The FBI’s early fact-gathering could turn into a long saga that tests or reinforces the long-standing cooperation between U.S. and British law enforcement. Most of the records and witnesses to prove or disprove the allegations are in the hands of British investigators.
A leading private investigations firm said it had strong reason to suspect that Will Lewis, a senior executive of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., was involved in “orchestrating” a leak of material from a competing news organization that helped Murdoch’s business interests.
The U.S. Justice Department is preparing subpoenas as part of preliminary investigations into News Corp. relating to alleged foreign bribery and alleged hacking of voicemail of Sept. 11 victims, according to a government official.
Sens. Barbara Boxer and John D. Rockefeller IV are pressing a Dow Jones & Co. editorial oversight board to investigate whether any Dow Jones executives played a role in or knew about the U.K. phone-hacking scandal that has rocked corporate parent News Corp. The senators also asked the committee for reassurance that similar activities haven’t taken place in the U.S.
The scandal rocking Rupert Murdoch’s media empire — as well as the highest circles of British politics and law enforcement — has been a major story in the U.S. news media for two weeks. But how has Murdoch’s cable news channel here covered the story?
Exclusives
The British phone-hacking affair that has enveloped News Corp. has emboldened American advocacy groups who believe that media companies have become too big and powerful. There are few if any immediate threats to Murdoch’s American portfolio, but the scandal in Britain could influence the FCC review of media ownership rules.
News Corp.’s stock had its best day since the phone-hacking scandal broke, rising more than 5% Tuesday while Rupert Murdoch and his son and deputy, James, testified before a committee of the British Parliament in London.
A protester interrupted Rupert Murdoch’s testimony in London today. Murdoch appeared by turns vague, truculent, sharp and concise as he spoke alongside his son and deputy, James, calling the parliamentary inquiry “the most humble day of my career” but refusing to take personal blame for the crisis that has swept from a tabloid newspaper through the top levels of Britain’s police and even to the prime minister’s office.
News Corp. is considering elevating Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey to chief executive officer to succeed Rupert Murdoch, people with knowledge of the situation said. A decision hasn’t been made and a move depends in part on Murdoch’s performance before the U.K. Parliament, said the people, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly. Murdoch would remain chairman, the people said.
News Corp. is developing a plan to protect its American media outlets from the fallout as the FBI launches a preliminary investigation of whether laws were broken on this side of the Atlantic. The company expects to hire another outside public relations firm to help spearhead that effort and field inquiries involving Fox News, local Fox stations, and the New York Post.
Parliament is due to break up for the summer on Tuesday, but British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was in South Africa, said that “it may well be right to have Parliament meet on Wednesday so I can make a further statement.” Murdoch’s former British CEO — and Cameron’s friend — Rebekah Brooks, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of hacking. Then, London police chief Paul Stephenson resigned Sunday over his ties to Andy Coulson, a former editor of the shuttered tabloid News of the World, who was arrested earlier this month over hacking.
Les Hinton, CEO of Dow Jones & Co and publisher of the Wall Street Journal., resigned on Friday. Hinton was executive chairman of the British unit that oversaw News Corp.’s U.K. tabloid newspapers at the heart of the phone hacking scandal for 12 years. Hinton said in a statement that he was “ignorant of what apparently happened” but felt it was proper to resign.
Just a day after saying in a newspaper interview that News Corp. had made only “minor mistakes,” Murdoch signed an apology to run in Britain’s national newspapers for “serious wrongdoing” by the News of the World, which shut down last week amid allegations of large-scale illegal hacking by its staff.
Brooks headed the British arm of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. media division. She was editor of News of the World between 2000 and 2003, the time of the most explosive allegation to hit Murdoch’s News Corp. media empire,
The Associated Press says the FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. sought to hack into the phones of Sept. 11 victims.
The House of Commons committee on Culture, Media and Sport has asked Murdoch to appear next week with his son James and Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of News International, the News Corp. unit which controls the company’s British newspapers. Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg urged Murdoch to appear even though it was unclear whether the committee could compel attendance by Murdoch, who is a U.S. citizen.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has dropped its bid for control of BSkyB because of the phone hacking scandal that has consumed the company. “It has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate,” Chase Carey, News Corp.’s COO, said. “News Corp. remains a committed long-term shareholder in BSkyB.”
News Corp. is unlikely to face a push by U.S. regulators to revoke any of its 27 U.S. broadcast television licenses as a result of a U.K. law-enforcement probe of alleged phone-hacking by a London newspaper. The FCC won’t involve itself in the U.K. probe, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said yesterday.
Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said the government would vote with the opposition Labour Party on Wednesday to support a motion calling on Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp. to withdraw the $12 billion bid for highly profitable satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
The phone hacking scandal that has rocked Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and led to the closure of its News of the World has not gone unnoticed on Wall Street. On Monday, News Corp. stock dropped by over 7%, ending up at $16.10 when the market closed. That’s just about $3—and more than 15% — off the company’s 52-week high of $19.08.
Fresh reports emerged today of phone hacking attacks against some of the nation’s most powerful figures, including royals and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Adding to the intrigue, Scotland Yard released an unusual statement accusing unidentified individuals of trying to sabotage its sprawling investigation. The police — themselves accused of accepting bribes from Murdoch’s journalists — said somebody was deliberately planting distracting information in the press.
A group of institutional investors sued News Corp. on Monday, alleging rampant nepotism and failed corporate governance at the company in the ongoing British phone hacking scandal.
British police are investigating evidence that a News International executive may have deleted millions of emails from an internal archive, in an apparent attempt to obstruct Scotland Yard’s inquiry into the phone-hacking scandal.
The repercussions from the News Corp. phone hacking scandal are spreading to the U.S., where some ad buyers are getting twitchy. The scandal has buyers trying to reconcile the outrageousness of the charges surrounding Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World U.K. tabloid with News Corp.’s significant U.S. footprint, which includes Fox News as well as the straightlaced Wall Street Journal. Some said that while they haven’t suspended advertising in News Corp.’s U.S. properties, they’re growing wary about doing business with the media giant.
