A lot of paid-off British government officials:
The officer leading a police investigation into Rupert Murdoch’s British newspapers said on Monday that reporters and editors at The Sun tabloid had over the years paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for information not only to police officers but also to a “network of corrupted officials” in the military and the government.
The officer, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, said that e-mail records obtained by the police showed that there was a “culture at The Sun of illegal payments” that were authorized “at a very senior level within the newspaper” and involved “frequent and sometimes significant sums of money” paid to public officials in the Health Ministry and the prison service, among other agencies.
[….]The testimony may prove damaging to the News Corporation, the American-based parent of Mr. Murdoch’s media empire, if it gives ammunition to the F.B.I. and other agencies that are investigating the company for possible prosecution under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
I have a feeling Fox will survive. Sometimes I even wonder who should want to kill it more, Democrats or Republicans. Roger Ailes’ reign of terror is what gave birth to this absurd Republican primary, after all.
redshirt
This is a true glimmer of light amidst this fog of lies. The destruction of Newscorp and/or Fox is a mandatory condition for America to move on past our current insanity.
Second term Obama DOJ prepared to take on The Beast?
Zifnab
Didn’t FOX back Guilliani and Fred Thompson back in ’08? And weren’t they backing Gingrich or Cain this time around?
Give credit where credit is due. FOX isn’t nearly as influential as it pretends to be. It really only convinces people of what they want to hear.
PeakVT
Sometimes I even wonder who should want to kill it more, Democrats or Republicans.
Democrats, clearly. If Faux told the truth about things like global warming, not only would that be good for the country, but more Democrats would be elected.
It’s really only in this election cycle that the Mighty Wurlitzer has been more of a hindrance than a help to getting a Republican president elected. And it probably is still a net positive for Congresscritters.
c u n d gulag
As Shitt would say:
“Good gosh!
Of course they’ll survive!”
You may kill the Death Star – but the Evil Empire lives on!
And Emperor Rupert, and Darth Vader Ailes, will still be free to create their havoc on FOX, and the WSJ – and the idiotic NY Post – which I wouldn’t use to wrap fish, because it’s an insult to the intelligence of the poor, dead, fish.
Ruckus
@Zifnab:
It really only convinces people of what they want to hear.
I’m not sure of that. I’m in the age group that Fox aims for and a lot of my fellow geezers used to think that if it’s on TV(or in the newspaper) it must be true. Obviously that’s incorrect and has been for ever but that’s part of what we grew up with. We are the original TV generation.
On to Doug’s point. I don’t wish this clown parade on anyone. None of us deserve it. Even those conservatards that enabled us to get where we are don’t deserve this.
Bullsmith
You’d think having a multinational corporation that not only openly engages in political propaganda but also has established a pattern of spying on and blackmailing politicians would be considered a threat to national security. If the Murdochs were left wingers, I imagine there’d be a bit more reaction to the rampant criminality going on here. They are bribing police officers and government officials. It’s organized crime, espionage, fairly serious stuff.
General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)
I think it is more the ass end of the Southern Strategy, but Fox certainly has televised and fueled it, along with Citizens United.
Maus
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, there’s no way in hell anyone on the right’s going to get rid of Fox. Even the Paultards have some love for their programming.
redshirt
@Bullsmith: IOKIYAR!
I simply adore the fact that Saudi Royalty is the second largest shareholder in Newscorp and calls a lot of the shots.
Imagine that!
gbear
But isn’t Fox audience’s average age about 75 yo? What are they doing to attract young viewers?
Brachiator
Murdoch just launched a Sunday edition of the Sun and saw a surge in News Corp profits. Anyone who thinks there is any threat to Fox simply is not paying attention.
@Bullsmith:
You do realize that Murdoch was courting both Labour and Tories?
And too many people simply laughed and smiled and got all huffy when Murdoch paid the police to give them the skinny on celebrities. Fools on both sides of the pond could bloviate for days on how celebrities didn’t deserve any privacy, or this was just the price they paid for being rich and famous.
But in the real world, when a cop takes money to give up the goods or to look the other way when a celebrity is being tossed to the tabloids, you cannot expect the same cop to get ethics when an editor or publisher comes back for info on a politician.
Meanwhile, Murdoch can easily write to check to singer Charlotte Church.
Threat to national security? MPs and others are scurrying for cover. In a sane world, the British government would fall, but the replacement candidates likely have some Murdoch cash in their pockets.
Bokonon
No – the Republicans can’t do without Fox News at this point. They are hooked on it now, even while it deranges them … like crack cocaine.
But you know? When the whole thing isn’t malfunctioning (like it is now), the symbiotic relationship between Fox and the GOP still can work pretty amazingly well. Look at the GOP’s victories in the 2010 elections. It came fresh on the heels of a decade of total, complete, abject policy failure and demonstrably bad results at governing, at both the state and national levels. And that triumph happened in spite the GOP literally having NOTHING to offer the public in the way of a positive agenda.
The GOP keeps fuming that it just needs a better quality of pitchman to sell their agenda … a new Reagan … someone who can make people pick up the crack pipe with them and smoke it good. And with powerful friends in the media, I think that they are probably correct. I mean, look what the GOP can already do with the likes of unappealing hatchetmen like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan leading the party!
Lev
Nothing’s going to happen to Murdoch stateside, Republicans will raise an enormous stink if any DOJ criminal probe into his business is started, the media will inevitably back them up, and I don’t really think the Administration is going to stand firm would that happen. Perhaps New York State could investigate FOX, which would probably be much better (and Schneiderman likely would if he had reason to). Who knows.
I think the best-case scenario here is that Rupe gets tired of all the legal stuff and finally retires from News Corp. The shareholders bring in some faceless interim CEO to run things while every last member of the Murdoch family gets purged from the business. Of course, absent Murdoch, I don’t think anybody would be able to rein in Roger Ailes, so it’d be interesting to see what would happen then.
PeakVT
Speaking of lying about global warming, Inhofe has written a book on the subject.
ETA: Demonstrating the subject is more accurate.
Peter Herb
Give a listen to Scousers Never Buy The Sun – Billy Bragg
gbear
@PeakVT:
About lying?
earl in CA
who cares that it makes plants grow…
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
Yeah, it also gave birth to Clinton’s impeachment, the Iraq War, the Bush tax cuts, and the tea party. There will have to be a lot more wacky primary hijinx before those scales get evened out.
kdaug
@redshirt:
It’s a moral imperative.
Benjamin Franklin
@earl in CA:
BRAWNDO.……the thirst mutilator.
MattF
It’s unfair, in a way–‘Hundreds of thousands of dollars’ is petty cash to Murdoch– and if you’re a career policeman, a lot more than you’ll ever see in one place. Murdoch got what he wanted, and, as a bonus, showed that the law is just as corrupt as he, no doubt, always assumed.
Dave
As any Liverpool football fan will tell you, “Don’t Buy The Sun”…..
earl in CA
@Benjamin Franklin:
Carl’s Jr. believes no child should go hungry. You are an unfit mother. Your children will be placed in the custody of Carl’s Jr. Carl’s Jr… “Fuck You, I’m Eating.”
El Cid
It’s sad that the demonic plague of absolute evil liberalism drives honest men like Rupert Murdoch to embrace undesirable methods to get at the truth.
Benjamin Franklin
@El Cid:
“What is Truth?” PP
scav
Time alone will tell if the SoS’ first day of meeting sales targets lasts being due to real interest or was inflated because of potential souvenir value. It’s apparently been made a bit all family values and cutsie whereas traditionally Sunday is more of a romp day for papers in the UK (don’t look at me for this last bit). I do love that it’s usually Papa Murdoch cradeling his new redtop baby that is next to many of the discussions of institutional payoffs. I’m wondering if the clear issues with the UK police not investigating earlier might complicate calling off the DOJ on this side. Also, don’t understand who’s in charge of the SEC stuff. I need to find an external drive for my brain on this puppy. Last arrests were made by Kalmyk, son of Elveden, neither of which is Weeting, and Samug will turn up shortly.
El Cid
@Benjamin Franklin: The Truth is whatever is needed to fight liberalism. QED.
shortstop
Mmmm, velvety.
ornery_curmudgeon
Resist the feeling Fox will survive.
Brandon
Republicans already killed FOX with Citizens United. I wouldn’t be surprised if the major political motivation of the Republican Justices was to dilute the power of right wing media in favor of right wing corporate interests. It was business wing of the party striking a blow against the teabaggers. Not to mention the simple math of tipping the scales against a repeat of Obama’s massive small donor fundraising base. Just look at who is far and away the chief beneficiary of the ruling. If it wasn’t for Citizens United, Romney’s campaign would have ended in Florida without the benefit of his superPAC carpet bombing the state weeks in advance with anti-Gingrich negative ads.