Hacks: The Left’s Lilliputians Try to Take Murdoch Down
Carl Bernstein wonders if this will be Rupert Murdoch’s Watergate. The UK Guardian says Fox News could be finished. As Murdoch’s opponents in the U.S. try to capitalize on the British phone-hacking scandal, to hear some of the more excitable voices in the liberal media you could be forgiven for thinking that by this time next week News Corp will have been sold off to George Soros, as Murdoch himself is perp-walked into a Manhattan courthouse.
Those liberals giddily anticipating a world without Fox are getting a little ahead of themselves. Reports suggest that FBI investigators don’t think there’s much substance to allegations that journalists working for the News of the World (NoW), the now-defunct UK tabloid at the center of the scandal, plotted to hack the phones of 9/11 victims and their families. Anything, of course, is possible, with fresh revelations coming almost daily, but if the 9/11 investigation fizzles out, it’ll be hard for the Murdoch-hating left to keep Americans interested in the hacking scandal.
In Britain, however, there’s no end in sight to l’affaire Murdoch. Key figures at News International and London’s Metropolitan Police force have been arrested or have resigned, and the behaviour of many others, including Prime Minister David Cameron, has been called into serious question. However, those who have driven the near-hysterical coverage of and reaction to the scandal aren’t looking much better. In fact, it’s hard to recall an episode that’s involved such real and serious wrongdoing, but in which the self-appointed prosecutors have engaged in such blatant hypocrisy as they pursue their own agendas and settle old scores.
Those who have pushed the story most vigorously — the Guardian newspaper, the BBC, and Labour politicians — are motivated only tangentially by concern over the behaviour of the tabloid press, or for the privacy of hacking victims. Their main aim from the start has been to damage News Corporation, in revenge for Murdoch switching the support of his UK papers from Labour to the Conservatives towards the end of Gordon Brown’s time in office (many on the left also haven’t forgotten how Murdoch inflicted a crushing defeat on the newspaper printers’ unions in the 1980s), and to damage Cameron’s Tory government. Their duplicity is bad enough, but they’re also guilty of hypocrisy on a breathtaking scale.
Let’s start with the Guardian, which has broken most of the key phone-hacking stories over the past couple of years, and rails against the law-breaking of NoW journalists. This, of course, is the same Guardian that published the Wikileaks emails, knowing they had been stolen (allegedly by Private Bradley Manning) and despite warnings that their publication could result in the deaths of individuals who cooperated with the U.S. and its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan.
So both the Guardian and the NoW published material that had been obtained by criminal means, but the Guardian defended its decision to publish with lofty talk of “openness” and the “public interest.” The paper was not, though, acting in the interests of the public. In the case of Iraq and Afghanistan war logs in particular, the Guardian was acting in the interests of the left — more precisely, the anti-war movement — and of America’s foes around the world, attempting to discredit the U.S. and undermine support for its efforts in those countries.
Working closely with the Guardian has been the taxpayer-funded, ostensibly politically-neutral BBC, and its hypocrisy has been on show around the clock (literally, on its 24-hour news channel) in its extensive and negative reporting on the size and influence of Murdoch’s media empire. The BBC isn’t allowed to broadcast its own opinion pieces, but it’s given hours of airtime and much space on its website to Murdoch-bashers complaining about the size and influence of News Corp. BBC boss Mark Thompson let the mask slip last year — and fell foul of the corporation’s trustees — when, in a flagrant breach of impartially guidelines, he joined the heads of privately-owned media companies in signing a letter opposing Murdoch’s bid to take full control of British satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
However, as the Conservative Home website shows, the BBC itself enjoys a near-monopoly dominance of television, radio, and internet news provision in the UK; by comparison, in terms of influence on public opinion, Murdoch looks less like William Randolph Hearst and more like Katie Couric. As Janet Daley writes in the Telegraph, the BBC’s problem isn’t with monopolies per se: it’s with monopolies that dissent from its bien-pensant, liberal-left worldview.
As for the Labour Party, there’s been no shortage of weasel words from MPs, and in particular the party’s past and present leaders. Current leader Ed Miliband has been appearing in the House of Commons and in television studios daily to demand that Murdoch’s UK operation be broken up, and to attack the judgment of Cameron in appointing former NoW editor Andy Coulson as his communications chief.
It’s bad enough that Miliband was part of a Labour government that, until Brown replaced Tony Blair, enjoyed a cozy relationship with Murdoch’s papers and raised no concerns about the size and influence of his empire. But his attacks on Cameron are even more blatantly hypocritical. Miliband’s own chief spin doctor is one Tom Baldwin, a former London Times journalist who, back when the Murdoch-owned paper was on the side of Labour, was involved in a campaign to smear a senior Conservative figure — a campaign which ended, bizarrely, with an analyst working for the DEA being jailed for selling confidential documents. And just this year, Baldwin sent an email to senior Labour politicians urging them to “go easy” on the phone-hacking scandal as Miliband sought to repair relations with Murdoch and News International, which operates his UK papers.
But the Gold Star for Phone-Hacking Hypocrisy — for hypocrisy with bells on, for shock and awe hypocrisy — goes to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. In one of the most spectacular displays of self-righteous indignation ever seen in the House of Commons, Brown last week vented his fury at Murdoch and his papers. The final straw for Brown (although he apparently didn’t realize it at the time, as this was back in 2006) came when the NoW’s sister tabloid, The Sun, revealed that his young son was suffering from cystic fibrosis.
This is obscene
–News Corp by its own confession violated the phone mail of a 12 year old murder victim and impeded the tracking down of her killer by deleting messages
Giving her parents the false hope that the victim, their child, was still alive.
The responsible parties will be in prison for a long time
–the News Corp brand is irrevocably ruined and its BoD and shareholders will appoint a new — non Murdoch CEO.
How could anyone try to excuse the Murdochs behavior in this matter?
They are pariahs — and rightly so
This is not a political matter–it is a moral and criminal matter
Until anyone presents any proof of Murdochs or News Corps knowledge or approval of the affair, it is simply wrong to blame their behavior. Rule of law …? The culprit (as far as I know) is NoW.
And I think you should read the article again. Hardly anyone defend the behavior of NoW, and as an isolated case against this paper it is not a political matter. But it becomes a political matter when people try to drag other newspapers/media into the same case, especially when the accusing part coincidently is perceived as a political adversary.
Right, attacking NPR relentlessly and for purported “bias” is completely reasonable, but please, let’s not rush to judgment against Murdoch and Co. despite actual evidence of wrongdoing, payoffs authorized by Murdoch’s son to victims, illicit bribery of Scotland Yard, a chorus of testimony from ex-NewsCorp employees alleging that scumbaggery was part of the corporate culture, and, last but not least, a NewsCorp whistleblower found dead conveniently just days before the Parliamentary hearings. Yeah, move along, nothing to see here. Just leave poor Grampy Rupert alone.
NPR is paid for by tax dollars, that’s the issue. If they were profitable they wouldn’t need tax dollars to survive
And yes it is extremely bias which upsets Conservatives who are funding it.
Let’s give the same amount of tax dollars to Fox now that their owner is having trouble and we’ll call it even
Hi Victor,
I’m struggling to find the passage where I make excuses for the Murdochs, or anyone who worked for them.
Perhaps you could copy and paste it here?
Thanks in advance.
Mike, I can’t speak for Victor above, but I’d like to know how your anti-BBC, anti-Guardian rant is anything but a fourth grade “They do it too!” argument. What is the point of this article if not to provide cover for wrongdoers and attack the folks who actually uncovered the scandal? If it weren’t for the Guardian, News Corp would probably still be hacking dead kids’ phones as we speak. But good job defending your team. Maybe Rupe will offer you a real job when the dead kid dust settles.
“. . its the “They do it too!” argument”
Yes that’s right and as the author states over and over again, this is known as “hypocrisy”. Also as he points out, the intensity of the attacks are coming from those who stand to gain the most from Murdoch’s demise – that’s double hypocrisy. But go ahead and interpret the article in any way that makes you feel better. And by the way, providing job security for MSM and academic sycophants is a specialty of the left/liberal political movement.
IF YOU CLOWNS WOULD CHECK SOME FACTS THIS HAPPENED 10 YEARS AGO AND HAS BEEN RESOLVED FOR YEARS WITH FIRINGS AND CRIMINAL COURT ACTIONS COMPLETE
YEAH WE’RE YELLING ABOUT STUFF SO CLEARLY WE’RE CORRECT! WHO NEEDS FACTS WHEN YOU HAVE A CAPS LOCK KEY?
I expect you to apply the same absolutist responsibility creed to each and every incident from now on…
When you f–k up, pass it off to someone else, like your boss: typical Leftist philosophy.
“This is not a political matter–it is a moral and criminal matter”.
You have absolutely NO idea how the BBC, the Guardian and U.K. Leftists control the narrative in these situations; when they see an opportunity to lynch someone with whom they disagree. I’ve spoken to many British people recently and only one person actually took pause and suggested that there may be something a little strange about the rush to attazck Murdoch. What I encountered was classic groupthink which is the most frightening thing I have ever encountered, other than Islamic groupthink which more often than not also has violent threats and massacres attached to it – same thing.
Murdoch is accountable only to his shareholders; his readers and when the smoke clears, to the authorities – if he has violated any laws.
He is not accountable to the British government and the Leftist hordes that wish to see him destroyed to further their own agendas. Britain is in peril; it is not a civil society.
Moral? What about the BBC propaganda machine? It truly is the British PRAVDA with a huge monopoly on information it chooses to dispense to the unsuspecting Brits; denigrating and hypocritical, claiming to take the moral high ground when at the same time purposefully and systematically trying to destroy people’s lives – they are doing exactly what they claim Murdoch is doing; they openly HATE the U.S.A., capitalism, free markets and Fox news too!! Imagine that! But they gat a pass of course.
Excellent and clear-thinking article.
We get the same thing over on this side of the pond. Here we not only have NPR and PBS as officially public stations purveying political correctness, class warfare, race-baiting, and the whole gamut of leftism, but we also have ABC, CBS, and NBC, as well as CNN on cable and the execrable MSNBC peddling the proggy line on behalf of the grabbermint.
Fox News is NOT truly a conservative network; it is merely not so leftist as the others.
And the incestuous network of ownership has to be seen to be believed.
Who owns the media – and what can we do?
I dont get it, but thats probably me: The wikileaks were a good thing (even though they endangered more people then the NotW hacks)cause it was done by “the liberal voice of the world”. While this isolated incident (how wrong it may be, especially with the little murdered girl) has to bring down a paper which is read by millions in the UK.
Where is the proof? The average reporter does not have the skills to hack into anything.
Pinging towers and phones is not hacking or criminal.
From what I understand, this is kind of the lowest common denominator of hacking: if you know a person’s phone number and can guess their password, you can get into their voicemails. In Britain, most cell phone companies default the password to “1111″ or “1234″ and, the bane of every IT guy in the world, few people bother to change it.
Doesn’t make it less wrong, of course, but pretty much anyone can do it.
So if the above were true, it would appear that hacking is not the proper term. Cracking might be more appropriate.
Sort of like Wieners defenders who said that he did not need to report a cracking of his twitter pw as opposed to a hacking of it.
The reporters didn’t do the hacking – they hired private investigators and criminals to do it for them. This is all well documented. Haven’t you been following this story? Or are you one of those types who only gets his news from redstate, blaze, pjm etc.?
Mikemaid…. and you get your news from MSNBC and CNN,I’m guessing, that makes you much dumber then us…..
Say what you want about CNN; they’re not great but at least they do actual reporting. The right wing media does none. They simply wait for the CNN report and pronounce “That’s wrong! Don’t believe it!” Where’s the journalism in that?
Ignorant, much?
Typical- Clearly you have never watched FOX news, but you probably hard this from a friend of a friend who heard it on MSNBC.
Socialists can not let any crisis to waste and this is their golden opportunity! But in reality Mr Murdoch has no reason to fall and if someone try to force him the reaction will be loud and clear. The lame stream Media is the true dishonest in bed with the political power… if somebody wants to investigate. Progressives, Leftists, Soros Media Matters and his tax free network should have more attention on their practices and secret goals. Is not Mr Murdoch the place to begin the cleaning…
As wrong as this is, I find it a little funny to listen to the whole “Fox lies” line or hear NotW berated as a tabloid; far from lies, if anything they were a listen to overzealous at finding the truth. They may have got their information illegally, and they should be prosecuted for it (as high up as it goes) but at least we can be comforted that the NotW wasn’t making things up, a la Jayson Blair.
What was really funny was the cast of Morning Joe lamenting the closeness of media to the government. According to them it is not the role of the media to act as the PR firm for the administration.
Of course Mica had to check her blackberry to see if she had any recent text messages from the whitehouse to add to the conversation.
A tempest in a teapot. A chance to make sure that people only hear the (state controlled)party line!
“Carl Bernstein wonders if this will be Rupert Murdoch’s Watergate.”
And why doesn’t this same, stupid, Obama water carrier wonder if Operation “Fast and Furious” will be Obama’s Watergate? No, I guess he is too old or too lazy or just too biased to investigate that.
He IS too old, lazy, and biased. But, number 2 can be excused as a subset of number 1. At least this old fart thinks so.
So, Murdoch didn’t fall on his sword, unlike those two hapless Scotland Yard senior officials. Stephenson and Yates succumbed to a media trial. But, Murdoch, the master of media, did not oblige.
This leaves the Left a humongous problem. Having pursued the “Murdoch is evil” trope unto the Parliament,they cannot stand down without compromising themselves. Where will Labour, new or old, go now?
When movement conservatives rush to defend the real-world-equivalent of a James Bond villain – who has engendered within his organization an unabashed culture of sleaze and corruption which unquestioningly led to the hacking of a murdered girl’s phone and attempts to gain phone records of 9/11 victims – simply because the guy is “on their team”, it’s a sure bet that the movement has sold off its soul and scruples. You folks are the most shamelessly partisan hacks I’ve ever come across. The Left doesn’t hold a candle to your ability to spare Barabas just to spite Christ.
Considering the source of the accusations, reasonable people will await an investigation for any wrong doing to be determined. Apparently I am not replying to a reasonable person.
“When movement conservatives rush to defend the real-world-equivalent of a James Bond villain…..”
For a moment there, I thought you were describing George Soros, billionaire ex-Nazi, murderer of innocents.
Well, here they come, the name and initial Obama trolling “corpses”. Nice non-argument full of the usual talking point words. The woman who pushed her minions to do the voice mail hacking, is an old leftist hack herself. Murdoch’s only mistake was to trust a lefty to run one of his media outlets.
You’re right. We should be like Democrats and take part in one of their oldest and most cherished traditions: the lynching!
DavV- Please give us your complete understanding of “Operation Fast and Furious”.
Dan V is a pathetic little hard-left liberal who watches Bill Maher and reads only the New York Times and U.K. Guardian. He also thinks he’s a gifted writer and biblical scholar. Just address all your worthless remarks to Daily Kos.
Nice summation of the left’s recent hypocrisy over its own history of printing information that might do harm to others. But I would add to this batch the NYT’s own contribution to the Wikileaks scandal.
The left’s current excitement is a measure of its desperation over its slowly sinking share of the news market. And, of course, it anaesthetizes the gnawing fear that Punch might have to sell the NY Times at some point to Murdoch.
I already own some shares of NewsCorp and plan on buying even more to show support for the Murdock family. Case closed!
Buy that Obama bumper sticker at your own risk:
http://www.exposeobama.com/2011/07/19/allen-west-anyone-with-an-obama-2012-bumper-sticker-is-a-threat-to-the-gene-pool/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=f176ed1bf5-EO_07_19_20117_19_2011&utm_medium=email
Murdoch and the Left are both part of the Hegellian dialectic, playing the ends to the middle. You know what I mean: Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis. They are really on the same side working toward a common goal. I don’t support any of them.
Unbiased news is really an impossibility, everyone has a bias, and they all use it to filter the news when they write. I follow vcyamerica.org, it is news with a Christian viewpoint, one of the few left.
The leftist-controlled media for decades had a monopoly on news; those who realized the US was emulating its Cold War adversary had no place to find the truth about what was going on. The US media was no different from Pravda. Along came Mr. Murdoch’s Fox News & Fox Business News, as well as the internet’s independent journalists. The popularity of Fox proves America is a center-right nation, interested in small government, not the socialist Utopian world being foisted upon us by the media, ivory-tower academics and power-mongering politicians.
Using a 2002 phone incident, news back in 2007, the leftist harpies remind a country person of vultures circling a wounded animal, as they comment against Mr. Murdoch on every non-leftist blog. In the case of the media, sure they would like to destroy the most-viewed source of news, but it’s puzzling – are the commenters dupes?
Good article, Mike.
You manage to point to the excesses of the lefty media without defending the opprobrious conduct of Murdoch et fil before the kangaroo court yesterday.
To the stakeholders in NWS proudly enumerated above, are you not the least bit concerned that your chief executives had no clue as to what transpired on their watch?
The Ken Lay defense has taken numerous guises of late. The CEO who paints himself as clueless to the workings of his organization is ultimately ineffective and, often as not, leaves underlings and stockowners holding the bag.
You know what the best thing about suckers is? That you can spoonfeed them filth, and not only will they thank you for it, but they’ll coming running to your defense whenever you get in trouble for peddling said filth. Rupert is the greatest con artist of his generation, and Fox viewers are the most gullible marks. P.T. Barnum would be so impressed.
Love your moniker.
It fits you to a T.
You are a complete moron.
Thank God for Rupert Murdoch and Fox. Otherwise, all we’d have is the same group of lying leftist idiots that you obviously worship.
Go back to the Kos, dipshit.
Great to hear from you Pastor. Please provide us with your clear understanding of Operation Fast and Furious. I want to hear from someone who is not so gullible.
FROM THE DESK OF F. VENGENCE FLOOK:
I wrote this Monday night so it has lost some of its zip. Our liberal friends are worked into a frenzy HOPING this phone hacking scandal will bring down Rupert Murdock. (How many times did Brian Williams mention Rupert’s name in his last two “news” reports?) Let me tell you what this hubbub has caused me to do with my investments. I have, over the past few months, sold ALL of my stocks. I am assuming Obama will veto the Republicans’ final debt ceiling offer and will throw us into absolute financial crisis. Then I can buy stocks of good companies for very reasonable prices. But, this Murdoch deal may be an even better short-term opportunity. Someone said last night that News Corp’s (NWS) stock was down 30%. Let’s assume that is accurate. I’ll use make-believe numbers to so we can all do the math in our heads. NWS was selling for $10; now it is selling for $7. If I buy it at $7 and it goes back to $10, I have made 46%. ($3/$7) And, once Murdoch is cleared – as he will be – the stock will go back up and I will make my $46+%. Unless, of course, Obama has ruined the country. But, I’m a pig; I’ll wait for NWS to go even lower and make more than 50%. (WARNING, I AM NOT A FINANCIAL ADVISOR.)
Tues., PM – I watched Brian Williams again. I refuse to call what he does “news.” He spent even more time attacking Murdoch. Is Murdoch a conservative? Or do libs simply hate him because he owns FNC? And the attack on Murdoch’s wife!! No decent news person would have EVER done that! What has America come to?
Then the Michele Bachmann story regarding the migraines that will keep her from being president. Why try to hide the disgust you have for Rep. Bachmann, Brian? Why don’t you just say it the way you normally would when you are off the air, “When, Rep. Bachmann, did you stop hiring four swarthy guys to tie up your husband so you could force him to watch you have sex with those four swarthy guys”? (For those of you who did not notice, this is my variation of the “When did you stop beating your wife, Senator” story.)
And FNC and MRC meekly point out how awful the MSM has become. And conservatives sit around and complain about how awful it is.
F. VENGENCE FLOOK
Nobody cares about this non-scandal. It’s nothing more than a media circus to placate the leftist elite who have been down in the dumps lately over pending spending cuts.
Did we forget the phone hacking and taping by that heroic [?] Florida couple on a conversation between five Republican House members? Promptly turned over to the holy NY Times and printed. Nothing there of course but what can’t the Times turn into a scandal for it’s idiot readers.
Anybody ask about the nature of people who hate one, One, One, network when they have all the rest? Ask about their Hate quotient, their mental stability, their feverish desire to crush just one source they can’t control. You should.
Go to townhall.com. They have an article in their Green Room. Murdoch was at a hearing, when some guy came up with a plate filled with whip cream. His obvious intent was to hit Murdoch with it. The bobbies moved to intercept, but Murdoch’s wife was faster and slapped the dude back. Hilarious!
As for the actual case, I do not think Murdoch was in on this, necessarily. Doesn’t his son run that organization over there? His son is a Lefty, I have been told, but I have not verified it. Murdoch is serving the market of the political right, because there is money in it, lots and lots of money. (He is now worth $33B! Holy cow!) However, I do not believe that he, personally, is on the Right.
Is the phone hacking/cracking illegal? Probably. Has it served the public good? Definitely. Just like Wikileaks did. I think some people lost their lives as a result of Wikileaks, and that is tragic, but lots of truth about the government was also exposed.
The problem is, there is just no way to do this right. The government cannot be trusted to police itself. You cannot set up an independent group to do it, because the same political-power-hungry people would move in to take it over. You cannot just allow people to just hack into accounts. Yet you cannot allow this stuff to go unchecked either. There just are no good answers, because of human nature. It seems the only way to deal with sneaky people is to get sneaky right back at them.
If someone else had done the hacking, then offered the info as a confidential informant (a la Wikileaks), would Murdoch be in the clear? IOW, if someone else did the stealing of the info, would it be okay then for him to publish it? It seems so, right? If the news organization itself does the stealing, then it not okay? No good answers.
I’d rather have a democratically elected government “police itself” than a decidedly anti-American asshole like Julian Assange do it.
Exactly what “public good” came out of the Wikileaks fiasco?
Ruperts performance yesterday proves the rumors at News Corp and in the investment community that he has senile dementia.
James his sons performance proves the rumors that he is
1/ Very decisive and usually wrong
2/ Arrogant and incompetent
The family has 17% of the stock of News Corp yet controls 40% of the vote
This is an outrage and investors should end it ASAP.
I do have one question about this whole deal- Can anybody explain to me what was the goal in hacking 9-11 victims phones? Maybe I am dense, but I just don’t get it. What were they looking for, and how can you hack something that happened 10 years ago?
Actually, today, the FBI announced their investigation of News Corp for industrial espionage and the theft of IP in the USA–the SEC will be next
This is a very big deal indeed according to today’s Financial Times
Of course the WSJ will not comment–because the WSJ is owned by News Corp
News Corp is in very, very serious trouble in the USA–much more serious than their criminal violations in the UK.
We are looking at an ENRON + meltdown for News Corp now
The FBI and SEC are serious in this matter
Based on your “completely unbiased opinion” is the News Corp situation more serious than Operation Fast and Furious? I don’t hear a whole lot of breathless bloviating from the left concerning fast and furious.
CALPERS today called for a change in governance of News Corp
News Corp is in meltdown–like ENRON–unless the management changes by Friday
This is not a political matter, it is a criminal matter–in the UK and the USA
This 9/11 story – what are the facts as they stand today?
FACT ONE – the DoJ has opened a file.
FACT TWO – by their own admission, this file has been opened under pressure from some Congressional Dems. It is, of course, another matter that Congressional pressure did not persuade Eric Holder to open a file on the Black Panther voter intimidation story. It is another matter that Holder is stone-walling Congress on the gunwalker story.
FACT THREE – DoJ will or will not investigate a story depending on whether it helps or harms Obama.
FACT FOUR – this story originated in a story started by the Mirror, a British left-wing rag. With the Sunday tabloid market now up for grabs, the Mirror and the Murdoch Sun are positioning themselves.
FACT FIVE – the Mirror alleges that someone (an anonymous someone) told it that someone (again, an anonymous someone) told him/her that someone (God knows who) at the News of the World asked him/her for 9/ii families’ mobile numbers. As if these numbers were not already known.
FACT SIX – the DoJ is currently striving mightyly to get behind the Mirror firewall. Imagine, a British left-wing rag letting the evil arm of American hubris probing inside its pants! Naming our sources? Fuggedbouit, there’s no way we’re letting Sarah Palin know our sources!
FACT SEVEN – based on all this, the American Left is all but falling off the chair in anticipation of the demise of Fox. They see a new chance to finish what Obama himself started from his bully pulpit, to discredit an alternative narrative, alternative to the Left’s own narrative, that Fox provides.
Good luck with that re-election.
Ok, the journos did some bad things. If they broke the law, they need to be punished for it. End of. No-one gave a sh*t until the murdered teen’s voice mail was revealed as being hacked, then it was emotional blackmail all the way. But the amount of time on the BBC news in the UK devoted to this is beyond belief – no, sorry, tell a lie, it’s not beyond belief considering the BBC’s biased socialist position. The BBC are in no way impartial, and the taxpayer foots the bill for their BS marxist broadcasting. They want to destroy Murdoch completely. They are terrified of him and NI. So are the left wing newspapers in the UK. even david milliband, the left-wing leader of the opposition in parliament, called for News International to be broken up – ridiculous in the extreme. Who the hell do these people think they are? This story has gotten so out of hand, it’s ludicrous. and it’s all just a socialist witch-hunt. pathetic. People banging on about rupert murdoch having “a monopoly” in the british media? if anyone has a monopoly, it’s the BBC, and by a huge margin. if i don’t want want to watch murdoch’s channels, or read his newspapers, i simply don’t buy them. but i have no choice with the BBC. if i don’t pay my BBC tax, I get thrown in fu*king jail. I’d get a suspended sentence for murder, but for not paying my BBC tax? – jail. I had the government inspectors knock on my door the other day, checking to see if there was an illegal TV in my house! can you americans imagine that?!
This has been going on for ages. The phones of celebrities,sports men and members of the Royal Family had been hacked.
The investigater and the Royal journalist have been imprisoned. News of World claimed it was a ‘rogue member.’
They have still been paying these mens legal costs.
It has been proved that hacking was widespread within the paper.
They hacked into the phone of Milly Dowler a 13yr old schoolgirl who was missing ,they read her messages ,deleted some to make way for others.
The police and the family knew they were being deleted and gave them hope she was still alive.
Her body(well her bones)were found six months later.Her disapperence and murder was a huge event.
The police has reported that News Corps didn’t co-operate with their investigations ,and have said they have paid police for information which is illeagal.
The defence of ‘well others must do it’ is unacceptable to the British people.
If they are, then they will held accountable as well.
We would be annoyed at any papers that hacked phones of the 7/7 attacks and families of dead soldiers.
The News of the Screws brought down many media and political people.
Even if they showed they were unaware or not directly involved in the scandal,they were told they were accountable as leaders and if they didn’t know they should of known.
That’s the hypocrisy.
No one has ever accused the left of being bright. Why would any politician or media outlet publicly attack the single most powerful media figure in the world? Did these people learn nothing from Nixon?
Even if you combined the total reader/viewership of the BBC, the UK Guardian, the NY Times, the Washington Post, CNN, and MSNBC, it would pale in comparison to Murdoch’s empire.
Sure, some self-important Labour douchebag like Miliband can make a speech in Parliament attacking Murdoch. And Murdoch will kowtow before them and profess humility. But Murdoch will then have every paper and newscast under his control slam Miliband for weeks on end.
These leftists refuse to accept the new world reality. They think it’s still 1972. To paraphrase Jim Jordan’s brilliant quote: “Gang of 6? Who cares? We’ve got a gang of 234!”.
Yet when CBS forges military documents in an attempt to disparage a sitting president…nada
Phone hacking has been going on since there were phones:
http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=44686