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15 Jan 2012 10:05

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Tech: SOPA fight leaning towards opponents, as Rupert Murdoch’s feed suggests

  • So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery.
  • Rupert Murdoch • Posting on Twitter yesterday afternoon about the Obama administration’s stance on SOPA, which discouraged the bill in its current form. CNET’s Greg Sandoval says that Murdoch’s reaction is a strong sign that the entertainment industry is starting to lose the battle, with a key provision of PIPA and SOPA — which involved the DNS system — getting removed from both acts. Murdoch, meanwhile, was quick to rip Google for what he perceived as their strong influence on the White House statement: “Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying,” he said on Twitter. On the plus side, at least Rupe isn’t making gambling jokes that could be misinterpretedsource

23 Nov 2011 14:15

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Biz: Phone-hacking scandal: James Murdoch (partially) resigns

  • Down goes Murdoch (sort of): News broke this morning that James Murdoch, the son of media magnate Rupert and the most prominent News Corp figure embroiled in the phone hacking scandal, would resign as director of the board of News International’s UK newspapers. He is not, however, entirely out in the cold. He’s still the deputy COO of the entire News Corp empire, which begs the question — when you have to start resigning jobs due to legal trouble and popular outrage, don’t most normal people lose the highest profile one first? Murdoch ascended to the deputy COO position earlier this year, and was thought to be the looming successor to his father atop the News Corp empire. That certainly can’t happen now, can it? (Photo by Eirik Solheim) source

20 Sep 2011 11:14

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Biz: Ted Turner: Rupert Murdoch may have to resign from News Corp.

  • From one rich mogul to another: Former Turner Broadcasting owner Ted Turner, who knows a thing or two about running his mouth, says that Murdoch has made tactical errors in his handling of the phone-hacking scandal, including his claim that he didn’t know anything about the hacking. “Well, he should have known,” Turner said. “He was chairman of the board. He’s responsible. I took responsibility when I ran my company. You never heard me say, ‘Well, I didn’t know.’” The two moguls once famously feuded, after Turner claimed Murdoch’s media outlets (including Fox News, a direct rival to the Turner-founded CNN) were largely behind the Iraq war, because it helped his company. Turner says they eventually buried the hatchet, however, after he bought Rupert a bison burger and praised the Wall Street Journal. Well, this may perhaps change that situation once again. Heh. source

04 Sep 2011 16:10

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Biz: James Murdoch turns down bonus; Rupert Murdoch takes his own

  • In light of the current controversy surrounding News of the World, I have declined the bonus that the company chose to award to me. While the financial and operating performance metrics on which the bonus decision was based are not associated with this matter, I feel that declining the bonus is the right thing to do.
  • James Murdoch • Explaining his reasons for not accepting a $6 million bonus from News Corp. in the wake of the News of the World scandal. Accepting the bonus would have increased his 2010 take-home pay by 74 percent. His dad Rupert, meanwhile, accepted a $12.5 million bonus of his own. Do you think James made the right move? And if so, should Rupert Murdoch have followed the same track? source

19 Jul 2011 15:28

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World: Recap: Key highlights from Rupert Murdoch’s hearing

  • hearing Today was a pretty harrowing day for News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch. He went before the British parliament with his son James regarding the ongoing phone hacking scandal.
  • result Both Rupert and his son maintained they didn’t know anything. James talked a lot more than his dad — but paused when a member of parliament obliquely compared the scandal to Enron.
  • dessert? Toward the end of the hearing, someone snuck in and gave Rupert a pie to the face — a not-so-tasteful distraction that nearly overshadowed the fairly serious situation at hand. source
  • » If the hearing wasn’t enough to make Murdoch sweat, LulzSec might be able to do the trick. They’re reportedly going to release a whole bunch of emails from News International staffers. Those emails will show what various people in the organization know, if they know anything about the phone hacking. They’ve already released Rebekah Brooks’s email password.

18 Jul 2011 14:33

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Politics: British Metro Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates, on his resignation

  • I have acted with complete integrity and my conscience is clear. I look forward to the future Judge-led inquiry where my role will be examined in a proper and calmer environment and where my actions will be judged on the evidence rather than on innuendo and speculation as they are at present.
  • Now-resigned Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates • In selected text from his resignation letter. Yates had become embroiled, as a staggering number of people have been, in the phone hacking scandals currently rocking the Murdoch news empire and British civil society. Yates was responsible for declining further investigation into a 2005 phone hacking case, back in 2009. Yates has called that choice a “pretty crap one,” but in his resignation, far less contrition is to be found. His final wish, though, will almost certainly be granted — we reckon the legal end of this scandal will be no less engrossing than the rest of it. source

16 Jul 2011 15:22

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World: News of the World hacking scandal gets messier amid resignations

  • worse After weeks of scandal tainted News Corp to its core, a woman at the center of the ongoing News of the World phone-hacking scandal — News International leader Rebekah Brooks — resigned Friday.
  • worser Hours after Brooks left her job, Les Hinton — a Rupert Murdoch’s longtime confidante who headed the Wall Street Journal and was Brooks’ predecessor during the time of the alleged hacking — also resigned.
  • worsest Now various claims are floating around that the scandal has damaged relationships between some of Murdoch’s children. Murdoch, meanwhile, apologized profusely in a series of newspaper ads. source
 

14 Jul 2011 14:42

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World: Rupert Murdoch, son will get cozy in Parliamentary hot seat

  • Their appearances required a little bit of arm-twisting. Rebekah Brooks, the editor of News of the World during the phone hacking scandal will be with them, too. They’ll be questioned on the situation and will have to offer up evidence. Originally Murdoch and his son weren’t going to attend, but only decided to after facing enormous pressure from government officials. The hearing is set for next Tuesday, and it really doesn’t seem like any of this will turn out well for News Corp. In other news — the FBI will investigate News Corp. to see whether the phones of 9/11 victims were possibly hacked by British tabloids. Which would bring this to a whole new level of messed-up. source

13 Jul 2011 10:28

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Biz, World: Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB deal straight-up goes bust, painfully

  • We believed that the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corporation would benefit both companies but it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate.
  • News Corp. chairman Chase Carey • Explaining why the company chose to drop out of the coveted BSkyB deal  which they had been gunning for for a while. However, this mess with News of the World happened, and here we are. Right now, the company’s problems center on the United Kingdom, but Sen. Jay Rockefeller is threatening to give them some increased stateside scrutiny. This could be bad. source

12 Jul 2011 14:16

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Politics: Gordon Brown alleges Murdoch papers hired “criminals”

  • Gordon Brown speaks: The former Prime Minister has been in the news recently by way of the voice mail hacking scandals rocking a number of News International papers in Britain, The Sun and the Sunday Times now the major duo (to say nothing of the now-disbanded News Of The World). Of particular note, a possible advancement in this story — Brown claims that the papers hired people to dig up his private information who had known criminal records. Just by looking at Brown’s posture and demeanor, it’s pretty clear the toll these revelations have taken on him. source