Sunday, April 10, 2011
Did The Conservative Voice Standard Bearer, “Rupert Murdoch,” Sanction Illegal Activities?
The head of "News International," the British news division of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, has been officially asked to disclose details of alleged payments made by the company’s newspapers to British police officers.
The request, by Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, came after John Yates, acting deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police (better known as Scotland Yard) testified that his officers have begun researching a statement made in 2003 by Rebekah Brooks, then the editor of The Sun and now CEO of "News International," in which she acknowledged that such payments had been made.
In his letter to Brooks, Vaz requested that she provide him by April 4th, 2011, with the following information:
1. The number of police paid by The Sun newspaper whilst you were editor?
2. How much these police officers were paid?
3. When the practice ceased?
The latest development comes as Vaz’s committee looks deeper into complaints that Scotland Yard, in an effort to court favor with reporters for another Rupert Murdoch newspaper, the "News of the World" failed to investigate apparent evidence that some reporters for the paper had routinely hacked into the voicemails of politicians and celebrities. In reporting on the new developments, Ian Dunt, editor of politics.co.uk, commented, “Ms. Brooks is considered one of the most influential figures in the Murdoch Empire and her involvement in the ongoing row will be treated as a sign that the contagion of phone-hacking at "News of the World" is starting to spread to the entire business.”
On Tuesday, April 5th 2011, British police arrested two journalists linked with the country's top selling tabloid as part of an investigation into phone hacking of celebrities, politicians and royals. Metropolitan Police said two men aged 50 and 42 were taken into custody in London on suspicion of unlawfully intercepting voicemail messages. They declined to name the men, who were later released on bail, but a lawyer for the tabloid's former news editor, Ian Edmondson, identified his client as one of the two.
The second man in custody is the “News of The World's” chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, confirmed that Thurlbeck was still employed by the tabloid.
Many are saying that Rupert Murdoch’s media interest were being protected as no Conservative Politician can get elected into public office without his support and backing. This mind thought is because this is not the first time for Rupert Murdoch’s possible illegal sanctioned activities. One of Rupert Murdoch's best-performing papers, “The News of The World,” was thrust into the center of the phone hacking scandal after a reporter and a private investigator in its employment were caught illegally eavesdropping on the phones of the British royal family's entourage. The pair was convicted in 2007, but “News of the World” executives have long insisted that they were the only ones responsible for the tapping operation, a claim dismissed as implausible by the paper's critics.
This latest incident has brought to light that once again British journalists working for Rupert Murdoch’s papers have been on a crime spree, hiring private eyes to illegally hack into the voicemail and data of thousands of people, including " tax records, social security files, bank statements and itemized phone bills"; Rupert Murdoch has paid out over £1M so far to hush it up.
Here is an interesting aspect that all American Citizens should take note on.
1. The head of the Conservative party's communications is a former Murdoch executive who from the time that much of this crime was committed by his staffers.
2. Senior editors are among those implicated. This activity occurred before the mobile phone hacking, at a time when Coulson was deputy and the editor was Rebekah Wade, now due to become chief executive of News International.
The extent of their personal knowledge is not clear: the "News of the World" has always insisted that it would not break the law and would use subterfuge only if essential in the public interest.
But faced with this new evidence, “News International,” has changed their position and started offering huge cash payments to settle the case out of court. To date they have paid out £700,000 in legal costs and damages on the condition that Taylor signed a gagging clause to prevent him speaking about the case. The payment is believed to have included more than £400,000 in damages. News Group then persuaded the court to seal the file on Taylor's case to prevent all public access, even though it contained prima facie evidence of criminal activity.
So the concluding statement to this posting is, “How Much Illegal Activities Are Going On A Fox Programming And Other Rupert Murdoch’s Interest Here In The United States? Are our own Conservative Republican Party members running “Legal Interference” evidence suppression? Are the Ultra Conservative Republican Congressmen and Senators protecting illegal activities against others that is being sanctioned by Rupert Murdoch’s media interests here in the United States?
I've been following this story in The Guardian and on BBC4 Radio....
ReplyDeleteIt looks pretty embarrassing for everyone involved, including Cameron...
Laci can probably tell you more, but I am reading how Murdoch's org tried to pressure Gordon Brown into suppressing the investigation.
ReplyDeleteHello Microdot,
ReplyDeleteI am hoping Laci can give us a more local insight.
Microdot,
ReplyDeleteI had to break off. But yes, to think that this practice of Murdoch's Empire would only be unique to, and end at the British Shores, would be quite naive of the rest of us around the world.
I think the U.S., Australia, Hong Kong and throughout Asia, need to take a close look at this man’s company’s practices. I am sure you will find them just as illegally dirty.
Murdoch does indeed have a reputation for meddling in politics. I've posted about this here:
ReplyDeleteDISOBEY RUPERT MURDOCH ON THE SECOND OF NOVEMBER
I have to admit a well grounded fear that Murdoch is not beyond corrupting US politicans. He is on the Cato Institute's Board of Directors
You don't need to go too far to see that the US Media is controlled by a very small group of people. Add in the power of Fox news to distort the perception of current events.
See this The Cato Institute, the Koch Brothers & Rupert Murdoch.
Alas, the US government does not want to live in the sunshine as to who really runs Government. It would be a truly illumintationg prospect though.
Great muckraking, Engineer. I have been away and missed this story- or, probably more closer to the truth- the US press did not report on it.
ReplyDeleteWho would not believe that this shyster would be involved in such conspiracies? Of course he would and his dumbed-down minions would not approvingly.
Amazingly enough, arrests are being made in Murdochs organization!
ReplyDeleteHow high will this go? Stay tuned!
The more interesting question would be, if this had occurred in the US, with the Murdoch organization, would it have been investigated as rigorously? I tend to think that this is PR ploy by current conservative British government, because they've got their noses all over the place.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in the Kettling decision by the British courts which leave the police open to millions of dollars of potential lawsuits by protestors who were illegally detained during the G20 protests....