The End of News Of The World

[Cort Haus]

This is really getting heavy. News International is reported to have paid off Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the PFA (Professional Footballers Association) £700,000 in connection with phone tapping. A cheque that size surely doesn't get written without The Man knowing why.

[Uncle Sparky]

You do know Murdoch owns FOXNews...
I'm surprised not all of his media holding are/were 'fair and balanced'...

[Cort Haus]

It's Murdoch, folks.

[Dinner]

Like I said, my spelling sucks.

BTW some activists in the US are pushing to have News Corp charged in the US under the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act which seems a bit of a stretch but might work. Originally the CFPA was designed to prevent US companies paying bribes to corrupt foreign governments but the wording is such that it could cover any corrupt practice which happens over seas. I suppose hacking and illegal wire taping could be considered a corrupt practice.

http://protectourelections.org/index.php?q=node/402

[Dauphin]

This is really getting heavy. News International is reported to have paid off Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the PFA (Professional Footballers Association) £700,000 in connection with phone tapping. A cheque that size surely doesn't get written without The Man knowing why.

Not necessarily. For some companies (and probably most of the largest companies) that amount of money can be paid without going anywhere near the board for approval.

[C0ckney]

news international have pulled out of their bid for Bskyb.

also, gordon brown has been speaking about his personal data being accessed by news international and about sun punishing a story about his son's illness. i do feel a lot of sympathy for brown in this case, although i do wonder why he didn't speak up more while he was in office and had the power to do something about it.

[Cort Haus]

Presumably he didn't speak up because he was worried about the possible consequences for doing so. If a media baron has this sort of power over senior elected officials there is some cause for concern.

[Fake Boris]

Yeah.

Seems to explain the sweet deal he got from Bush against support for the Iraqi invasion.

[C0ckney]

wrong prime minister boris...

Presumably he didn't speak up because he was worried about the possible consequences for doing so. If a media baron has this sort of power over senior elected officials there is some cause for concern.

possibly, although i seem to remember at the time that the sun were attacking him, right, left and centre. he should have followed the example of baldwin or more recently major and stood up to the media barons. i think a lot of our politicians believe that the newspapers have more power than they actually do to shape our politics.

[Dinner]

The BskyB deal is dead, a key US Senator is now demanding a US investigation due to the revelation that News Corp used phone hacking to monitor 9/11 families all the way back in 2002 (which is a crime in the US), and Murdoch announced a $5 billion stock buy back program. It must be nice to bribe stock holders with their own money. Here's hoping criminal charges are not long in coming.

[Dauphin]

Presumably he didn't speak up because he was worried about the possible consequences for doing so. If a media baron has this sort of power over senior elected officials there is some cause for concern.

In theory, he could have taken out a superinjunction.

If he acted to avoid pissing off the Murdoch group by not resisting the story, it means that he was more concerned about his career than his son or his privacy or others in the same position - in which case his complaints now have a ring of hollowness. If he really didn't actually care about what the Murdoch group would do, then he probably assumed the story would come out anyway (why else not fight it?) and so his indignation now is rather belated, even if genuine.

[Cort Haus]

I think the worry about consequences could be about concern for his family as much as his career. Though, if the Chancellor of the Exchequer is subject to unauthorised access to financial and medical records, amongst other data, for dubious purposes, this could be construed as a matter of national security.

[Fake Boris]

wrong prime minister boris...

Generally speaking I meant.

[Dauphin]

I think the worry about consequences could be about concern for his family as much as his career.

What exactly would be the consequences to be feared? I don't doubt there are some, but my imagination is drawing a blank as to practical consequences.

Though, if the Chancellor of the Exchequer is subject to unauthorised access to financial and medical records, amongst other data, for dubious purposes, this could be construed as a matter of national security.

Even more reason to actually make a point about it at the time. Rather than complain so long after the event.

[MikeH]

He didn't have evidence it had happened at the time.