Murdoch Loses $27 Million Contract With N.Y. Schools

Posted on Aug 29, 2011

Flickr / World Economic Forum

Murdoch acquired 90 percent of Brooklyn-based Wireless Generation for about $360 million last November.

In the long wake of the News of the World phone hacking scandal, New York state has scrapped a controversial $27 million deal between Rupert Murdoch’s Wireless Generation and the state’s Education Department. The company, a News Corp. subsidiary, was to develop software to be used to keep tabs on student test scores from kindergarten through college. That plan was developed as part of the state’s education reform program, for which it was awarded $700 million in a federal grant competition called “Race to the Top” last summer.

According to The Huffington Post, Michael Mulgrew and Richard Iannuzi, respective heads of New York City’s and the state’s teachers’ unions, protested the proposed contract with Murdoch’s company earlier this month: “It is especially troubling that Wireless Generation will be tasked with creating a centralized student database for personal information even as its parent company, News Corporation, stands accused of engaging in illegal news gathering tactics, including the hacking of private voicemail accounts.” —ARK

New York Daily News:

The Rupert Murdoch phone hacking scandal has prompted the state to kill a controversial $27 million contract with one of the media mogul’s subsidiary companies.

State Controller Thomas DiNapoli this week quietly rejected the Education Department’s contract with Wireless Generation, a News Corp. affiliate.

Wireless Generation was to pocket $27 million of the state’s $700 million in “Race to the Top” funds to develop software to track student test scores.

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