A cross-party British parliamentary committee has criticised News International's attempts to "deliberately thwart" a 2005-06 phone hacking investigation and says British police committed a "catalogue of failures".

The Home Affairs committee, which questioned two of Britain's former top policemen over the phone hacking firestorm, also said more resources had to be invested in informing other potential phone hacking victims.

"There has been a catalogue of failures by the Metropolitan Police, and deliberate attempts by News International to thwart the various investigations," Keith Vaz, the committee's chairman and a former Labour government minister, said.

The committee's report, which detailed the police investigation and the phone hackers' methods, was particularly critical of former assistant police commissioners John Yates and Andy Hayman.

It said Mr Yates' 2009 review of the investigation - in which he decided there was no need to reopen the inquiry - was "very poor" and that he was guilty of a "serious misjudgement".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-20/committee-critical-news-murdoch-inquiry/2803136

Would a "catalogue of failure" amount to corruption of the police processes?

Two invoices held by the Met mention Prescott by name. They appear to show that News International, owner of the NoW, paid Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator at the heart of the scandal, for his help on stories relating to the deputy PM. Lord Prescott spoke of his anger that the information, spelled out in a letter from the Yard's legal services directorate, emerged only after he was given a series of personal reassurances by detectives at the highest level that there was "no evidence" his phone may have been hacked.

The invoices are both dated May 2006, at a time when Prescott was the subject of intense media scrutiny following revelations that he had had an affair with his secretary, Tracey Temple. There is also a piece of paper obtained from Mulcaire on which the name "John Prescott" is written. The only other legible word on this document is "Hull".

The name "Prescott" appears on two "self-billing tax invoices" from News International Supply Company Ltd to Mulcaire's company, Nine Consultancy.

The Yard's letter, obtained by the Observer, states: "One appears to be for a single payment of £250 on 7/5/2006 labelled 'Story: other Prescott Assist -txt.' The second, also for £250, on 21/5/2006 contains the words 'Story: Other Prescott Assist -txt urgent'."

The legal services directorate adds: "We do not know what this means or what it is referring to."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/04/john-prescott-phone-hacking-scandal

"Murdoch is afforded a lot more power in the imagination of the community than he actually has. He is not sitting there in his bunker deviously line-editing The Wall Street Journal or The Daily Telegraph. He is not on the phone to two-bit reporters for The Australian or The Sun dictating how to interpret the day's events.

News Corp presides over a conservative media empire, for the most part. It's not to my taste, but if we're OK with centre-left papers such as The Guardian (which did the lion's share of investigation in to News of the World) or The Age, then we have to tolerate the corollary."

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2802878.html

whoever wrote this and the rest of the article (Michael Koziol is a media and politics student at the University of Sydney and a freelance journalist with interests in national politics, social policy and urban development. He is also the author of the first chapter of several incomplete books and many a good tweet.) is, in my mind, still very immature... A future Andrew Bold in nappies possibly...

It would take a whole book to detail how Murdoch influences his two-bit reporters. But to simplify the vertical integration of the way the Murdoch empire works, lets start to say that the two-bit reporter is employed by a news editor and his copy is edited by a sub-editor and headlined by someone else. Nothing new here — every paper do it. But the news editor's job is dependent from the newspaper chief-editor himself dependent from the chief executive himself picked for his Murdoch allegiances. The down flow from this is not to be sneered at. The influence of Uncle Rupe is strong. He does not have to be in the bunkers. He owns the bunkers. Anyone who write something that he dislikes would soon know about it. He himself admitted to pick sides in the political games.

Though Uncle Rupe makes his money in many countries, his influence in the three main English speaking countries (the USA, the UK and Australia) is far too strong — as his troops will not only report the news, but influence the politics through a one sided view of the news (never fully one-sided but at least 80/20 in favour of a particular political outfit in order to appear "fair"). He said it at the inquiry, he decided to support Cameron. ALL his media outlets followed this line. Beforehand he was supporting Tony Blair (who played along with Murdoch) and Bush (he used to visit Bush at least once a month, possibly once a week). People like Bush, Blair, Cameron, Howard, need Uncle Rupe to promote their wares — including illegal wars — and destroy any credible opposition to their existence.

Presently in Australia, the Murdoch press (70 per cent of the news content in this country) is hell-bent in destroying the Gillard government and presenting all of what this government does (much of it being good) as terrible. The mud sticks. His unquestioning support of Tony Abbott is reflected in the way his troops report the news — including the headlines. Even when an article "may show a small good side to the Gillard government", the headline will be twisted to turn the knife in the Gillard government. The two-bit reporter soon tows the line or does not get the job in the first place...

Ah I see, Michael, you want to get a job at News Ltd... No?...

 

Why does Murdoch do this? He does not like the NBN for example. He sees it as a threat to his cable network. Thus he will pan the NBN and use Tony's mob as a foil. And so on... Talk to him about the anti-siphoning laws and the South Sydney Rabbitohs...

A former producer with Fox News claimed in a lengthy essay gaining new traction this week that the conservative television station has a "Brain Room" in its New York headquarters, which enables employees to view private telephone records with ease.

Though published years ago, the allegations have returned to relevance in the wake of the phone hacking scandals that have rocked News Corporation to its very core, threatening to topple one of the world's largest and most powerful media conglomerates.

According to former Fox News executive Dan Cooper, whose gripes with his former employer run quite deep, Fox News chief Roger Ailes allegedly had him design the so-called "Brain Room" to facilitate counter-intelligence efforts and other "black ops."

Former Fox News Producer Claims The Network's "Brain Room" Led To Hacking

Fox News finally addressed their parent company’s hacking scandal head on this morning, with Fox and Friends launching a comically sycophantic and pathetically inaccurate defense of News Corp. Host Steve Doocy and guest Robert Dilenschneider, a media consultant, agreed News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch has done “all the right things” and argued that the scandal is way overblown. “For some reason, the public, the media, keep going over this, again, and again, and again” the guest said. “It’s too much,” he added, “We should move on.” Doocy agreed, scolding the media for not devoting its time to covering more important issues. (His show later featured a segment on actress Mila Kunis and a performance by second-tier boy band Lifehouse, popular in 2001.)
But their defense of News Corp. really got embarrassing when Dilenschneider and Doocy engaged in some stunning subject/object slight of hand, comparing News Corp. to companies that have been hacked, while failing to note it was News Corp. that did the hacking in this case. “We know it’s a hacking scandal, shouldn’t we get beyond it and deal with the issue of hacking? We have a serious hacking problem in this country,” Dilenschneider reminded us. Listing several companies like CitiGroup that “have been hacked into,” Dilenschneider asked, “Are they getting the same kind of attention for hacking that took place less than a year ago that News Corp is getting today?”

http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/71-71/6622-foxs-comical-defense-of-murdoch

see toon at top...

News — seriously coming from the funniest video show...

 

If you have two guys on a stage and one guy says, 'I have a solution to the Middle East problem,' and the other guy falls in the orchestra pit, who do you think is going to be on the evening news?[12]

 

see also: http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/964 and toon at top...

 

Meanwhile, from Dan Cooper:

Rupert Murdoch hired Roger Ailes to brainwash America into thinking right-wing ideology is actually the political center. And he did. And, I'm ashamed to tell you, I helped him.

...

Roger Ailes likes to remember the good old days too. Unfortunately for the historical record, Roger seems to have a case of selective amnesia about the launch of the Fox News Channel. Maybe that's because those days weren't good days for him at all. Maybe they were bad days, because he was scared out of his mind that he couldn't deliver what he had promised to Rupert Murdoch. He sure was angry a lot: pretty much every day. Well, good news! He's forgotten all that.

Here's an excerpt from a memo Ailes wrote to his staff Friday, February 8, 2008:

On February 6, 1996, exactly twelve years ago this week I walked into this building for the first time as a new employee of News Corporation to build a cable news channel for Rupert Murdoch. At that time we had no employees, no studios, no control rooms, no executives, no staff, no news gathering capabilities, no equipment, no programs, no stars, no male or female divas, no international operations and no perks. Also, according to the press, absolutely no prospects of success. We had to take on GE, NBC, Microsoft, and Time Warner simultaneously with fewer resources and we had just six months to create and launch the channel. Many good people joined me here, some of whom are still here today and others joined a successful channel as we grew. Many of you have made great contributions toward our success. I thank you all and Mr. Murdoch thanks you.

Roger Ailes thinks the day he walked into the building for the first time "we had no employees, no studios, no control rooms, no executives, no staff, no news gathering capabilities, no equipment, no programs, no stars, no male or female divas, no international operations and no perks."

Incorrect.

Nothing could be further from the truth. And what's more, Roger relied on some of these people, me included, to be the key players in creating the Fox News Channel.

There was already a Fox News. It had a president. His name was Joe Peyronnin. Peyronnin was still there when Roger arrived that wondrous day. Peyronnin had been a senior executive at CBS News prior to joining Fox News, and has had a distinguished career since Roger tossed him down the mail chute. Mark Pearlman, formerly vice president of corporate development at CBS, was the Fox News executive vice president of finance and operations. These two guys worked there beginning in 1995.

 

---------------

Gus: Rupert Murdoch hired John Hartigan to brainwash Australia into thinking right-wing ideology is actually the political center. And he tries hard. But, I'm proud to tell you, I fight against him.

from John Pilger

 

In Scoop, Evelyn Waugh's brilliant satire on the press, there is the moment when Lord Copper, owner of the Daily Beast, meets his new special war correspondent, William Boot, in truth an authority on wild flowers and birdsong. A confused Boot is brought to his lordship's presence by Mr Salter, The Beast's foreign editor.

"Is Mr. Boot all set for his trip?"

"Up to a point, Lord Copper."

Copper briefed Boot as follows: "A few sharp victories, some conspicuous acts of personal bravery on the Patriot side and a colourful entry into the capital. That is The Beast policy for the war … We shall expect the first victory about the middle of July."

Rupert Murdoch is a 21st-century Lord Copper. The amusing gentility is missing; the absurdity of his power is the same. The Daily Beast wanted victories; it got them. The Sun wanted dead Argies; Gotcha! Of the bloodbath in Iraq, Murdoch probably said, "There is going to be collateral damage. And if you really want to be brutal about it, better we get it done now…" The Times, the Sunday Times, Fox got it done.

Long before it was possible to hack phones, Murdoch was waging a war on journalism, truth, humanity, and he succeeded because he knew how to exploit a system that welcomed his rapacious devotion to the "free market". Murdoch may be more extreme in his methods, but he is no different in kind from many of those now lining up to condemn him who are his beneficiaries, mimics, collaborators and apologists.

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2804864.html

All the coaching, PR and legal advice that was poured into grooming the Murdochs for this week's dramatic House of Commons appearance had one aim: to impress on the world that News Corp was now on top of the situation and was moving forward with honesty and transparency. It was, in principle, the right strategy – but the risk was obvious: that their evidence would be shown in some respect to be untrue. Barely a day had passed before the nightmare scenario came to pass – a direct contradiction of a crucial part of James Murdoch's evidence by two very significant players in the tortuous story of News International's attempt to move beyond reckoning to some form of atonement.

The conflict surrounds the decision of James Murdoch in 2008 to sign a huge cheque (around £1m in damages and costs) for Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association. This settlement was first revealed by the Guardian in July 2009. On Wednesday, MPs wanted to know why he had felt it important to offer such an astronomical amount of money. Was it to buy silence, and thereby conceal evidence of criminality within his company?

James Murdoch had evidently been prepared for this question, since he embarked on a long, complex and detailed account of how the sum was arrived at. Essentially, it boiled down to claiming that his legal advice was that it would be cheaper to settle with Mr Taylor than to fight. But he was challenged directly as to whether he had seen the underlying material in the Taylor case – in particular the explosive transcript of voicemail messages typed up by a reporter and destined "for Neville" – a reference to the NoW's chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck. Mr Murdoch answered equally directly: "No, I was not aware of that at the time."

That answer must have come as a relief to News Corp shareholders, because the alternative – that Mr Murdoch had seen the "for Neville" documents – brought very serious questions into play. The transcripts proved conclusively that the "rogue reporter" defence was wrong. So why didn't Mr Murdoch inform parliament and the regulator (both of whom had been misled) of the new situation, and why didn't he start a meaningful internal investigation to get at the truth? To do nothing would, to coin a phrase, look like "wilful blindness".

On Thursday night, the two other key executives involved in the Taylor settlement directly challenged Mr Murdoch's version of events. Tom Crone – praised by James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks as an excellent NI lawyer – and Colin Myler, the former NoW editor, said they had informed Mr Murdoch about the "for Neville" email. Shortly afterward News Corp released its own statement saying James Murdoch stood by his evidence.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/21/news-corp-phone-hacking-editorial

When Mr. Murdoch and his closest advisers debated whether to accept the resignation of Rebekah Brooks, a newspaper executive at the center of the controversy, Mr. Klein pushed for her exit. When Mr. Murdoch wrote a statement to deliver to Parliament last week, Mr. Klein weighed in on the drafts.

And while the world watched Mr. Murdoch and his son James testify, Mr. Klein sat directly behind them for three hours, occasionally cleaning his rimless glasses with his tie as he looked on in support.

Mr. Klein’s dizzying journey, in under a year, from one of the nation’s foremost education reformers to the corporate consigliere for a media titan whose politics are far to the right of his own, has surprised and unsettled many friends and colleagues, who fear that he will be unable to extricate himself from a scandal that shows no sign of abating or, they say, ending well. “This was nothing he could have ever expected,” said Barbara Walters, a longtime friend of Mr. Klein’s.

But in many ways, interviews suggest, his emergence as a dominant figure within the News Corporation is consistent with a biography that combines high-minded legal and social aims — antitrust law and education — with a driving, sometimes overwhelming competitive fire.

“He has a take-no-prisoners attitude,” said Randi Weingarten, who battled Mr. Klein when she was head of the New York City teachers union. “He is a litigator. He is about winning.”

It is a sign of how delicate Mr. Klein’s position inside the News Corporation has become that he was initially against the idea of an internal review. In April, after London’s Metropolitan Police arrested three News of the World journalists on suspicion of hacking, some executives pushed for an investigation that would have the full backing of the company’s board and senior management, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions taking place at the time.

Mr. Murdoch opposed the idea outright. Standing firmly in his corner was Mr. Klein.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/business/media/joel-klein-ex-schools-chief-leads-internal-news-corp-inquiry.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

 

For anyone who watched the interrogation of Murdoch One and Murdoch Two by the Pommy parliamentary committee, one would have to ask who was that stern looking fellow on the front row, behind the pair of bananas. All is revealed. I thought he was a "lawyer" for the ritewing corner but basically he eats in any trough that comes his way... Considered a "democrat" conservative, "Mr. Klein had a favorite legal maxim that would serve him well in his new role at the News Corporation."

“Facts,” he was fond of saying, “are stubborn things.”

Many daft journalists would agree with him...

Now according to some people, mostly journalists, the world at large is divided into two new camps: the Murdoch-haters and the Murdoch-apologists... The apolgists glorify Uncle Rupe and tell us that without him, newspapers would not be what they are... This to me is a bit of worry as most newspapers and news outlets such as radio and TV, under the Uncle Rupe leadership (and some other media barons, mind you), are more about dishing out tits and bums, plus uneducated opinions rather than bringing out the facts.

 

I personally don't hate Mr M. But I don't like his loaded views and his minions who for the sake of being employed, do not challenge him when they should. He can be reasonable if one knows how to push his buttons... He still listens to his mum.

 

I have met Mr Murdoch several times in his life (and mine) and though he was not my cup of tea, I thought he was quite entreprising but certainly risk taking — sometimes taking on ventures that obviously would not bring any major fruit but he did it out of loyalty for some people... This goes quite a long time ago, before Wapping...

 

There, in Wapping, he helped bring an antiquated printing and news-gathering system into the 20th century... Dare I say, if he had not pushed it, it would have happened nonetheless, possibly withing 6 months with far less acrimony. But I supposed, some people need to show who's boss, and Margaret Thatcher was one of them... That is the reality of progress when there are real improvements to be made. In the end, who in their right mind would prefer the lead-arsenic fumes to a computerised office? But then change cost money and jobs... Leaders and media barons choose making money.

There are several ways of doing things and improving things. Well, basically only two ways when dealing with people: the stick or the carrot. Uncle Rupe used the stick at Wapping so he could have more carrots for himself...

One thing fore sure, Uncle Rupe is totally deaf in one ear... It could be the left one...

Sir Hugh Orde, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, has lambasted Rupert Murdoch, saying the chairman of News Corporation had shown a complete denial of responsibility for what had gone on in his company.

He contrasted Murdoch's behaviour with the leadership shown by Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan police commissioner who quit last week over his indirect links with former News of the World editors.

Orde is tipped as a possible replacement for Stephenson, and it is the second time in a few days that he has attacked the irresponsibility of News Corps.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr programme, Orde said "You saw the chief officer of the police service of this country, Sir Paul Stephenson, saying, 'Look this happened on my watch. I am responsible. I am therefore … It's on my watch. I am resigning.' Compare that to Rupert Murdoch – complete denial of any responsibility of his organisation."

Writing in Jane's Police Review at the weekend, Orde said: "What we have seen over the last few days is police officers standing up, explaining their actions and decisions and being held to account for them. Across the country, in serving our communities, police officers expect to have to do no less.

"It is a stark contrast to the way in which others have sought to meet their responsibilities."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/24/rupert-murdoch-phone-hacking-police

Pressure on James Murdoch Is About to Intensify
By DON VAN NATTA Jr., GRAHAM BOWLEY and JO BECKER

 

LONDON — After his testimony in Parliament was challenged by two former senior employees and referred by a lawmaker to Scotland Yard for investigation, James Murdoch has come under rising pressure in Britain’s phone hacking scandal that is likely to intensify this week.

The board of British Sky Broadcasting, the satellite broadcaster of which Mr. Murdoch is chairman, convenes on Thursday for the first time since the scandal erupted, as regulators continue their inquiry into whether the hacking scandal means the broadcaster should continue to be considered “fit and proper” to hold a broadcasting license. A day later, members of the parliamentary committee investigating the scandal are to meet to consider whether to ask for more information from Mr. Murdoch and whether to call him and former executives back in front of them to answer additional questions.

Some former senior executives of News International who until recently held powerful positions in the News Corporation’s British subsidiary and were privy to internal deliberations have indicated that they believe Mr. Murdoch knew more about widespread phone hacking at The News of the World than he indicated in his public testimony. If they continue to challenge Mr. Murdoch’s account, it could damage his effort to protect his own reputation and that of the parent company run by his father, Rupert.

“It now seems to be everyone for themselves,” said Paul Farrelly, a Labour member of Parliament who has been a prominent critic of News International. “The edifice is cracking; they’re all fighting like rats in a sack.”

Last week, the two former executives, Colin Myler, who was editor of The News of the World until it closed this month, and Tom Crone, the former legal manager for News International, accused him of making “mistaken” statements to Parliament in his testimony on Tuesday.

A third, Jon Chapman, News International’s director of legal affairs until this month, said in a statement last week he was also preparing to cooperate fully with the Parliament investigation and wanted to correct “serious inaccuracies” in the evidence given by Mr. Murdoch to lawmakers. Mr. Murdoch issued a statement insisting he stood by his remarks.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/world/europe/25hacking.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

We are all tabloid

When we are asked to think about the long-term energy base of the nation we chant "no new tax", even in the face of scientific evidence that delaying action will cost us dearly in the long run.

When we are presented with a project to network the nation and set it up for a high-speed economy, we haggle about the price and start looking for the rorts.

And when we see wrongdoing in one part of the media, even in another part of the world, we want definite action to right the wrong. Here. Now.

There is an irony that the masters of the tabloid scandal are now its subjects, but there are also grounds for caution; because if there is one thing that the rise of the tabloid media has taught us, it should be that the simple responses are not always the right ones.

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2810196.html

----------------------------

Yes Peter,

 

But it's a question of proportion.... rather than about "all of us being tabloid"... Some of us "react" to minimise the imbecility of tabloid froth. Thus, are we reactionary? Hell no, we deconstruct the idiotic view not for the sake of opposing, but to promote solid creative and positive necessary views — mostly those that will protect the planet...

Tabloids are purely reactionary, not visionary. I often refer to the Byzantine equation that explains how a kingdom is safe from plots (or whatever imbecile idea) as long as as certain proportion of people are not plotters (or imbecile). In a democracy, unlike a kingdom, we're at the mercy of the rule of 50 per cent plus one, with a sloshing mass of shifting voters — like the dirty water inside a ship being tossed around by heavy seas.

 

The tabloid media is designed to (mis)inform the shifting voters/buyers (and others if it can) by using emotions rather than knowledge — especially NOT proper scientific knowledge that could make the boat heel away from conservative (money) and religious (moral) views. Though with a certain moral rectiture sub-plot, the tabloid will serve its own naked page-three girl...

 

The tabloid media is perverse, yet very very conservative (It will rabidly protect the notion of royalty). It is designed to pander to the lower form of thoughts. Fear — the reactive thought... and lust — instinctive "bad thought" through titilation, this subconsciously reinforcing the idea of "sin", maintaining the moralisationing of the rite-conservative view. It addictively exploits biffoing sport, silly stars, gutter politics, outrageous money, to take readers away from proper knowledge by making those subjects more important than they should be in a knowledgeable society. Mr Murdoch would know that... He's an expert at this manipulation...

 

As I said tabloid media not visionary.

see toon at top.

Good to see that the special arrangements made at the Wall Street Journal in 2007 to deal with their new proprietor Rupert Murdoch, should he overstep the mark, have kicked into action.

As the Mole reported a week ago, the Journal was in danger of upsetting its own journalists as much its readers when it appeared to offer Murdoch a platform to explain himself a matter of days before his appearance before the Commons culture select committee.

In bullish mood - quite opposite to the forlorn, humbled character he presented to Parliament - Murdoch told his interviewer (and employee) that News Corp had made only "minor mistakes" in its handling of the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World.

He also said he intended to use his coming visit to Westminster to address "some of the things that have been said in Parliament, some of which are total lies. We think it's important to absolutely establish our integrity in the eyes of the public".

All of this was reported in an unquestioning style by the Journal and it came at a time when WSJ staffers were already said to be deeply upset at the sudden association with the News of the World that Murdoch's four-year-old ownership had brought upon them.

As one staffer told the Daily Beast: "It stinks. It makes our stomachs churn, to be bizarrely held accountable for some dipshit tabloid guys from eight years ago."

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/82207,news-comment,news-politics,the-mole-wall-street-journal-mea-culpa-we-were-too-easy-on-rupert-murdoch

FORMER Victorian chief police commissioner Christine Nixon has accused Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd newspapers of being instrumental in bringing down her successor in the job, Simon Overland.

She also said she believed she had been subject to a relentless campaign by News Ltd papers, particularly the Herald Sun, since she retired following the Black Saturday bushfires on February 7, 2009, to force her from public life.

''In the 2½ years since retiring, they have run a vendetta against me. They have published articles and beat up stories saying I am not supposed to teach courses, shouldn't be allowed to sit on boards, not allowed to do leadership lectures, should have quit my job as chair of the Bushfire Recovery Authority, should not mentor people, and the final one is I am not allowed to write a book.''

Ms Nixon's book, Fair Cop, jointly written with Age journalist Jo Chandler, is due to be launched by Prime Minister Julia Gillard next Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/news-out-to-ruin-me-nixon-20110727-1i0ek.html#ixzz1TLOBNUc2


In an article above I wrote : lead-arsenic. I meant to say "lead-antimony", though there is also arsenic in the printing inks...

"There, in Wapping, he helped bring an antiquated printing and news-gathering system into the 20th century... Dare I say, if he had not pushed it, it would have happened nonetheless, possibly withing 6 months with far less acrimony. But I supposed, some people need to show who's boss, and Margaret Thatcher was one of them... That is the reality of progress when there are real improvements to be made. In the end, who in their right mind would prefer the lead-antimony fumes to a computerised office? But then change cost money and jobs... Leaders and media barons choose making money."

The Chancellor, George Osborne, has had 16 separate meetings since May 2010 with News International editors and executives, including two with the Murdochs within just a month of taking office. He also invited Elisabeth Murdoch as a guest to his 40th birthday party last month.

The Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, dined with Rupert Murdoch within days of the Government coming to power and, after being given quasi-judicial oversight for the Murdochs' £8bn attempted takeover of BSkyB, had two meetings with James Murdoch in which they discussed the takeover. Mr Hunt said last night that these were legitimate as part of the bid process.

But the minister who sees Rupert Murdoch the most frequently is the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, a former News International employee. Mr Gove has seen the mogul for breakfast, lunch or dinner on six occasions since last May. Overall, Mr Gove has had 12 meetings with Murdoch executives since becoming a minister.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/murdochs-were-given-secret-defence-briefings-2326517.html

Victoria's former police chief commissioner, Christine Nixon, says she was advised by "people in government" that News Limited had an agenda to oust her.

Ms Nixon has written a book saying she was constantly undermined by the Herald Sun newspaper during her tenure at Victoria Police and as head of the Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority.

"I believe that [News Limited] had an agenda and ... in fact I was advised by people in government that they had an agenda that was to have me resign from the bushfire authority," she told ABC's 7.30 program.

"I think it's about, you know, egos... It's an issue that I believe they had an agenda that it was to get rid of me to show they were powerful, that they could have influence and that this woman could be gotten out of way."

But Ms Nixon says she does not know what the publisher's motivation was.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-28/nixon-claims-news-limited-campaigned-against-her/2814928

 

---------------

Yes Ms Nixon... one has to know that a reason for News Ltd to dislike someone is mostly flimsy... One could scratch one's head and despair but at the end I think it has something to do with money and information, as seen by NotW getting information from the police by paying "bribes"...

The private investigator at the centre of Britain's phone-hacking scandal says he only ever acted on instructions from News of the World staff.

Glenn Mulcaire has previously admitted to hacking phones and was jailed for hacking in 2007. He is also at the centre of an expanding police inquiry over the alleged hacking of thousands of phones.

Editors and executives at the Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World have claimed they did not know the extent of the illegal activity, but Mulcaire's lawyers have released a statement saying he was only ever following instructions.

His lawyers released a statement saying "as an employee he acted on the instruction of others", and that "any suggestion he acted unilaterally, is untrue".

A day after it was alleged the phone of a grieving mother was hacked, the police officer investigating her daughter's murder - Detective Martin Underhill - says he fears his phone may also have been targeted.

"I believe my phone was hacked by the News of the World, and I contacted Operation Weeting just over two weeks ago to report that suspicion," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-30/mulcaire-speaks-on-hacking-scandal/2817114

LONDON: Detectives investigating corrupt payments between journalists and police officers have arrested a reporter from The Sun, involving the daily tabloid in the scandal for the first time.

Jamie Pyatt, the paper's Thames Valley district reporter, was arrested at his home in Windsor on Friday.

It is the first time a member of staff at Rupert Murdoch's daily red top has been implicated in the scandal engulfing News International, which is involved in three separate police investigations.

Pyatt, 48, has worked for The Sun for more than 20 years. It is understood that News International executives knew on Thursday that Pyatt would be arrested and he was held following the discovery of an email that allegedly made reference to him paying a police contact.

It is believed the email was found by News International and handed to the Metropolitan Police.

Sources said all staff at The Sun are presently subject to a trawl of their emails from the past five years.

A senior News International source suggested the internal investigation was prompted by fears in the Murdoch family that the scandal would spread to the daily tabloid.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/veteran-sun-reporter-nicked-20111105-1n115.html#ixzz1csHzKZ53
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Rebekah Brooks, the former News of the World editor who resigned as chief executive of News International at the height of the phone-hacking scandal, received £1.7m in cash, the use of a London office and a chauffeur-driven limousine as part of her severance package from the newspaper group.

Brooks, a favourite of Rupert Murdoch who rose from being a secretary on the features desk of the Sunday newspaper to the very top of the mogul's UK operation, quit in July amid claims over the alleged illegal activities carried out by her executives and reporters. Days after she resigned, she was arrested and bailed in connection with allegations of phone hacking and corruption.

Records at Companies House show that she has resigned from 23 directorships related to the firm. However, the Observer has learned that, along with a generous payoff and continued use of her company limousine and driver for two years, Brooks, 43, has been given an office for the same period of time in an affluent central London area which her spokesman asked the Observer not to reveal for security reasons.

The decision to give Brooks an office will inevitably be raised on Thursday when James Murdoch, the 38-year-old son of Rupert and chairman of News International, returns to Westminster to answer questions from the Commons culture, media and sport select committee about his knowledge of illegal activities by his employees.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/nov/05/murdoch-phone-hacking-rebekah-brooks

Explaining why, he said: "The UK government were, to put it bluntly, completely in the thrall of Mr Murdoch and the other big newspaper people, who would have objected.

"That spell has now been broken, I think, fairly conclusively, and I don't see any reason why such a law should not be brought in."

The European Court of Human Rights has already rejected Mr Mosley's suggestion of a law requiring prior notification, but he insisted that in some cases it was "essential", in order to stop "an egregious breach of privacy".

Invasion of privacy, he argued, was "worse than burglary" as someone who is burgled can replace their lost belongings and repair the damage.

"If someone breaches your privacy you can never repair the damage, never put it right again," he said.

Mr Mosley was awarded a record £60,000 in privacy damages at the High Court after taking legal action against the News of the World for its Nazi orgy story published on March 30, 2008 - a story he strongly denied.

But, he said: "Once the information has been made public it can never ever be made private again."

After the court case he wrote to Rupert Murdoch, who owned the now defunct Sunday tabloid, setting out his concerns, the inquiry heard.

But Mr Mosley never received a reply, he said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/max-mosley-ministers-in-thrall-to-murdoch-6267297.html

 

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