What a scandal in Britain.
Here’s the gist of it, in case you haven’t been following it closely. (And there’s a good reason that Kansas City area residents might not be following it closely. More on that in a minute.)
The revelations of cellphone hacking and police payoffs by reporters and editors at The News of the World, Britain’s top-selling newspaper, are probably going to bring down Prime Minister David Cameron.
Murdoch
Cameron is chummy with media baron Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. holdings provide a significant portion of the world’s flow of information, print and electronic.
Today, Andy Coulson, former editor of The News of the World (which is printed only on Sunday), was arrested in connection with allegations of phone hacking and paying police for sensitive information when he was editor of the paper.
The problem for the government’s Conservative Party, which is in power now, is that Coulson had most recently worked as chief spokesman for Cameron, the prime minister.
Anticipating Coulson’s arrest, a front-page New York Times story today said: “His arrest…would be a huge blow not just to Mr. Murdoch, but to the government and to Mr. Cameron’s Conservative Party. The prime minister has always vouched for Mr. Coulson’s integrity and said he believed Mr. Coulson’s assurances that he had cone nothing wrong (at The News of the World).”
This story is one that cries out for wall-to-wall coverage, and The Times is delivering. Today, it had five stories that covered more than two full pages.
The story has it all: corruption, outrage, political entanglement and, yes, an attractive and bodacious woman.
Brooks
The bodacity comes in with Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, the British subsidiary of Murdoch’s News Corp. Yesterday, rather than heed calls to fire Brooks, who was editor at The News of the World when a lot of the phone hacking was taking place, Murdoch and his son, James Murdoch, opted to close The News of the World.
(Sunday will be its final edition; its 200 employees have been cut loose to try to find jobs at other Murdoch papers or elsewhere.)
The Times’ coverage today of the scandal included a 48-column-inch story on Page A8 about Brooks. The story says, in part:
“Her closeness to Mr. Murdoch, who is said to regard her as a kind of favorite daughter (although he has four actual daughters), has protected her during the recent scandal engulfing the company, even as legislators called on her to resign.”
The story quoted an unnamed source as saying, “Rupert Murdoch adores her — he’s just very, very attached to her. To be frank, the most sensible thing that News Corp. could do would be to dump Rebekah Brooks, but he won’t.”
So, yesterday, when Brooks called a staff meeting in offices of The News of the World, many staff members assumed Brooks would be announcing her resignation.
“Instead,” the front-page Times story said, “she announced that she was to stay and they were to go.”
***
I mentioned at the top that there was a good reason that many Kansas City area residents might not be following this explosive story closely.
Today’s Kansas City Star devoted exactly one paragraph to the story, on Page A3. Here it is:
“Paper Folds: The Murdoch media empire abruptly killed off the muckraking News of the World tabloid Thursday after a public backlash over the illegal tactics used by Britain’s best-selling weekly newspaper to expose celebrities.”
Oh, my. Oh, my. I am ashamed for my former paper, which I still love in spite of its downhill spiral.
Is it any wonder people have been dropping the paper by the thousands for several years?
As a side note, I couldn’t tell what kind of coverage Thursday’s print edition gave the story because my paper was absolutely soaked from the morning rain, even though the paper was in a thin plastic bag.
Yesterday morning I went online to report a wet paper and was informed that I would get a replacement today, along with today’s paper.
Well, I got today’s paper, but yesterday’s was nowhere to be found…Patiently, I wait.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Anything that Murdoch owns is suspect in terms of propriety and integrity.
So, Rupert does the cynical thing – he shuts down a 168-year-old newspaper, punishing 200 grunt employees who probably had nothing to do with the scandal, instead of firing/throwing to the wolves the person/editor/mistress who is most responsible…
the thing is, fish rot from the head down…any action by the British government that does not specifically include the indictment, arrest, trial, conviction and long-term punishment of Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch, Rebecca Brooks, Andy Coulson and anyone else on the News International board who knew about cellphone hacking, is worthless…
one can only dream
What Steve Bryd said.
Also…
The elder Murdoch, IMO, tripped into Ronnie Raygun land a few years back but sorely lacks anyone of Nancy’s caliber to shield and speak for him. With the old lion too confused to disembowel employees who might even think about looking crosswise at him, the lesser officers are running their own gambits. Hence this mess and Murdoch’s attempted rapprochement with his kinder.
Elder’s fast approaching demise will put his entire empire into play. If we’re very, very lucky the whole thing will be dismantled for parts/ready cash. After all, there was more than a kernel of truth to that Bond film a few years back where the e-vil genius was a thinly disguised Murdoch.
No news here. Power corrupts! Whether it be George Soros or Rupert Murdoch the world is full of both good and evil men who feel it is their obligation to tell us how and what to think and therefore live.
Any real sense of propriety has been long gone from the world of news reportage in all quarters. It’s all bloodsport.
Now more than ever we have to rely on our own ability to sort fact from fiction and truth from lies. Unfortunately, that requires a certain level of intelligence that is in short order amongst the masses.
Maybe there’s an app for that.
That’s why I’m here, smartman, to help sort things out for “the masses,” which, in my case, amounts to about 200 loyal readers. (Thanks, everyone!)
Editorials on the Op / Ed page. Fine.
But the Falling Star [and out west, the San Diego Union Tribune] selects the ‘hard news’ selection and slant, much like Fox News, [fair and balanced my ………..] and has for DECADES.
I often do not mind or even disagree with the Star’s political base line. But when I went out of town on education and military journeys I would have my eyes opened ——– whether I wanted to or not.
I then noticed that qualifiers, like coulda, shoulda, woulda, might, kinda, were in short supply in the Star, UT and Sacramento Bee. How insulting to pass off option as data. But hey daze been doin it for decades. And getting away with it.
I am definitely an elitist. [Altho I do not like a lot of Rockies and Christain Brothers students] but the ‘masses’ have a lot of things agin em from the git go ——– including the KC Star.
Or on the North Shore of the ‘Great’ Lakes:
* One man’s opinion, this is not a repeat of Richard Weiner or Alcee ‘Hands On’ Hastings [D – FLorida], It is not savory, but grounds for dismissal ????????
* 06 Jul 2011 at 4:46 PM
* Posted in: Canada, Judge of the Day, Legal Ethics, Perverts, Pictures,Sex, Sex Scandals,
Bad News for Madam Justice Lori Douglas ——– By David Lat [AboveTheLaw]
Madam Justice Lori Douglas will be publicly probed.
This week brings good news for law firms in Canada. Apparently they weathered the recession better than their U.S. counterparts.
The news for Canadian judges, or at least one high-profile jurist, is less good.
Madam Justice A. Lori Douglas — the Canadian judge featured in pornographic pictures showing her engaging in bondage, playing with sex toys and administering oral sex — will be subjected to a public inquiry.
Let’s take a look at the nudie pics procedural posture and possible consequences, shall we?
So Judge Lori Douglas could end up getting disrobed. We’re not sure we want to see that.
Commentator’s UPDATE (7/7/11): One reader makes this very fair point, in the comments: “so she has sex with her husband (and no one else), he takes some private pictures of her, and without her knowledge the husband posts them on the internet and tries to get some other guy to have sex with her. other than marrying the wrong guy, i don’t see what she did wrong.”
Judge in sex harassment case to face inquiry [CBC News]
Canadian Law Firms Beat Out American Ones During Recession [WSJ Law Blog]
You probably cost your carrier $5 for the wet paper. I think they’re screwing them now whenever there’s a complaint.
Also, glad you’re finally on board with my theory that it’s what isn’t reported that often establishes bias more than what is. In this case, I would give them the benefit of the doubt. They don’t have the staff to adequately report local news. How the hell are they supposed to keep up with what’s going on in Britain?
July 9, 2011 | Reply John Altevogt
You probably cost your carrier $5 for the wet paper ……… whenever there’s a complaint.
Lakey: just another reason to go electronic. I never get i news with rain, sleet or snow on it …………
I just got back from nine days in London, just as the hacking scandal broke. Everyone on the tube was reading about it. It felt so nice to see so many people reading newspapers.
But this story doesn’t just affect the UK. Murdoch owns Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and the NY Post. I have heard that his employees might have hacked phones of 9-11 victims.
Kate Beem
Good to have you back, Kate. I should have pointed out those specific Murdoch holdings…Thanks.
And he owns 20th Century Fox, which has produced such blockbusters as Avatar.
Here’s an article from The Guardian newspaper about Murdoch making a huge contribution to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. We should definitely pay attention.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/14/hacking-murdoch-paid-us-lobbyists