Murdoch Scum

[Jezza]

so... does anyone believe a word that has been said by the police, media moguls or politicians over the last few days? They lie, lie again, then lie a little more. If all these highly paid people at the top of their industry "didn't know" what was happening on their watch then **** knows how they ever got into these positions.

The amount of 'co-incidences' is also staggering. At what point does repetitive behaviour (corruption) stop becoming a coincidence?

And if one more of them says "yes, with hindsight..." Corrupt, bent rocket polishers the lot of 'em.

Couldn't agree more, mate. Why does it always seems to be the case that the "man in the street" can see right through all the rhetorical bullshit, the contrite posturing, and outrageous denials - yet those "at the top" are conveniently blinkered (or had their palms crossed with silver?)

[Rodders]

http://tinyurl.com/3ldevsb

distraction in action? or just crass?

fwiw, I agree with idea that amazingly it is possible to talk about both issues without diluting focus.

[Gringo]

grauniad"]Watson: "James – sorry, if I may call you James, to differentiate – when you signed off the Taylor payment, did you see or were you made aware of the full Neville email, the transcript of the hacked voicemail messages?"

James Murdoch: "No, I was not aware of that at the time."

Watson may have been slightly mistranscribed: he may have said the "for Neville" email.

However, James Murdoch's response contained no slip of the tongue. When the Guardian subsequently queried his version of events with his office, they provided a written statement repeating it. It said: "In June 2008 James Murdoch had given verbal approval to settle the case, following legal advice. He did this without knowledge of the 'for Neville' email."

John Whittingdale, chairman of the culture sport and media select committee, said, ominously, on Thursday night: "We as a committee regarded the 'for Neville' email as one of the most critical pieces of evidence in the whole inquiry. We will be asking James Murdoch to respond and ask him to clarify."

LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE!

guardian"]James Murdoch misled MPs, say former NoW editor and lawyer

Colin Myler and Tom Crone challenge News Corp executive's statement to MPs at phone-hacking hearing

....

n a highly damaging broadside, two former News of the World senior executives claimed the evidence Murdoch gave to the committee on Tuesday in relation to an out-of-court settlement to Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association, was "mistaken".

The statement came as something of a bombshell to the culture, sport and media select committee, which immediately announced it would be asking Murdoch to explain the contradiction.

Colin Myler, editor of the paper until it was shut down two weeks ago, and Tom Crone, the paper's former head of legal affairs, said they had expressly told Murdoch of an email that would have blown a hole in its defence that only one "rogue reporter" was involved in the phone-hacking scandal.

This contradicts what Murdoch told the committee when questioned on Tuesday.

[The_Rev]

DEFLECT! DEFLECT! DEFLECT! (and talk about bad taste...)

[RunRickyRun]

NI are a mess. They can't decide whether to apologise, blame others, lie, fire people, close down newspapers, cover up or whinge.

James Murdoch might be finished after yesterday's revelations.

[peterms]

NI are a mess. They can't decide whether to apologise, blame others, lie, fire people, close down newspapers, cover up or whinge.

James Murdoch might be finished after yesterday's revelations.

He was finished before, but why would he or his doting dad accept that?

Of the choices you outline, I believe they've tried them all.

Their previously preferred tactic, barking instructions, doesn't seem to be working right now.

Doesn't that just show the folly of not having a "Plan B"?

[colhint]

How is he finished? He'll still be the head of a multi billion pound operation. He may have to rein back a bit but he will get anyone he wants. The people who are finished are those without his money who have upset the family.

[drat01]

Good to see that Murdoch runs quality newspapers still.

From Twitter

Oslo terror suspect is Nordic anti-Muslim white supremacist. http://bit.ly/oByVV7 So The Sun blames Al Qaeda, natch. http://t.co/cYZsii8

[snowychap]

Not sure which thread was the most appropriate for this:

Sunday Mirror phone-hacking claim revealed by Newsnight

Evidence of possible phone hacking at the Sunday Mirror newspaper has been found by the BBC's Newsnight.

The programme spoke to a journalist who worked on the paper in the past decade who claimed to have witnessed routine phone hacking in the newsroom.

The source said celebrities including actress Liz Hurley and footballer Rio Ferdinand were targeted.

Trinity Mirror said its journalists work within the criminal law and Press Complaints Commission code of conduct.

Also it has emerged that Lord Leveson, the judge who will lead the hacking inquiry has said he had attended functions with Rupert Murdoch's son-in-law - but that he had informed Prime Minister David Cameron of this before the appointment was announced.

'Dark arts'

The allegations about the Sunday Mirror were detailed by a source who told Newsnight: "One afternoon in the newsroom I saw Liz Hurley's phone being hacked and a reporter listen to her mobile phone messages and take a note of what was said.

"It was a Thursday and I was told that there wasn't much on there - just something about lunch from another woman, so they would keep trying before the weekend to see what they could find."

The programme's source said the technique of phone hacking was used on a daily basis.

"Designated reporters would be doing it pretty much every day," they said.

"One reporter who was very good at it was called the 'master of the dark arts'.

...more on link

[Gringo]

How is he finished? He'll still be the head of a multi billion pound operation. He may have to rein back a bit but he will get anyone he wants. The people who are finished are those without his money who have upset the family.

the murdoch family only own 12% of news corp - though they do hold 40% of voting rights. There are two or three legal cases pending in the states from disgruntled investors not happy with rupert embezzling £400m for the family (purchase of shine), the loss of bskyb and the fallout from hackgate. rupe is trying to quieten them through a share buy back scheme. Through into the mix the poential us court cases for bribing of officials then it's quite possible that rupert loses his grip and james is sent off to manage the western oz echo.

That depends on the us officials not being as corrupt as the uk ones though - so he'll probably get away with it.

[RunRickyRun]

If James Murdoch is caught out lying to the select committee over the issue of Gordon Taylor then he's toast. The 39% stake they own in BskyB will come under threat, both main party leaders will call for his head and he will have to go.

He's on shaky ground anyway, but if it can be shown that he knew about the 'for Neville' email then it means he's known about the issue for 2 years and the ignorance defence he gave to the committee will be shot to shit. Though this will probably be the least of his worries if it reaches that point

[Gringo]

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

The press is bent, the politicians are bent, and the police are bent.

Who's going to do the investigating?

EDIT: Got it! The Church.

We can always rely on the judiciary though

torygraph"]Phone hacking inquiry judge attended parties at home of Rupert Murdoch's son-in-law

Lord Justice Leveson went to two parties in the past year at the London home of Matthew Freud, a PR executive married to Elisabeth Murdoch, the daughter of Rupert Murdoch widely tipped to be her father’s successor.

MPs said last night that Lord Leveson’s social connections to News Corp raised questions about his impartiality and suitability to lead the inquiry.

The judge was appointed by Mr Cameron last week and will be able to call any journalist, politician or proprietor, raising the possibility that Rupert Murdoch could face further questions. It emerged yesterday that Lord Leveson, while chairman of the Sentencing Council that advises the Government on punishing criminals, met Mr Freud at a dinner in February last year in an Oxford University college.

The pair discussed how to promote public confidence in the criminal justice system.

Mr Freud then offered to provide some staff from his company Freud Communications to work for nothing advising the council on how to raise confidence in sentencing. This resulted in Lord Leveson attending two parties at Mr Freud’s London home, in July last year and last January. His attendance was approved by Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice.

Rupert is in the UK to do something, he isn't here as a faciliator. So by the end of the visit we will see a new appointment at one of three important roles:

* Chief Exec NewsCorp (current holder James Murdoch)

* Chief Exec NewsIntl (current holder Rebekah Brooks)

* Chairman of Judicial Inquiry into Media Influence (current holder n/a)

Well two out of three ain't too bad.

[tonyh29]

Seems Tom Watsons one man crusade is starting to show its true light

Tom Watson MP is writing a book on the hacking scandal with Independent journalist Martin Hickman

££££££

[Gringo]

Psychological projection or projection bias is a psychological defense mechanism where a person subconsciously denies his or her own attributes, thoughts, and emotions, which are then ascribed to the outside world, usually to other people. Thus, projection involves imagining or projecting the belief that others originate those feelings.

[tonyh29]

Psychological projection or projection bias is a psychological defense mechanism where a person subconsciously denies his or her own attributes, thoughts, and emotions, which are then ascribed to the outside world, usually to other people. Thus, projection involves imagining or projecting the belief that others originate those feelings.

Seeing as we are playing this game :-)

[chrisp65]

Seems Tom Watsons one man crusade is starting to show its true light

Tom Watson MP is writing a book on the hacking scandal with Independent journalist Martin Hickman

££££££

aye, a book about a media scandal by a politician - it'll sell millions worlwide, then there's the film rights, merchandising (poseable figures, pies, password free mobiles), perhaps a musical? Hacked to Death! starring Susan Boyle as wee Johnny Prescott.

Don't really see this as a long winded way of getting a big pay off. But doubtless someone will check his accounts to see how much he earns and what he spends it on. Which incidentally, I think is perfectly legit if they have good reason to suspect it's kiddy fiddling and utterly illegal if they are just trawling for gossip.

[blandy]

Don't really see this as a long winded way of getting a big pay off.

Indeed. I know it's a cynical world, but I see it more like other events where someone has battled to get to the truth, eventually it's been found and then people want to read about it, or a publisher thinks "that's a good story, people will want to read about it, in depth" and comes up with a book deal.

I don't even see it as as "bad" as politicians publishing memoirs - reason being because there's opportunity to tell more of the story than is the case with memoirs which are sometimes short on areas such as fact and truth - partly because of legal reasons, including security an partly because they are all about "me" (whoever the "me" is).

[snowychap]

...or a publisher thinks "that's a good story, people will want to read about it, in depth" and comes up with a book deal.

It helps, too, if the publishing director is an ex HarperCollins editor who apparently left because Rupert stopped him from publishing Patten's memoirs about the Hong Kong handover in order to curry favour with the Chinese (or so it claims here).

[RunRickyRun]

Ex Managing editor arrested and bailed

This is a key character in the whole saga. From the evidence given, this is the guy who (allegedly) signed off all the purchase orders and requisitions for Mulcaire and the payments to police officers.

He is likely to have taken holiday at some point, which means someone higher in the chain must have taken on these responsibilities in his absence (you never delegate these things down). I wonder if he'll give up his former bosses?

[bickster]

Seems like the pressure is mounting on Murdoch. Cristian Brothers want his resignation, rumours from Tom Watson about computer hacking and "other" illegal surveillance techniques

Hopefully the riot distraction won't bury this. Cameron has more to be worried about on this than the riots imo.