Brittle Foxes

From David Zurawik at THE BALTIMORE SUN:

It was hard to imagine a news organization taking any hit comparable to the one Fox News did in August when founder Roger Ailes was pushed out amid charges of sexual harassment.

But the news today that Bill O’Reilly would not be returning to the highest rated show on cable news might be even bigger, because of his status as an on-air personality and the foundation of an incomparable primetime ratings lineup.

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Uncle Rupie’s Son-dick-ate

From Mail Online:

Police investigating phone-hacking at the News of the World have recovered a series of ‘bombshell’ emails which they believe takes the inquiry to ‘a new level’.

The emails were among tens of thousands held by the newspaper at a data storage facility in India.

Police are believed to want to question News International chief James Murdoch and former Sun and News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks about their contents.

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End of the Innocence

(Reuters) – News Corp agreed to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds to an early phone-hacking victim because it recognized that evidence from the case was ‘fatal’ to its claims of innocence, new details released on Tuesday showed.

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The Private Eye Goes Public

From the Guardian:

Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire has revealed the names of the News of the World staff who instructed him to carry out phone hacking, his solicitor has confirmed.

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Die-nasty

(Reuters) – It was one of many strange moments in a hearing rich in absurdity. As British lawmakers questioned Rupert Murdoch last month over whether his News of the World journalists broke the law by hacking into mobile phones, the 80-year-old Australian-born boss of media giant News Corporation began to reminiscence about his late father.

…snip…

Member of Parliament Damian Collins tried to get the hearing back on track, but Murdoch, sitting beside his son James, the head of News Corp’s non-U.S. interests, continued: “That just addresses the question of it being a family business. I would love to see my sons and daughters follow that route — if they are interested.”

What Murdoch’s children are interested in may no longer matter.

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Liar, Liar, Knickers on Fire!

From AFP:

LONDON — Pressure intensified on Rupert Murdoch’s media empire Friday after his son James was accused of misleading British MPs, as rival newspapers became embroiled in the phone-hacking scandal.

…snip…

Prime Minister David Cameron is also facing the worst crisis since he took office last year, amid questions over talks he had on Murdoch’s failed bid for pay-TV giant BSkyB and his hiring of an ex-Murdoch editor as his media chief.

James Murdoch was accused of lying to British MPs this week when he said he he had not seen an internal email which suggested hacking at the tabloid was widespread before authorising a settlement.

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Arresting Development

Carrot Top Rebekah Brooks was arrested Sunday on suspicion of phone hacking and bribing police.  This might be why:

(Reuters) – “It was the kind of place you get out of and you never want to go back again.” That’s how one former reporter describes the News of the World newsroom under editor Rebekah Brooks, the ferociously ambitious titian-haired executive who ran Britain’s top-selling Sunday tabloid from 2000 to 2003.

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In the Name of the Motherfu…I mean, Father

From Business Spectator:

The abrupt change in News Corp’s tactics as [it] tries to bring some semblance of control to the maelstrom it is experiencing in the UK hints at a longer-term problem for Rupert Murdoch and his succession plans.

On Wednesday News withdrew its undertaking to spin off Sky News from BSkyB enabling the UK government to refer its proposed bid for the pay television operator to its Competition Commission and ensuring that any final decision on the bid would be deferred for at least six months and probably closer to a year.

That appeared designed to avoid any immediate decision on the bid within an atmosphere of extreme hostility towards News and therefore to preserve the potential for another tilt at BSkYB once the heat eventually dies down.

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