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.

Original DVD cover

Hair’s to a Snake in the Grass

From the Mirror:

THE News of the World hacked a phone belonging to Sarah Payne’s mother – which was given to her by then editor Rebekah Brooks, it was claimed yesterday.

Scotland Yard have told Sara – mother of the eight-year-old schoolgirl murdered by Roy Whiting – that the mobile may have been targeted by the newspaper. They said they had found evidence suggesting she was hacked by News of the World ­investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

Officers from ­Operation Weeting told her on Tuesday that they had found her personal details among his notes. The evidence is believed to relate to the phone Rebekah Brooks gave her to help her stay in touch with supporters.

Original painting (Medusa by Rubens)

Who says there are no manufacturing jobs left in America?

From Tim Dickinson at Rolling Stone:

How Roger Ailes Built the Fox News Fear Factory

The onetime Nixon operative has created the most profitable propaganda machine in history. Inside America’s Unfair and Imbalanced Network

The key to decoding Fox News isn’t Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity. It isn’t even News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch. To understand what drives Fox News, and what its true purpose is, you must first understand Chairman [Roger] Ailes. “He is Fox News,” says Jane Hall, a decade-long Fox commentator who defected over Ailes’ embrace of the fear-mongering Glenn Beck. “It’s his vision. It’s a reflection of him.”

Original DVD cover
(Click on image and then on that for larger version)

Chamber of Horrors

From MEDIA MATTERS:

Glenn Beck, responding to the White House’s request that anonymous donors to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s campaign efforts be disclosed, has gone all in in his defense of the group. On his radio show and online, Beck solicited contributions for the Chamber, declaring them “our parents, our grandparents — they are us.”

On his radio show, Beck said “I would like to make this the biggest fundraising day in the Chamber’s history” and told his employees to promote the Chamber on GlennBeck.com and his news site, TheBlaze.com, and “get somebody on the phone” from the group. Beck asked his callers to donate “if you are as sick as I am of this lot” (referring to President Obama), and said that the Obama administration “hates” the Chamber as much “as I hate Woodrow Wilson.”

Original DVD cover