19 July 2011

What did Rupert know?

Today in Parliament, Rupert Murdoch will face the members and discuss his complicity or awareness of the scandal of the month. What did Rupert know? Also questioned will be his son James, and R Brooks, pictured.

The scandal has spread from Murdoch's media empire to the top ranks of the British police force and even into the prime minister's office.

The scandal, which began over the phone hacking of celebrities and a royal aide, sparked international outrage amid allegations that the voice mail of a 13-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered was hacked. Since then, the scandal has spread into charges of corruption, with the tabloid paying police for news tips, and further hacking cases involving the family of British soldiers killed in action.

Among the resignations: The commissioner of Scotland Yard and his second-in-command; Rebekah Brooks who is pictured above, who was editor of the News of the World at the time of the hacking and later became CEO of News International, the British arm of the Murdoch empire, and Les Hinton, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, another Murdoch property.

In addition, Brooks has been arrested as has another former News of the World editor, Andy Coulson, who was forced to resign as Prime Minister David Cameron's director of communications.

In a further twist, a former News of the World reporter Sean Hoare who helped blow the whistle on the scandal was found dead Monday in his home, the Associated Press reports. Police said the death was "unexplained" but is not being treated as suspicious. A post-mortem was being conducted Tuesday. Hoare was in his late forties.

Brooks' spokesman, David Wilson, said police had been handed a bag containing a laptop and papers that belong to her husband, former racehorse trainer Charlie Brooks. Wilson said the bag did not contain anything related to the phone hacking scandal and he expected police to return it soon.

The bag was found dumped in an underground parking lot near the couple's home on Monday, but it was unclear how exactly it got there. Wilson said Tuesday that a friend of Charlie Brooks had meant to drop the bag off, but he would say only he left it in the "wrong place."

This is stuff we in Australia saw in Underbelly, and regularly watch on NCIS or CSI, but in real life? Maybe a Grisham novel or the latest Johnny Depp or Matt Damon movie, but come on, real life?

Yup, this is not to be missed. Who else will fall? Who else will stay standing?

Listen, the best thing if I can recommend anything is for you and for me to be honest. Let's tell the truth as early as possible in every situation and live in the consequences of that. It's safer there. It's holy there. It's often lonely there. But it's right.

1 comment:

Bob Mendelsohn said...

Today's report after the fact sounds all too familiar.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/world/europe/20hacking.html?_r=1&hp

The Murdochs acknowledged no wrongdoing and apologized again and again for the failures at their company.

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