THE head of Rupert Murdoch's Australian media arm has accused Julia Gillard of seeking to link News Limited to Britain's telephone-hacking scandal and rejected the tactic as "unjustified and regrettable".THE head of Rupert Murdoch's Australian media arm has accused Julia Gillard of seeking to link News Limited to Britain's telephone-hacking scandal and rejected the tactic as "unjustified and regrettable".News Limited chairman and chief executive John Hartigan said last night there was no evidence to suggest the company's publications, which include The Australian, had been involved in wrongdoing. His comments came after the Prime Minister said yesterday that News Limited needed to answer "hard questions" about its operations in the wake of the British scandal.
THE head of Rupert Murdoch's Australian media arm has accused Julia Gillard of seeking to link News Limited to Britain's telephone-hacking scandal and rejected the tactic as "unjustified and regrettable".
THE head of Rupert Murdoch's Australian media arm has accused Julia Gillard of seeking to link News Limited to Britain's telephone-hacking scandal and rejected the tactic as "unjustified and regrettable".
News Limited chairman and chief executive John Hartigan said last night there was no evidence to suggest the company's publications, which include The Australian, had been involved in wrongdoing. His comments came after the Prime Minister said yesterday that News Limited needed to answer "hard questions" about its operations in the wake of the British scandal.
While Ms Gillard conceded she had no evidence of wrongdoing in Australia, she held open the possibility of backing a Greens push for an inquiry into the Australian media, including consideration of requiring newspapers to be licensed.
LulzSec is Back: Groups Targets Murdoch, the SunIt wasn't too long ago that LulzSec announced it was abandoning ship and disbanding following a successful 50 days of hacking. However, it seems the scandal surrounding Murdoch's News of the World newspaper has drawn the crew out of retirement. LulzSec spent yesterday targeting News of the World sister paper the Sun. Its efforts included redirecting all Sun.co.uk readers to the LulzSec Twitter feed and, for a time, a story about Rupert Murdoch being found dead. Reuters reports that staff at other News Corp papers, such as the Sunday Times, were told to change their passwords.LulzSec gained notoriety for its targeted attacks against Sony, Nintendo, the NHS, the CIA and countless other companies and agencies. On June 27 the group called it quits after just over seven weeks of hacking. Speaking via statement, LulzSec said that it had only ever planned for a fifty-day 'cruise.'"Our planned 50 day cruise has expired, and we must now sail into the distance, leaving behind - we hope - inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love," the group wrote. "If anything, we hope we had a microscopic impact on someone, somewhere. Anywhere."The group confirmed yesterday via its Twitter feed that it was the Murdoch scandal that drew them out of retirement.
It wasn't too long ago that LulzSec announced it was abandoning ship and disbanding following a successful 50 days of hacking. However, it seems the scandal surrounding Murdoch's News of the World newspaper has drawn the crew out of retirement. LulzSec spent yesterday targeting News of the World sister paper the Sun. Its efforts included redirecting all Sun.co.uk readers to the LulzSec Twitter feed and, for a time, a story about Rupert Murdoch being found dead. Reuters reports that staff at other News Corp papers, such as the Sunday Times, were told to change their passwords.
LulzSec gained notoriety for its targeted attacks against Sony, Nintendo, the NHS, the CIA and countless other companies and agencies. On June 27 the group called it quits after just over seven weeks of hacking. Speaking via statement, LulzSec said that it had only ever planned for a fifty-day 'cruise.'
"Our planned 50 day cruise has expired, and we must now sail into the distance, leaving behind - we hope - inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love," the group wrote. "If anything, we hope we had a microscopic impact on someone, somewhere. Anywhere."
The group confirmed yesterday via its Twitter feed that it was the Murdoch scandal that drew them out of retirement.
New Website Lets You Grill Murdoch, But Don't Expect a Straight Answer
askmurdoch.co.uk
The bizarre theater surrounding the tabloid phone-hacking scandal that's rocked Britain's media world has the Internet exploding with comedic, satirical jabs about the players involved.
The latest online gem: Ask Murdoch. The site's tagline: “Ask Murdoch: Where Rupert forgets stuff.” The site is affiliated with the blog Political Scrapbook.
The website, a spoof on search engine Ask and its UK variant Ask Jeeves, allows users to input questions for Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and CEO of News Corp, the global media empire that owned the now-defunct tabloid accused of rampant cell phone hacking. The answers provided—which range from “I don't have any recollection” to “Pardon?”—are a comedic nod to the real Murdoch's subpar answers during a London parliamentary hearing on Tuesday.
Murdoch and his son, James Murdoch, appeared before Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee to testify about allegations that News of the World reporters in their employ had hacked into the phones of thousands of people.
Throughout the hours-long grilling, the embattled 80-year-old media mogul struggled to respond, evading direct questioning or offering vague and short answers that frustrated and amused watchers around the world. His inability to hear or decipher British accents didn't help either.
Another answer on the Ask Murdoch site is “This is a humble search engine." The answer, of course, is a snarky reference to Murdoch's opening comment: “This is the most humble day of my life.”
Read more:http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/20/new-website-lets-you-ask-murdoch-anything-but-dont-expect-a-straight-answer/#ixzz1SfIWuNal
Cameron testifies to Parliament in hacking probe
British PM defends government work of arrested aide, a former News of the World editor
AP/Christopher Furlong
British Prime Minister David Cameron, heading a two day visit to South Africa and Nigeria, attends an answer and question session at the Stock Exchange in Johannesburg, South Africa, Monday.
Prime Minister David Cameron emphatically denied claims that his staff tried to stop an inquiry into a phone hacking and police bribery at the News of the World and defended his decision to hire one of the tabloid's editors as his communications chief.
In a raucous emergency session Wednesday in Parliament, Cameron admitted, however, that both the ruling Conservatives and the opposition Labour parties had failed to pursue key developments in the hacking case over the years.
"The greatest responsibility I have is to clear up this mess," Cameron told lawmakers, promising that a government inquiry would investigate whether other media organizations besides News of the World also committed illegal acts over the years.
British Panel Says Murdochs Are Blocking Inquiries
By ALAN COWELL
Published: July 20, 2011
LONDON — A parliamentary panel investigating Britain’s spreading phone hacking scandal accused the Murdoch empire on Wednesday of “deliberate attempts” to thwart its investigations.
The House of Commons home affairs select committee was one of two panels that questioned some of the main players in the scandal on Tuesday, interviewing senior police officers and releasing a scathing report on Wednesday that pointed to “a catalog of failures” in handling the hacking investigations.
The report was issued on Wednesday just hours before Prime Minister David Cameron went before a rowdy session of Parliament to defend his relationships with former senior figures at News International, the British subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s global News Corporation.
A second panel, the select committee on culture, media and sport, on Tuesday questioned Mr. Murdoch, his son James and Rebekah Brooks, the former chief of News International. Ms. Brooks resigned from the company last week and was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of illegally intercepting phone calls and bribing the police — charges she again denied on Tuesday.
The separate home affairs select committee interviewed senior officers including Sir Paul Stephenson, the outgoing commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police Service, and John Yates, the assistant commissioner who also is leaving.
Rupert Murdoch's Integrity Testified by Piers Morgan
By Bryan Yurcan | Christian Post Contributor
Text 
RSS
Print
E-mailFormer News of the World and Daily Mirror Editor Piers Morgan Tuesday defended his former boss Rupert Murdoch as a man of integrity, and dismissed allegations he too was involved in a phone hacking scandal.
News Corp. board of directors signals support of Murdoch and management
News Corp.'s board of directors said it was standing behind Rupert Murdoch and his management team.
Looking to put to rest rumors and speculation that an executive shake-up is in the works at embattled News Corp., Viet Dinh, an independent director of the media conglomerate, issued a statement on behalf of the board saying, "We are united in support of the senior management team to address these issues."
The statement came just hours after the board had retained the New York law firm Debevoise & Plimpton to represent itself.
While that move was seen as a sign of a split in the board of News Corp., as likely a scenario is that the independent members of the board need their own counsel should there be shareholder lawsuits filed against the company in the wake of the scandal.
The board said it and News Corp. were "shocked and outraged by the allegations concerning the News of the World" and that the two were "singularly aligned and committed to doing the right thing."
The Nation: Murdoch Cut Down To Size
EnlargeMatt Dunham/AP
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is driven along Whitehall in central London, Tuesday, July 19, 2011. Murdoch and his son James Murdoch were questioned by a parliamentary committee of British lawmakers Tuesday over the phone hacking scandal.
Katrina vanden Heuvel editor and publisher ofThe Nation. She writes a weekly column for theNation and the Washington Post.
"We are sorry" read the full-page ads Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has taken out in Britain, part of a new atonement campaign clearly orchestrated by the public relations firm brought on to help "manage" the company's phone-hacking crisis.
Well, they got that right. "Sorry" is as good an adjective as any to describe the Murdoch media empire. It's a buccaneer enterprise that is scornful of laws and decency and that peddles, as Murdoch's biographer William Shawcross summarized, "titillation, sensationalism and vulgarity" to gain broad audiences, then uses gossip, tripe, manufactured stories and a distorted lens to further a right-wing ideological agenda. "Sorry' is also a good description of regulators and politicians on both sides of the aisle and the ocean, who were seduced by Murdoch's money, feared his power and served as lapdogs rather than watchdogs as he consolidated and expanded his holdings.
In Britain, the scandal erupted with revelations of the hacking of a murdered young girl's cellphone by the News of the World newspaper, giving her parents false hopes that she might still be alive. The ensuing exposure of routine hacking of the phones of reportedly 4,000 victims, as well as routine payoffs and bribery of police officials for inside information, has now shattered News Corp.'s cover story that this was the work of a rogue journalist or editor, or bent policeman.
The head of Scotland Yard and his deputy have resigned, and ten people have been arrested so far, including Rebekah Brooks, the head of News International, a British susidiary of News Corp., and Andy Coulson, a former News of the World editor who served as Tory Prime Minister David Cameron's chief press aide. Les Hinton, who ran News International before Brooks, has resigned as the head of Dow Jones and publisher of the Wall Street Journal. As Mark Lewis, lawyer for the family of Milly Dowler, the murdered young girl, said, "This is not just about one individual but about the culture of an organization." Sorry, indeed.
*********************end update*************************************
Is there a conspiracy regarding Rupert Murdoch? Is he really just the center of a witch hunt? Goodwill Ambassador Eliana Benador seems to believe so. In her post for today regarding Rupert Murdock, she states that,The scandal started with the alleged corruption and criminality in regard with the News of the World and London’s Metropolitan Police. However, the actual scandal was nurtured not by the public but, surprise, this time, by members of the British Parliament, the BBC and the left-wing media going for Murdoch’s jugular.A scandal has erupted, reminiscent of Medieval witch-hunts, which, had it happened in the Middle Ages, it would have likely ended at the mast fire.The witch-hunt of the XXIst century began at the onset of this month.
To add spice to the concoction, American “justice” has now joined in the witch-hunt, making this an all-round, all-time ruthless persecution of Australian-born American mogul, Rupert Murdoch.
CNN has coverage of the "witch hunt", including the questions before parliament. In their latest update, they state,The committee is continuing to question Brooks about Milly Dowler’s phone being hacked. Brooks said that Dowler’s phone being hacked was the most shocking thing she had heard about journalists at News international.
To put this in context: The interest around the hacking of phones belonging to celebrities, politicians and other public figures had aroused interest – and denials – for several years. However, the anger aroused around the phone hacking of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler took revulsion to a new level – and is what has turned this issue into a crisis for the media, police and some politicians for the past few weeks.
Louise Mensch, a Conservative member of Parliament, has been grilling all three executives about phone hacking in addition to questioning comments made by Piers Morgan in his book about it.
It seems that Piers Morgan may have taken part in the phone hacking, so why is he not being questioned and grilled like those associated with Rupert Murdoch?
Eliana Benador continues with speculations about the origins of the "witch hunt". She states that,
Irrational anger suddenly erupted because of Murdoch’s NewsCorp intention to buy BSkyB Television, where he anyway had some 39% shares.
That caused, apparently, the ire of the BBC and the majority of Murdoch’s newspaper rivals who ended up angry and shouting at the government, in the name of pluralism, something in the kind of “stop him.”
Whether one wants to consider the goodness the media benefited from Murdoch’s contribution or not, especially for Conservatives but also for others, his presence improved journalistic standards and enlarged the accessibility to information for the general public.
She also says that,
Today, Rupert Murdoch and his son James will be put on the spot by the British Parliament in what has been probably one of the most rapidly set hearings in recent times.
Murdoch has said that he was "shocked and ashamed" about the phone hacking of the murdered school girl by News of the World tabloid, which is such a small portion of his business. He also insists that he and his company are not responsible for the hacking scandal and willful blindness. Murdoch didn't know that payments had been made to Clive Goodman, the reporter who was jailed in 2007. Fox News states that,
He says the News of the World "is less than 1 percent" of his News Corp., which employs 53,000 people.
Murdoch also said he was not informed that his company had paid out big sums -- $1.1 million in one case -- to settle lawsuits by phone hacking victims.
James Murdoch said his father became aware of the settlement "in 2009 after a newspaper report. It was a confidential settlement."
...Politicians also pushed for details about the Murdochs' ties to Prime Minister David Cameron and other members of the British political establishment....Rupert Murdoch is eager to stop the crisis from spreading to the United States, where many of his most lucrative assets -- including the Fox TV network, 20th Century Fox film studio, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post -- are based.
....Cameron cut short a visit to Africa and is expected to return to Britain for an emergency session Wednesday of Parliament on the scandal.
Eliana Benador states who she thinks will benefit from Murdoch's downfall.
However, the one who, in my opinion, would be more prone to gather up wreckage of NewsCorp -especially now that American “justice” has joined the witch-hunt with its arm, the FBI, would be -surprise- none other than H.R.H. Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Al Saud, the seemingly quiet and silent character in the background of, and yet too close for comfort to, the Murdochs.
Murdoch, the conservative media mogul made a dalliance when he accepted doing business with the man who supports the Imam promoting the next-to-Ground Zero mosque.
...Reports, last Friday, inform that the Prince urged Rebekkah Brooks, Murdoch’s right hand in News of the World, to quit -bold, assertive move from a man who only owns 7% of NewsCorp. Troubling news from Fox News is that Internet hackers took aim at Murdoch late Monday, defacing the sites of his other U.K. tabloid, The Sun, and shutting down website of The Times of London. Visitors to The Sun website were redirected to a page featuring a story saying Murdoch's dead body had been found in his garden.
This is just sickening!
Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper group told staff to change their passwords and tighten security, sources said on Tuesday, after hackers attacked the website of his tabloid The Sun.
Hackers on Monday redirected The Sun's online readers to a fake page which reported Murdoch had been found dead in his garden. Members of the hacking group LulzSec, who recently announced they had disbanded, took responsibility for the attack in messages posted via the social networking site Twitter and said they was preparing more online assaults.
They also posted jokes and abusive messages about Murdoch and his media empire, both caught up in a phone-hacking scandal that has rocked Britain's establishment right up to Prime Minister David Cameron. "Within 20 minutes, pages are overloading, things are crashing! We are working our way through the cracks right now. Stay tuned for more," LulzSec said in one Twitter message.
"We have joy, we have fun. We have messed up Murdoch's Sun," another of its messages said.
Two sources inside Murdoch's print headquarters in London said staff at Murdoch's newspapers, including the Sunday Times, had been told to change their passwords.
A spokesperson for News International, parent company of The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times, declined to comment on the security measures.
"We are aware of the hacking attempt on the sun.co.uk last night and our sites are now back up. We do not have any further comment to add at this time."
...Internet hacking collective Lulz Security took responsibility for that hacking attack via Twitter, calling it a successful part of "Murdoch Meltdown Monday."
Lulz Security, which has previously claimed hacks on major entertainment companies, FBI partner organizations and the CIA, hinted that more was yet to come, saying "This is only the beginning."
Murdoch, 80, said the day was the most humble of his life when committee members peppered with him questions. He recovered later in a tense question-and-answer session with lawmakers, pushing back with firm denials of wrongdoingLONDON – A protester rushed at Rupert Murdoch as he gave testimony to British lawmakers Tuesday, setting off a scuffle and spattering Murdoch with what appeared to be white foam in a foil pie dish in a shocking interruption of a hearing into the phone hacking scandal that's rocked the media baron's global empire.
After more than two hours of testimony, a man in a plaid shirt appeared to run toward Murdoch before being struck by his wife Wendi Deng.
Associated Press states and is posted in ABC that, For viewers of Rupert Murdoch's appearance before Parliament, the pie in the face was just icing on the cake.****
There certainly does seem to be a lynch mob against this very powerful media mogul. Yes, he may be a member of the most secretive groups on the planet, however, that is where the very powerful are invited. No matter, is the law being served in this case, or is there another power pushing toward to the downfall of Murdoch for some other, possibly political reason?
The Telegraph says in an article By Andrew Gimson (just look at the title),
The implacable self-righteousness of Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch sounded angry, obdurate and self-righteous. He behaved like an octogenarian rancher who finds to his fury that his enemies want to turn him off the vast property which he has spent his whole life building up by the sweat of his brow.
The following is from the Associated Press.
Text of Rupert Murdoch statement to UK committee
LONDON (AP) — Text of a prepared statement by Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp., for the hearing Tuesday by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee. He was permitted to read the statement toward the end of his appearance. The text was released by News Corp.
___
"Mr. Chairman. Select Committee Members:
"With your permission, I would like to read a short statement.
"My son and I have come here with great respect for all of you, for Parliament and for the people of Britain whom you represent.
"This is the most humble day of my career.
"After all that has happened, I know we need to be here today.
"Before going further, James and I would like to say how sorry we are for what has happened especially with regard to listening to the voicemail of victims of crime.
"My company has 52,000 employees. I have led it for 57 years and I have made my share of mistakes. I have lived in many countries, employed thousands of honest and hardworking journalists, owned nearly 200 newspapers and followed countless stories about people and families around the world.
"At no time do I remember being as sickened as when I heard what the Dowler family had to endure nor do I recall being as angry as when I was told that the News of the World could have compounded their distress. I want to thank the Dowlers for graciously giving me the opportunity to apologize in person."I would like all the victims of phone hacking to know how completely and deeply sorry I am. Apologizing cannot take back what has happened. Still, I want them to know the depth of my regret for the horrible invasions into their lives.
"I fully understand their ire. And I intend to work tirelessly to merit their forgiveness.
"I understand our responsibility to cooperate with today's session as well as with future inquiries. We will respond to your questions to the best of our ability and follow up if we are not capable of answering anything today. Please remember that some facts and information are still being uncovered.
"We now know that things went badly wrong at the News of the World. For a newspaper that held others to account, it failed when it came to itself. The behavior that occurred went against everything that I stand for. It not only betrayed our readers and me, but also the many thousands of magnificent professionals in our other divisions around the world."So, let me be clear in saying: invading people's privacy by listening to their voicemail is wrong. Paying police officers for information is wrong. They are inconsistent with our codes of conduct and neither has any place in any part of the company I run.
"But saying sorry is not enough. Things must be put right. No excuses. This is why News International is cooperating fully with the police whose job it is to see that justice is done. It is our duty not to prejudice the outcome of the legal process. I am sure the committee will understand this.
"I wish we had managed to see and fully solve these problems earlier. When two men were sent to prison in 2007, I thought this matter had been settled. The police ended their investigations and I was told that News International conducted an internal review. I am confident that when James later rejoined News Corporation he thought the case was closed too. These are subjects you will no doubt wish to explore today."This country has given me, our companies and our employees many opportunities. I am grateful for them. I hope our contribution to Britain will one day also be recognized.
"Above all, I hope that, through the process that is beginning with your questions today, we will come to understand the wrongs of the past, prevent them from happening again and, in the years ahead, restore the nation's trust in our company and in all British journalism.
"I am committed to doing everything in my power to make this happen. Thank you. We are happy to answer your questions."
NEW YORK -- While Rupert Murdoch testified before Parliament, Piers Morgan
took to Twitter to defend his former boss.
The CNN host has largely declined to address the phone hacking scandal on his nightly prime-time show, but he tweeted frequently throughout Tuesday's inquiry in support of Murdoch.
For two years in the 1990s, Morgan was editor of the News Corp.-owned News of the World, which ended publication July 10 over allegations that reporters hacked into phone records of crime victims and others.
Morgan was thrust into the dialogue when MP Louise Mensch, in her questioning, suggested Morgan's 2005 autobiography referenced using phone-hacking for scoops. Morgan tweeted that the claim was "complete nonsense."
From another source, Forbes Blog and Joan Lapin, seems quite jaded toward digging a hole for Rupert Murdoch to lay down and die in. This news that we are seeing is certainly biased and certainly doesn't lean toward innocent until proven guilty. Just start by looking at the title.
What Goes Around Comes Around
In the old days it was murder that sold newspapers. In the Rupert Murdoch scheme of things, scandal and murder still does. Only now he is the center of the scandal. And the whistle blower in the Molly Driver case was found dead this week so we don’t yet know about “murder.” What could be more appropriate for a man who has made his fortune acting like a piranha, willing to chew the flesh off the bones of his “friends”? 
Just think back to his takeover of New York Magazine which left an indelible impression on me decades ago. Clay Felker had started the magazine as an insert inside the Herald Tribune. When the Trib closed, New York was out on its own with hot graphics, trendy articles and a brash mix of topics. Of course, Felker was a better editor and creative talent than he was a business man. He was often running out of money and having to raise more to keep going. He was also reportedly extravagant in his lifestyle like a famous modern woman editor who was played by Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. Felker thought Rupert was his friend when they were traveling in the same circles out in the Hamptons. But when New York needed money to keep going and Carter Burden wanted out of his 34% investment in the magazine, Murdoch swooped in to buy that stake and steal his magazine right away from Clay without so much as a second thought. Felker never had another success to match New York.
In some ways that is not dissimilar to how Murdoch grabbed the Wall Street Journal from the Bancroft family more recently. Murdoch’s style is to identify things he would like to own; wait for something to go wrong, dissension to occur or shareholders to want out; and then swoop in to make the kill. Whether he paid too much for the most famous business publication in the world or not, he owns it now. Ditto if some family members regret their decision now to hand over control to News Corp. For some the lust is for money. For others it is the quest for political power. If you don’t want to run for political office yourself, sometimes it is enough to be able to call City Hall or 10 Downing Street and have your calls answered. For that all you have to do is contribute enough money or better yet to endorse the person who will be happily in your pocket. If you are a key factor with editorial endorsements and extensive coverage of their campaigns in getting office seekers elected, then they will usually do your bidding after they win.
Two New Yorkers who were beholden to Murdoch were former Mayors Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani was on TV last night endorsing Rupert as a fine man. Lawrence O’Donnell also played clips of Giuliani endorsing Bernie Kerik, the former NYC Police Commissioner who is now serving time in a Federal Penitentiary. Apparently the path to Prime Minister in the U.K. runs through Murdoch’s British publications and editorial pages as well. 
It remains to be seen in the long term how well Rupert will play his cards in testimony in London and in shuffling management at his various properties. He’s even been willing to grovel to the British people and to the family of the murdered girl Milly Dowler whose phone his newspaper hacked. Now the scandal is reaching into Scotland Yard amid charges of serious police corruption and bribes being paid for information not in the public domain.Do you think that the Murdoch empire is guilty and therefore so is he? What do you think is justice in this case?
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