Tuesday 26 July 2011

The arrest of “News of the World” executive Rebekah Brooks, shows that the News Corp house of cards is falling fast.

The global media powerhouse News Corporation, run by controversial Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch, is still reeling from the public embarrassment of an exposed phone hacking scandal at the now-defunct “News of the World.”

The arrest of “News of the World” executive Rebekah Brooks, shows that the News Corp house of cards is falling fast.

The British tabloid hacked into the voicemail of a 13-year-old murder victim and scores of others in the name of getting various scoops, and the hot headline that comes with it.

Murdoch himself was brought before Parliament, where he expressed regret for the actions of the paper he owns. He also apparently nodded off in his seat while others gave testimony.



See No Evil, Hear No Evil

Brooks is smack dab in the center of this controversy, which sheds new light on just how far Murdoch’s empire would go in its quest for media domination.

Investigators believe she knew about intercepting voice mails and bribing police officials, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal (another Murdoch media outlet.) So far, no charges have been filed.

Brooks maintains she new little about the phone hacking during her tenure as the tabloid’s editor.

Her testimony describes a convoluted structure, one in which even the editor doesn’t know her reporters are using hacked phone conversations to get information about a huge story: the murder of a 13-year-old girl.

She says at no point during the ongoing coverage did she ask her lower-level editors, or the reporters, where they were getting their information. She said the night editor, news editor and “News of the World” lawyer would have been the ones to check sources, basically passing on the monster of a buck that lives at the heart of this scandal.

Payments Made to Police for Information

There’s also the matter of bribery. According to the Wall Street Journal, Brooks admitted to a parliamentary committee that during her time as editor of another Murdoch paper, The Sun, payments were made to police in exchange for information.

According to a report in the Guardian, detectives are also rummaging through the contents of Brooks’s husband’s computer in hopes of finding evidence that could help in the criminal investigation. Authorities reportedly asked for passwords and personal papers in the husband’s possession.

The fallout at News Corp. continues as more startling information comes forward. As investigations continue, it is anyone’s guess as to how deep the phone hacking and bribery scandals go, and whether they cross international lines into other News Corp. operations.

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