It seems that Britain MP’s have decided that Rupert Murdoch running a major media empire in their midst is not in Blighty’s best interests.
Global media tycoon Rupert Murdoch is not a “fit and proper person” to run a major international company, British lawmakers investigating phone hacking at his tabloid the News of the World reported Tuesday.
The ruling could prompt British regulators to force him to sell his controlling stake in British Sky Broadcasting, a significant part of his media empire.
This one’s pretty big, folks. It means whether or not old Rupert here was actually the fellow behind the phone hacking nonsense, British lawmakers have decided that he should be held responsible for it. Bloomberg News is even more blunt:
Murdoch “turned a blind eye and exhibited willful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications,” the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee said in a report published in London today. “This culture, we consider, permeated from the top throughout the organization and speaks volumes about the lack of effective corporate governance at News Corp.”
Ouch. The question now is the level of punishment that Murdoch and News Corp will receive. It could be nothing. It could be having to divest itself of all B Sky B holdings. We’ll see. But this is the first real blow to Murdoch we’ve seen from the fallout of the phone hacking, and I’m betting it won’t be the last.
[UPDATE] In the comments MattF finds the Guardian article containing the full text of the Select Committee report.Labour MPs and the sole Liberal Democrat on the committee, Adrian Sanders, voted together in a bloc of six against the five Conservatives to insert the criticisms of Rupert Murdoch and toughen up the remarks about his son James. But the MPs were united in their criticism of other former News International employees.
The cross-party group of MPs said that Les Hinton, the former executive chairman of News International, was “complicit” in a cover-up at the newspaper group, and that Colin Myler, former editor of the News of the World, and the paper’s ex-head of legal, Tom Crone, deliberately withheld crucial information and answered questions falsely. All three were accused of misleading parliament by the culture select committee.
Interesting breakdown of the votes there.
Felinious Wench
What a beautiful way to start the morning.
Hat tip to our brethren across the pond. Glad someone had the balls to say the man is poison.
deep
Seems like he’s lost all his buddies in government. Now if only we could do the same to Rush…
amk
I’m going with this, especially with a con gobinment in charge.
Boudica
So he turned a blind eye….because he didn’t want to deal with it or because he actually approved of what was being done?
c u n d gulag
“…and exhibited willful blindness to what was going on…”
Jeez,
And here I thought Murdoch was only an Australian-born publisher, not also an American reporter and punTWIT!
I also thought ‘exhibiting willful blindness to what’s going on’ is the minimal requirement to get a job as an Op-ed columnist at the WaPo, and the Non-Krugman seat at the NYT’s, as well as face time on FOX, CNN, the Sunday Bloviation Fest’s (host AND guests), and the part of MSNBC that doesn’t include the evenings and weekend mornings.
And you can’t possibly be Republican without ‘exhibiting willful AND TOTAL blindness to what’s going on!’
Linda Featheringill
I think that some in the UK are trying to nudge Murdoch off of their island.
This is not a criticism, by the way.
JGabriel
CNN:
Well, shit, I coulda told the Brits that two decades ago.
Kinda slow on the uptake there, mates.
.
MattF
May as well link to the Guardian article:
guardian.co.uk/media/2012/may/01/rupert-murdoch-not-fit-select-committee
Contains a link to the full select committee report.
JGabriel
@Boudica:
Yes.
Either makes one unfit to run a large corporation, or should.
.
JGabriel
@MattF: Good point.
.
amk
@JGabriel: shit loada countries including amurika were slow on the uptake. May be it was deliberate given the level of political corruption this evil bastid has engaged in spread over the decades.
patrick II
It seems that Britain’s government still has some sway over corporate power. If similar crimes had been committed here (and they probably have) I doubt if the same consequences would happen. The screaming from the right would have been too loud.
Keith G
So, corporations and their leaders must operate with some civic “fitness”.
Must be some of that European thinking.
amk
@patrick II: Bingo. rupie would easily skated in good ol’ amurika. First amendment is a great weapon for the rw.
Anya
Via the Guardian, this is why nothing will happen to Murdoch:
Hawes
I have to wonder if this could bring down Cameron’s government. I doubt he would be so stupid as to call a vote of confidence over this issue, but if he did, I think he loses. Given how unpopular his Austrian austerity is right now, Labour wins going away.
Hawes
@Anya: Labour and the Lib Dems make up a majority of the Commons. The trick for Cameron will be to act but only a little bit. Enough to throw red meat to the hounds, but not enough to seriously damaged Murdoch.
Omnes Omnibus
@amk:
The First Amendment has also been a great weapon for the left.
amk
@Omnes Omnibus: Let’s see. npr silenced. c-span gives more time to wingnuts air their crap on air than the libruls. rw radio shock jocks outnumber puny liberal voices by what, gazillion to one? pox news sets the national discourse. Yeah, it’s been a great weapon for the left.
Anya
@Hawes: The Lib Dems have damaged their brand after going along with the cons policies, so maybe they will stand their ground on this one. One can hope.
valdemar
Murdoch is old and his empire may well break up when he dies or becomes unable to command. Certainly the loss-making Times newspapers won’t be kept on as only Rupe cares about them. Give that, politicians on all sides might now calculate that they can afford to kick a man when he’s almost down.
Incidentally, I wonder if this scandal will lead to him being stripped of his Papal Knighthood?
Only kidding…
amk
@Anya: cleggy boy ratfucked his party into oblivion. libdems as a third force are dead.
Riilism
@amk: Based on the Frontline review of the phone hacking scandal, I assume that, in addition to corruption, what has delayed any action by public/private figures is fear. News Corp was (still is, for that matter) ruthless in its pursuit of critics and will stoop to any depths in order to discredit them…
JGabriel
__
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Remember, Rupert, the report is searing — DO NOT PUT ON KNOB OR BOLLOCKS.
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ChicagoPat
@Boudica: I think “willful blindness” is a bit charitable. He approved of it, encouraged and rewarded it, and now that he’s been busted on it, he running as far from it as he can as fast as he can. I’m certain they have been and are doing the same things here, but will never, ever, get called to account for it.
pk
So it takes ten British MPs to figure out what pretty much every sane person has known for decades. Way to figure out the obvious guys. No wonder the world is so messed up!
liberal
This is f*cking lame. They should have done that awhile back already.
Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water
@liberal: so it’s lame because they’re doing what you think should have been done, just not on your timetable? And I suppose your magical sparkly pony is the wrong colour, too.
Ken
Doing this on May Day is a nice touch. It’s both a callout to the more recent association with labor, and the very old British tradition of taking last year’s corn king out in the fields and cutting his throat with a silver sickle.
The Republic of Stupidity
Don’t get me wrong…
This is all very fine and good and quite entertaining…
But…
When the FARK are we gonna get a little heat on Rupert’s extracurricular activities on THIS side of the pond?
Tony J
I think an awful lot of people are – seriously – underestimating how feared – and therefore powerful – Rupert Murdoch has been in Britain for the past 30 years, and how astonishing and revolutionary it is for this kind of venom to be directed at him by MPs.
This is, after all, the guy who the last three PMs have credited with their electoral victories. The only guy whose vote really mattered. His organisation had enough people at every level of the British Establishment stitched up and too frightened of the consequences for their lives, reputations and careers to do anything but play along with his script.
So, yeah, this is a fucking big deal.
Thor Heyerdahl
@The Republic of Stupidity:
Wednesday, November 7th?
valdemar
guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/may/01/rupert-murdoch-view-from-new-york-bunker
According to some Rupe has already begun to plan the big retreat from poor old Britain. We won’t miss the bastard.