Why The US Should Care About Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch is a naturalized US citizen. News Corp is a US corporation, incorporated in Delaware.
If the News of the World, a division of a US corporation, bribed British police officers the corporation could be in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which, as former Congresscritter ‘Dollar Bill’ Jefferson can tell you, is enough to put one in prison. That is what the FBI is investigating, not the possible hacking of 9-11 victims and their families.
While Rupert told Parliament yesterday that he doesn’t have time to watch individual members of his far-flung empire, in 2007, while the hacking was being uncovered, Rupert told a panel from the House of Lords that he exercised proprietary control of the Sun and News of the World.
News Corp was attempting to expand its holdings in Britain and Europe, so those markets would have been on the top of the executive agenda.
7 comments
As head of the empire, everything that happens on his watch is his responsibility. He should have said yes that he was ultimately responsible and appropriate changes were being made. I would surmise that when someone was getting in his billfold, that he knew whose fingers it was.
What was really funny was him replaying the scene from The Godfather movie “I don’t know nuthin about that”. If he’s as senile as he wants the British to believe, then the stockholders and Board of Directors need to retire his sorry ass.
This type of behavior is what happens when we forget that ” All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely!”
Here’s a few of today’s stories:
Senate Dems Ask News Corp. to Investigate Itself
Seriously? I used to have some respect for Boxer. Now she’s just another spineless GOP ass-kisser. Sad really.
News Corp. to Stop Paying Phone Hacker’s Legal Fees
Really? And it only took 5 years for people to figure there may be something wrong with that? Geez.
Could News Corp.’s Board Fire Rupert Murdoch?
Yeah… Good luck with that! I’m sure the Blackmail King would allow that to happen! (If you don’t know what that refers to, it refers to the fact that ol’ Rupe has been known to blackmail employees to toe-the-line and do what the Master says. Keith Olbermann was the first to publicly give details of how he was blackmailed when he worked the sport’s desk for News Corp.) I’m sure he has everyone who worked for him covered. I wouldn’t be holding my breath for Brooks or anyone else to dump on ol’ Rupe, unless they are certain he can’t get them first, or even last.
And of course, we have the inimitable TDS take on the latest:
TDS – July 20, 2011 – Steve Carell
Rupert Murdoch throws his employees under the bus; his wife, Wendi Deng, pummels a pie-wielding idiot; and Steve Carell loves his Papa Bear.
Heh… Damned funny! 😀 😉
Duffer, I’m quite sure that an ensign on the poop deck of a Royal Navy frigate has no authorization to engage private detectives to hack into the voice mail of a child kidnapping victim. And while we’re at it, enough of the false equivalency with what Wikileaks did, a meme which Fox is pushing big-time.
Mr. Duff, I realize that it is a bit of an anachronism with ‘conservatives’ these days, but I was taught in the military and business leadership courses that with authority comes responsibility. Some might argue that it was unfair that I got my butt chewed out for the actions of one of my people in Britain while I was in Nebraska, but that individual’s conduct was my responsibility. That’s why my pay was marginally higher and I had more stripes on my sleeve.
When Murdock claimed that he took personal interest in the affairs of the Sun and News of the World in 2007, he pretty much destroyed his “I can’t be everywhere” defense. He should have known what was going on, and if he didn’t, he wasn’t doing his job. The same goes for General Petraeus.
There were sufficient large checks being written related to the hacking that alarm bells should have been going off up and down the chain of command, and paying the private investigators legal fees for 5 years is rather strong testimony that what he was doing was approved by the corporation.
Update here:
Murdoch, Thomson Make ‘Wall Street Journal’ Vulnerable to Scandal
Could get very interesting! 🙂
Rupert has kept his mates around him, so they are all in trouble, when he’s in trouble.
From the standpoint of News Corp, Ofcom in the UK could spell Murdoch’s doom if they decide that News Corp can’t own UK media companies, because they have major holdings in ITV as well as BSkyB and those are corporate ‘cash cows’, driving News Corp’s profits, as the profits of the newspapers decline.