Murdoch Caught on Tape
A secret audio recording reveals News Corp Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch criticizing the investigation into allegations of phone hacking by former journalists for his now-defunct News of the World paper, the BBC reports.
A secret audio recording reveals News Corp Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch criticizing the investigation into allegations of phone hacking by former journalists for his now-defunct News of the World paper, the BBC reports. The charges were investigated in the 2000s, with a new round of inquiries beginning in 2011.
In the recording, Murdoch may suggest that he was aware his employees were giving money to public officials in exchange for preferential treatment.
According to Exaro, the site that published the recording, Murdoch “indicated in the private meeting that he knew for decades that his newspaper journalists were bribing public officials.”
The Exaro recording and transcript of the executive’s comments are behind a paywall, and the BBC offers only a few short clips from the file. Among them, Murdoch is heard saying:
“But why are the police behaving in this way? It’s the biggest inquiry ever, over next to nothing.
“And now they’re arresting their own, who never even took money… they’re going to put all newspapers out of business.”
— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.
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The Other 98%, a group loosely associated with Occupy Wall Street, is trying to raise enough cash to outbid Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers in their efforts to buy the Tribune Company, owner of the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and The Baltimore Sun, among other newspapers.
“In 1983, 50 corporations controlled a majority of media in America. In 1990 the number had dropped to 23. In 1997, 10. And today, six,” Bill Moyers says in conversation with Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont.
The recent Leveson Report on the British hacking scandal shows the danger of the media baron adding to his already vast American holdings.
So much for that digital experiment. News Corp. announced Monday that it will stop producing its tablet-only periodical The Daily on Dec. 15.
Over the weekend, Rupert Murdoch tweeted this to his followers: “Why Is Jewish owned press so consistently anti-Israel in every crisis?”
News that Rupert Murdoch has renewed Roger Ailes' contract as president of Fox News means the sly conflict and ratings hound could be shaping America’s political landscape for four more years.
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