At inquiry, Rupert Murdoch defends 50 year record

[Tax Man]

Source: Associated Press

LONDON (AP) -- News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch defended his globe-spanning, half-a-century long media career Wednesday, telling an official inquiry into U.K. media ethics that he never gave his editors orders on who to back or used his political sway for financial gain.

Speaking softly, deliberately and with dry humor, Murdoch parried one question after the other about the influence his dominant media operations had in lobbying lawmakers, setting the news agenda, favoring certain politicians and benefiting from allegedly sweetheart business deals.

"I've never asked a prime minister for anything," he said after being questioned whether he had asked then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to support his bid for the Times newspapers in 1981.

Murdoch was being quizzed under oath before an inquiry run by Lord Justice Brian Leveson, who is examining the relationship between British politicians and the press, a key question emerging amid the phone hacking scandal that brought down Murdoch's News of the World tabloid.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_BRITAIN_PHONE_HACKING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-04-25-08-03-32

---

waiting for the lightning.....

[beac]

1. Headline should read:

At inquiry, Rupert Murdoch defends 50 year CRIMINAL record

[Hubert Flottz]

2. Like "Under Oath"

Means shit to this guy?

[MADem]

3. 50 year record...of lying, cheating, stealing and destroying reputations with falsehoods?

And now he's mad at the conservatives for ostensibly ratting him out?

The rumors of revenge have also been fed by Murdoch's messages posted to Twitter, in particular one that attacked "old toffs and right wingers who still want last century's status quo" - a transparent dig at Britain's Conservative Party.

[crunch60]

4. Murdoch would throw his own Mother under the bus to protect his sorry ass.

[alp227]

5. Gordon Brown was unbalanced, says Rupert Murdoch

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/apr/25/gordon-brown-unbalanced-rupert-murdoch

Murdoch said he told Brown "we have come to the conclusion that we will support a change of government when and if there's an election" and said that the prime minister responded by threatening him.

According to Murdoch, Brown said: "Well, your company has declared war on my government and we have no alternative but to make war on your company."

[alp227]

6. Jeremy Hunt visited News Corp in US as Murdochs considered BSkyB bid

Jeremy Hunt spent five days in the US holding meetings with News Corp at the same point Rupert and James Murdoch were first deciding whether to bid for Sky, official documents reveal.

Almost immediately after Hunt's trip, James Murdoch visited David Cameron in London, and privately told him that News Corp had agreed to switch support to the Tories in the upcoming election. Hunt then became culture secretary in the victorious Tory government.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/apr/25/jeremy-hunt-news-corp-bskyb

[Uncle Joe]

7. This post should be its' own thread, alp.

[Kingofalldems]

8. The great Michael Moore predicts this scandal

is heading to the USA.