this country conducted by one of the very best reporters we have working today.

In other words it is MUST see!

FBI begins probe to investigate allegations that News Corp hacked phones of 9-11 victims. Well now, things just got a LOT more interesting!

Courtesy of the LA Times:

Responding to allegations from several Washington lawmakers, the FBI has opened an investigation into whether Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. attempted to hack into the telephones of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the families of those who died.

According to federal law enforcement sources, the decision by the FBI's field office in New York to launch the criminal probe came after several members of Congress raised concerns in letters to FBI headquarters, questioning whether reporters for the media empire may have tried to compromise Sept. 11 victims just as they reportedly hacked into the phones of numerous individuals in England.

"We are doing this based on their requests," said an FBI source, who asked not to be identified because the investigation is just getting underway. "But after reviewing the letters and their allegations, and after consultation with the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York, we are proceeding."

At the Department of Justice, officials also acknowledged they are "reviewing" the allegations by Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and others that Sept. 11 victims and families may have been put at risk by News Corp.

"If these allegations are proven true," King wrote in his letter to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, "the conduct would merit felony charges for attempting to violate various federal statutes related to corruption of public officials and prohibitions against wiretapping. Any person found guilty of this purported conduct should receive the harshest sanctions available under law."

I have to imagine that there are those working at Fox News right now who are trying desperately to clear their email trash bins and clean up their hard drives before the investigation leads the FBI right to their door. Because folks, you just KNOW that this was not something that just took place on the other side of the Atlantic.

I also have to imagine that there are some disgruntled ex-News Corp, and Fox News employees that are more than willing to help the FBI with their case.

Remember when I promised you that this would be a great summer?

Well to be honest there was really NO WAY I could have imagined that it would be THIS great!

Keith Olbermann reveals the tactics that Rupert Murdoch uses to keep his employees in line.

 My favorite part comes toward the end.

 "And when the tide recedes there will be nothing left. Not of News Corp, not of Fox News, not of Rupert Murdoch."

See? Even Keith Olbermann believes that it is possible THIS will be the end of Murdoch.

Maybe this is like in a "Peter Pan" play.

If all of us believe and clap hard enough, instead of bringing Tinkerbell back to life, we can wish for the demise of Fox News. And it will happen.

Worth a shot.

(H/T to Politicususa.)

US taxpayers subsidized Rupert Murdoch's efforts to destroy journalism in this country to the tune of 4.8 billion dollars! Update! Important correction.

From 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.

Low life, scum sucking, son-of-a-bitch!

Here I thought I could not dislike Rupert Murdoch anymore than I already do, and then I learn this!

There you go Americans.  While our economy is suffering through historic hard times, and our neighbors cannot find jobs to feed their families, our tax dollars are going to subsidize a man who has purposefully lied to the citizens of this country, provided a platform for constant attacks against our President, and helped sell TWO unnecessary wars to the American people!

There is no place in hell hot enough to adequately punish this cancerous piece of human excrement.

Update: Well at least THIS is some good news today:

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. media empire dropped its bid to takeover lucrative British Sky Broadcasting on Wednesday ahead of a House of Commons vote in which all three major parties were to issue that very demand.

News Corp. deputy chairman and president Chase Carey said "it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate."

Gee, ya think?


Well this is a start, but personally I will not be satisfied until Murdoch has been run out of the news business forever. And takes all of those phony journalists at Fox News with him, by the way.


Yes I know that I am being unrealistic, but a man can dream can't he?

Correction: The journalist who wrote the initial article that I based this post on, has admitted he made a rather large mistake.


Rupert Murdoch's News Corp did not get a $4.8 billion tax refund for the past four years, as I reported. Instead, it paid that much in cash for corporate income taxes for the years 2007 through 2010 while earning pre-tax profits of $10.4 billion.

For the first time in my 45-year-old career I am writing a skinback. That is what journalists call a retraction of the premise of a piece, as in peeling back your skin and feeling the pain. I will do all I can to make sure everyone who has read or heard secondary reports based on my column also learns the facts and would appreciate the help of readers in that cause.

The journalist, David Cay Johnston, then goes on to explain how he made the error in some detail.

I apologize for my part in disseminating this information. I placed my confidence in the reporter, and it seems he simply made an honest mistake.  I understand mistakes, I make them myself quite frequently.

However like Mr. Johnston, and unlike some people who attempt to double down on an error, I try to own up to my mistakes. And so I have.

I will of course continue to try and provide only accurate information in the future.  However I simply cannot promise that I will not slip up occasionally. I am only human.

NewsCorp attempted to hack phones of 9-11 victims. Now America is a player in this scandal. Update!

Courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald:

A New York police officer has claimed besieged British tabloid the News of the World attempted to hack into the voicemails of victims of the 9/11 terror attacks, as Rupert Murdoch arrived in London for emergency talks aimed at diffusing the international crisis surrounding his media empire.

Rival red-top newspaper the Mirror reported the officer was contacted by News of the World journalists who said they would pay him to retrieve the private phone records of the dead.

Now working as a private ­investigator, the ex-officer claimed reporters wanted the victims' phone numbers and details of the calls they had made and received in the days leading up to the atrocity.

The voicemails would likely include harrowing messages from desperate loved ones trying to make contact with their relatives caught up in the 2001 terror strikes on the World Trade Center, in which thousands perished.

I believe that this might be the beginning of the end of Fox News as a viable news source in America.

I know that Fox has not been publicly connected to this scandal, but now that it has reached the shores of America I would be willing to bet that news of involvement by Fox News will not be far behind.

What's more if we DON'T hear of that involvement, I, and many others by the way, will ALWAYS believe there was a cover up.  The idea that this was so widespread in England, and that the company responsible did not do the same thing here in America, just seems naive to me.

I mean if they were willing to attempt to hack the bank and medical records of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, what in the world makes us believe that Murdoch's "journalists" would fear doing the very same thing in THIS country?

What do you all think?

Update: It looks like CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) are on the same page:

“Given the ever-increasing number of Murdoch publications involved, combined with the allegation that News Corp. journalists sought access to the voicemails of 9/11 victims and their families, America cannot leave this investigation entirely to the British. Congress should immediately initiate its own inquiry,” said Ms. Sloan. “Politicians in Washington may not be able to agree on much these days, but at the very least they should be able to agree that efforts to hack the phones of those killed in the worst terrorist attack in American history merits thorough public hearings.”

Stay tuned to witness how hard the Republicans push back against this.

The News Corp scandal might just turn out to be Keith Olbermann's all time favorite story.

Here is a partial transcript by Raw Story:

Current TV’s Keith Olbermann summarized the latest developments in the scandal before turning to Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff for commentary. Wolff began by saying that the elder Murdoch should really be out apologizing to everyone who has been harmed by his company’s actions, but “that’s not Rupert Murdoch.”

“This is a company that’s all about — it’s about power,” Wolff explained. “You hurt me, you diss me, we smack you down.” He added, “These people will do anything.”

“Is James Murdoch really at legal risk?” Olbermann asked.

“I think it’s an exaggeration, somewhat,” Wolff replied, but he quickly noted, “Anything could happen now. … The unimaginable is now occurring.”

“This is the snowball effect,” Wolff said, explaining that when it comes to Rupert Murdoch, “these politicians … in the UK have had to put up with this guy for a long time. He’s never been pleasant about it. He’s always extracted blood. So finally there’s an opportunity. ‘We can get rid of this guy.’”
Wolff concluded by saying that we can expect “new revelations every day” as “more shoes drop.”

You can almost see Olbermann salivating over the potential demise of Rupert Murdoch's empire.  I find it very hard to blame him.

(H/T to Politicususa.)

Carl Bernstein refers to phone hacking scandal as "Murdoch"s Watergate." Well, he should know.

Courtesy of Newsweek:

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.

This article is a "must read" for anybody who is closely following this scandal.  Bernstein carefully outlines Murdoch's empire and does not hold back in revealing its overall negative impact on journalism around the world, and particularly in America, and how this indefensible breach of the public trust might serve to undermine a free press in Enlgand, and may have ripple effects that spread much, much further.

Once you have read through that wonderful piece I urge you to visit Philly.com to learn that the things Murdoch has done here in the United States may in fact be much worse than what he did in Britain.  For example:

Iraq and the war on terrorism: America's misguided "pre-emptive war" in the oil-rich Persian Gulf would not have been possible unless the 9/11 attacks and a response to terrorism became conflated with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, which for all its horrors had nothing to do with the assault on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The Fox News Channel, and its parade of GOP-talking-point infused hosts and military "experts," helped to make sure that wrongful conflation took place, as later evidence proved.

A 2003 poll by the Program on International Policy (PIPA) at the University of Maryland and Knowledge Networks found that regular Fox News viewers were significantly more likely than other news consumers to believe one of three significant falsehoods about the Iraq war -- that Iraq was somehow connected to 9/11, that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq, or that global opinion was in favor of the war. These jingoistic myths -- most heavily adopted by Fox viewers -- fueled years of continued fighting in a war in which thousands of Americans and Iraqi civilians died needlessly.

After reading that I imagine that you are just about as pissed off as I am at the entire fucking Rupert Murdoch empire! So allow me to offer you the chance to cleanse your palate by watching ex-NOW editor Paul McMullen getting his ass handed to him again by yet another British actor, Steve Coogan.



That McMullen douchebag is a special brand of sleazy isn't he? Just watching him on camera makes my skin crawl.

The fallout from News Corp. hacking scandal. spreads to US, ad buyers becoming nervous.

Courtesy of AdWeek:

The scandal has buyers trying to reconcile the outrageousness of the charges surrounding Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. tabloid with News Corp.'s significant U.S. footprint, which includes Fox News as well as the straitlaced Wall Street Journal. Some said that while they haven’t suspended advertising in News Corp.’s U.S. properties, they're growing wary about doing business with the media giant.
“You always wonder when anybody has a scandal,” said GregClausen, chief media officer of Doner in Detroit. Clausen said that while he would still consider News Corp. properties “viable” options for clients, he added, “It puts you a little bit on edge.”

Robin Steinberg, director of publishing activation at MediaVest, which is one of the biggest print-buying shops, controlling some $1 billion in annual spending, said news of the scandal is prompting her to seek reassurances from News Corp. representatives in the U.S.

“We are addressing the situation through conversations and explanation,” she said. “The expectation is that this approach and behavior will not carry over here into the states. Certain guarantees might be necessary for clients to be comfortable allocating money to these properties.”
Others flat-out declined to comment, preferring to leave the talking to clients. “It’s a little too touchy,” said a rep for one major buying agency.

One who was prepared to give News Corp. the full benefit of the doubt was Steve Farella, founder of TargetCast tcm.

“It clearly makes an agency and any client think twice about supporting that newspaper,” Farella said of News of the World. “But in my heart, I don’t believe that any company owned by News Corp. has a policy to break the laws.”

“This doesn’t make me think twice about doing business [with News Corp.],” he continued. “We are not in News of the World, and I don’t believe that the errant practice... is being duplicated at Fox News here in America.”

Really? That is mighty naive.

My money, says that whatever Murdoch was able to get away with in England he did here in the good old United States as well.  Murdoch is an arrogant, competitive prick, and I have little doubt that much more will be coming out about this scandal, including how widespread it truly is, in the very near future.

If Fox News suffers a significant blow to their credibility here in the states, the Republicans will be left without a handy megaphone to spred their lies and misinformation. That could render them all but politically impotent.

Damn, I need more popcorn again!