Here come the British Sunday Papers -Rupert Murdoch empire 'exploding and unravelling' in US

[malaise]

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/world/Rupert-Murdoch-empire-39exploding-and.6802815.jp
<snip>

ANGER over the phone- hacking scandal escalated in the United States yesterday when one of President Barak Obama's leading allies warned that the Murdoch empire was "exploding and unravelling".
John Podesta, an influential Democrat figure, added his voice to the chorus of criticism emanating from the US, where Rupert Murdoch is based and where he has his most lucrative business interests.
Podesta, who oversaw Obama's transition to the presidency after his 2008 victory, spoke out on an issue that has so far been met with a wall of silence from the White House.

Obama has yet to comment on the scandal, despite Democrat antipathy towards the Murdochs, who own the right-wing Fox News cable channel, the Wall Street Journal and the best-selling tabloid the New York Post. Podesta suggested the dubious tactics used by the News of the World was not limited to the newspaper that was the UK's biggest selling tabloid until it was closed last week.

"This is not one rogue editor," said Podesta. "This is an empire that was built on a set of journalistic ethics that's beginning to explode and unravel. They were routinely bribing public officials. We've called attention to the fact that this story is going to go on for a while, this is not a two-week story, I don't think."
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some nice links here as well

[TxVietVet]

1. Let it happen, Capt'n.

:bounce:

[malaise]

14. Here's a good read

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/17/henry-porter-murdoch-brooks-media
<snip>

But we should take a moment to acknowledge that we were a lot better off at the end of the week than we were at the beginning. Rebekah Brooks has gone; the BSkyB deal is dead; James Murdoch should certainly lose his job as chairman of the broadcaster; that old player Les Hinton deposited his own head on a platter in the general rush to atonement; and Rupert Murdoch took space in the competition to say he was sorry and mumbled apologies to an ordinary family. This great bad man, as the convict Conrad Black knowingly described him in the FT, has been humiliated and is finished.

What we should have done years ago was to limit the ownership of national newspapers and broadcasting companies by any one individual or concern, whatever the profitability of their enterprises. Murdoch owned four newspapers and 39% of BSkyB. That is far too much. Richard Desmond controls four newspapers and Channel 5. That is far too much. Suggestions that an individual should only be allowed one daily and one Sunday title, or a broadcasting company, are a start, but the purpose must be to defend us against accumulation of power by one man. Our legislators and regulators should start work immediately and think about the unaccountable might of internet giants as well.

It is clear that Britain needs fully functioning privacy legislation, not the feeble guarantees in the Human Rights Act that Jack Straw was boasting about last week. Everyone high and low needs protection from the tabloids, the web and the state. This unimaginative, rather shallow government has shown no inclination to grapple with the threat to privacy offered from so many quarters. It throws up its hands and points to the self-invasions and global nature of the web. But a free society cannot exist unless this fundamental right is meaningfully supported by laws, which apply equally to the Earthbound British tabloids as to Google, which, for instance, tailors its operations to comply with laws in China. A strong public interest defence would be part of new legislation.

One of the most disturbing parts of this scandal is the light cast on the police. It has been shocking to witness former and current assistant commissioners Andy Hayman and John Yates blatantly squirming in public. Even more so to watch Neil Wallis, formerly of the News of the World, slink from the shadows of Met commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson's office after his arrest. Yates and Sir Paul should go immediately. Then we need a complete examination of the ethics, culture, effectiveness and recruitment policies of the British police. Some of this will be covered by the inquiry into the police investigations into phone-hacking, but a more general assessment of their fitness for the modern age is urgently required.
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They'll be gone very soon.

[TxVietVet]

16. I remember a book called "The Brotherhood" years ago.

It accused the Metro Police as being very corrupt because of the Masons, "The Brotherhood". Maybe something like this will bring a lot of this kind of corruption to light. I never trust cops. They are like lawyers and insurance men. Not to be trusted. They obey the laws they want to. Laws are made for working class people to obey. That's how the Murdoch Gang view the world as far as I can tell. They were above it. They were "king makers". Well, hopefully those days are over, in the UK and the US.

[malaise]

17. What's hilarious to me is that both the Jamaican government

and the government of Trinidad and Tobago have hired police from Scotland Yard to cleanup our corrupt cops.

The entire political elite are corrupt - nearly every fucking institution has been bought by corporate money. The problem for working class police is that the goons allow them a taste of the 'good life' if they comply and they are clearly tempted to take the bribes to improve their lives. Can I blame them for taking a family holiday as a bribe when they know the entire system is corrupt? I no longer know if yes or no answer is that straightforward.

[NightWatcher]

2. what's that noise? oh, its the sponsors and advertisers running away from Fox's holdings

[Kaleko]

6. Let their pitter-patter become a stampede.

Let's all unite in the noble task of ruining this sleazeball propaganda pope's reputation.

:patriot:

[warrior1]

3. There is no need

for the POTUS to speak on the matter yet. Let the investigation begin. "Make It So."

[malaise]

4. Check this link

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/news-of-the-world-phone-tapping-scandal/News-of-the-World-scandal.6802727.jp
Why the next to go may be a Murdoch

[aquart]

12. I didn't know about the shareholders' lawsuit in Delaware.

"Back in March, a lawsuit was filed in Delaware - where News Corp is incorporated - by shareholders over what they claimed was the News Corp board's inability to tackle Murdoch's dynastic ambitions. Originally the complaint centred on Murdoch's decision to buy TV production company Shine - owned by a certain Elizabeth Murdoch - for a walloping $615 million, thereby handing his daughter an almighty pay cheque and a seat on the self-same News Corp board. The decision, the shareholders claimed, owed everything to "blatant nepotism". Last week the complaint was updated in the light of the new revelations, accusing the board of ignoring the "unlawful and reprehensible activity" going on in London. Counsel to the shareholders Jay Eisenhofer claimed: "News Corp's behaviour has become an egregious collection of nepotism and corporate governance failures, with a board completely unwilling to provide even the slightest level of adult supervision." Too many on the News Corp board are Murdoch cronies, they allege. Stock analyst Alan Gould claims that many outside shareholders, who collectively own 62 per cent of News Corp, would like to see power stripped from the family and handed to president Chase Carey."

[Pirate Smile]

11. Exactly. You know they are just waiting to turn themselves into the "victim" of a

witch hunt from a Democratic Administration. Give them as little ammo to use on that front as possible. They'll say it anyway but why provide an assist?

[Ship of Fools]

5. As much as I'd like to see Murdoch go away,

I would very much like to see DoJ deal with WALL STREET.

[Kaleko]

7. Well, it's gonna be a multi-tasking week

and year and decade and century ahead of us. Lot's of opportunity in this mega-crisis-clusterfuck.

[tishaLA]

8. sadly, the British media will likely do more

To bring down Murdoch's US holdings than the US press or government.

[malaise]

13. Well the Guardian has done a great job but it will be the

resignations and indictments that bring down Murdoch.

[Judi Lynn]

15. You're right, it's sad, but undoubtly true, dammit. n/t

[myrna minx]

9. K&R. n/t

[aquart]

10. "Best-selling tabloid"???

The POST????

[tsuki]

18. Because they don't know Place Holder. nt