Is this Armageddon for Murdoch and NewsCorp?

wjk wrote:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2336187/Rebekah-Brooks-denies-phone-hacking-charges-trying-derail-police-probe-appears-court-News-International-colleagues.html

Good old Tom Watson there to watch over the proceedings!

Thanks wjk....I would have missed that. Rebekah trying to look demure, her husband showing the Racing Paper , showing off wouldn't you say?
It looks as if Coulson is not facing charges unless his Court case is another date.

I heard he's there tomorrow because he was at a job interview today!!
Can that be true?

wjk wrote:I heard he's there tomorrow because he was at a job interview today!!
Can that be true?

Havn't heard that , or who would be likely to employ him!! He could be looking at a jail sentence.
I just hope the Trials are open to the public and that there is no attempt to pervert the course of justice, Murdoch is still a powerful man .

Would the court allow him off today for a job interview?
It will be an interesting trial for sure.

wjk wrote:Would the court allow him off today for a job interview?
It will be an interesting trial for sure.

I don't know why they had to appear because they were told the charges against them months ago and that a Trial date would be set for September. Rebekah playing down her appearance is so obvious. Yes, I agree, if justice is seen to be done expect Murdoch be forced to resign from Newscorp , he has cost the shareholders dearly having to pay all the awards to the victoms of phone tapping, Legap expenses for the staff who have been charged .
Now sky is losing customers in the U.K. , that was their flagship.

He's there today.

http://news.sky.com/story/1100149/hacking-andy-coulson-pleads-not-guilty

wjk wrote:He's there today.

[url=http://news.sky.com/story/1100149/hacking-andy-coulson-pleads-not-guilty

http://news.sky.com/story/1100149/hacking-andy-coulson-pleads-not-guilty[/quote[/url]]

Thanks wjk, let's hope the Police evidence is watertight!!!

Yep

wjk wrote:Yep

Those Senior Staff like Coulson and Brooks are going to have thhe best defence money can buy and SY have been investigating the Celebrity sex scandals, the Children s Homes , the Missing Madeleine Saga, they must be stretched.

Apparently Cameron's Brother is Head of Chambers for the Barrister who is defending Rebekah Brooks. .

Panda wrote:Apparently Cameron's Brother is Head of Chambers for the Barrister who is defending Rebekah Brooks. .

Yes, how cosy.

New name and new logo - but News UK's boss is still Rupert Murdoch
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The press release announcing the renaming of News International to News UK is replete with fatuous corporate-speak vacuity.

The new company title will "convey a more coherent and logical identity… across the globe". It will "reflect the company's roots". Its logo will draw on its heritage of producing world-class journalism.
The Wapping-based company's new logo
In fact, the switch from "international" to "UK" reflects the reality that the newspaper division based at Wapping is an entirely British entity, a relatively smallish outpost within new News Corp.

It is a confirmation of national retrenchment rather than international ambition, the reason that Rupert Murdoch founded News International in the early 1980s.

News UK's chief executive Mike Darcey seeks to put a positive spin on the name change by talking of it being "a bright new chapter" for "a new company determined to secure a sustainable future for professional journalism around the globe."

His statement, and the name change itself, is an attempt to draw a line under what the release calls "the problems of the recent past."

That is a euphemism for phone-hacking at the now-defunct News of the World and the subsequent arrests of Sun journalists for alleged payments to police officers and public officials.

Everything, we are told, is now squeaky clean following "fundamental changes of governance and personnel". News International has apologised to the hacking victims and set up a compensation scheme. Now let's move on.

The statement says: "New policies and procedures are in place across the company, its main titles are all under new leadership and the executive team has been transformed."

Up to a point, Lord Copper. Sure, the NoW has been shuttered. News International's former bosses, James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks, have departed. The Sun has a new editor. There are new editors at The Times and Sunday Times. And Darcey is entirely untainted by the sins of the past.

But the man in charge of the company during "the problems of the recent past", namely Rupert Murdoch, is still the man in charge of the "bright" new company.

And that fact alone makes a nonsense of the desire to rebrand News UK and therefore make it more acceptable to the public than News International. The switch of names cannot wipe the slate clean while Murdoch remains at the helm.

NB: The new name is not entirely new. In 1986, when Murdoch acquired the Today newspaper from Eddy Shah, it was placed under a subsidiary called News (UK).

Rupert Murdoch's News International is dead. Long live News UK

The company that owns the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times has changed its name. And it has an odd new logo too
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Rupert Murdoch, whose UK newspaper operation, which includes the Sun on Sunday, has rebranded itself as News UK. Photograph: Arthur Edwards/PA


Name: News UK.

Age: Freshly minted.

Appearance: Ugly, ill-thought-through logo.

What is it? It's a Wapping-based company.

Some plucky social media startup? It's more of a rebranding, actually.

Of what? Of the operation formerly known as News International, the company that owns the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times.

So the Evil Empire has a new name. Yes. Effective immediately.

Why the change? According to a News UK press release, the new brand is "designed to convey a more coherent and logical identity", and reflects "fundamental changes in governance and personnel that have taken place to address the problems of the recent past".

Which problems is it referring to? The phone-hacking scandal, the subsequent closure of the News of the World, the unsavoury revelations of the Leveson report and the arrest of former chief executive Rebekah Brooks, among other things.

If the company thinks it can just change its name and we will all forget the way it treated Sienna Miller, it is wrong. Other, more substantive changes have taken place – the newspapers have new editors, and the executive team has been "transformed".

Actually, I have already forgotten how it treated Sienna Miller. It was bad, though. The change is also part of a larger reorganisation of Rupert Murdoch's empire, which has been split into two entities, publishing business News Corporation and entertainment arm 21st Century Fox.

Sounds like a strategy designed to keep one rotten apple from the spoiling the barrel, followed by an attempt to rebrand the rotten apple as "extra ripe". A crude assessment, but one that I find I am in no mood to contradict.
News UK's logo.
What's with that terrible logo? Apparently the script is based on the handwriting of both Rupert Murdoch and his father Keith.

They had the same handwriting? Sounds odd. Perhaps young Rupert was just an adept forger. No comment.

Do say: "Despite the changes at the corporate level, this is largely an attempt to decontaminate a toxic brand."

Don't say: "Hi, is that News UK? Can I speak to Rebekah? No? Is James there?"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23098284

Phone hacking: Go-ahead for Brooks and Coulson casesRebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks are among five people facing charges
Five former News of the World staff members, including ex-editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, have lost a legal attempt to block their prosecution on phone hacking charges.

Revelations about hacking led to the closure of the newspaper in July 2011.

The trial is due to take place in September, after Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge dismissed their appeals.

The five claimed accessing voicemails through hacking, after they had been listened to, was not an offence.

The two former NoW editors, alongside former senior reporter James Weatherup, former managing editor Stuart Kuttner, and former news editor Ian Edmondson have all pleaded not guilty.

'No prejudice'

Lord Judge allowed the names of the defendants to be reported, saying: "We can see no possible prejudice to the fairness of the forthcoming trial.

"We must not be unrealistic - there can hardly be anyone in the country who does not know to whom this case applies."

The five defendants argued that the accessing of voicemails through hacking, after they had been listened to by the intended recipient, was not an offence under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

The Court of Appeal disagreed, saying "contrary to the submission on behalf of the appellants, the resulting situation is not lacking in legal certainty."

The Court also refused to give the go-ahead for the five defendants to take up the issue with the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land.

Lord Judge said the five would only pay legal costs if they are convicted.

Thanks wjk ....so they tried to say what they did was Legal????? I reckon this is why Murdoch has changed the name of News International to News UK to limit any liabilities.

NO MORE SKY SPORTS ETC,THESE TV CHANNELS SEEMED TO HAVE DECEASED.

Badboy wrote:NO MORE SKY SPORTS ETC,THESE TV CHANNELS SEEMED TO HAVE DECEASED.

Hi Badboy, I think Murdoch is pulling out of the U.K. Sky is not making money now, the Sun similarly, which is why he has just changed the name from News International to News UK. He Owns The Times as well.

Maybe Wendi's clattered him for a big divorce settlement.   

Iris wrote:Maybe Wendi's clattered him for a big divorce settlement.    

Knowing Murdoch ,I would think he had a prenuptual . Iris, he is TIGHT OLD B***** for all his weath . He recently made a donation of $50,000 to a College dept teaching Press reporting, that's £20,000 Sterling.

Home»Finance»News by Sector»Media and Telecoms»MediaRupert Murdoch recalled to face MPs over secret tape
Rupert Murdoch has been recalled to face questioning by MPs after a tape emerged on which he appeared to express regret over cooperation with police investigating his British newspapers and describe corrupt payments to public officials for information as “the culture of Fleet Street”.

Rupert and James Murdoch are to appear at the Leveson Inquiry this week Photo: BBC
By Christopher Williams, Technology, Media and Telecoms Editor
5:04PM BST 09 Jul 2013
3 Comments
The media mogul has been invited to re-appear before the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee to discuss the comments, a spokeswoman said. No date has yet been agreed, but it is not expected to be until the autumn.

The move by MPs came as Scotland Yard said it would also "fully assess" the contents of the tape recording.

Operation Elveden investigators have opened a new line of inquiry after the publication last week of clips from a meeting between Mr Murdoch and disgruntled staff at The Sun.

The Met formally contacted Exaro, the investigative news website that published the clips, to ask for a copy of the audio on grounds it “may contain evidence of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office”. A handover is being arranged.

During the meeting, journalists voiced anger over the decision by News Corp’s British publishing arm, now known as News UK, to hand over millions of internal emails to police in the wake of the phone hacking scandal and closure of The News of the World. The move led to dawn raids and the arrest of dozens of journalists, many of whom have now been on bail without charge for over a year.

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“Completely oblivious to the fact the long-term practice of this company to pay public officials was illegal, my job description meant that as a result of that, it came directly through my department,” one journalist says. “You can understand how we feel that we are effectively being made scapegoats.”

“Yeah,” Mr Murdoch replies. “And one of these high-priced lawyers would say it’s our fault, but that situation existed at every newspaper in Fleet Street. Long since forgotten. But absolutely.”

“It was the culture of Fleet Street.”

Another journalist says: “I’m pretty confident that the working practices that I’ve seen here are ones that I’ve inherited, rather than instigated. Would you recognise that all this pre-dates many of our involvement here?”

Mr Murdoch agrees: “We’re talking about payments for news tips from cops. That’s been going on a hundred years, absolutely. You didn’t instigate it.”

The publication of the clips last week led to public calls by the Labour MP Tom Watson for Mr Murdoch to face police questioning over the extent of his knowledge of corruption. Operation Eleveden detectives have sought the recordings without contact from him, however.

Scotland Yard declined to comment on the latest development.

Detectives originally asked for a full recording, but Exaro explained it had only a transcript of the entire meeting. The clips it has published represent all the audio obtained by the website and it is arranging for copies of the files to be handed over, said Mark Watts, editor-in-chief of Exaro.

“I have heard the full audio several times but they [Operation Elveden] just assumed we have a recording of the full meeting. We don’t have that.”

“We said of course you can have the clips we have published. We’re just arranging that.”

News UK declined to comment.

Murdoch Agrees to Testify to Parliament as Police Seek Ta

By Thomas Penny & Robert Hutton - Jul 10, 2013 12:24 AM GMT+0100.
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..

News Corp. (NWSA) Chairman Rupert Murdoch agreed to testify before the U.K. Parliament a second time as London police seek a tape of him discussing probes of bribery and phone-hacking at company newspapers.

“Mr. Murdoch welcomes the opportunity to return to the Select Committee and answer their questions,” New York-based News Corp. said yesterday in a statement. “He looks forward to clearing up any misconceptions as soon as possible.”

Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport committee said yesterday it would write to Murdoch, 82, asking him to come and give evidence about the scandals again. Lawmakers asked for Murdoch to be recalled after the transcript of the tape was published by Exaro News last week in which Murdoch told reporters at the Sun newspaper that bribery had been a routine practice.

“We are seeking to obtain the tape of the meeting in which Rupert Murdoch appears to have been recorded,” Cressida Dick, a Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner, told a separate group of lawmakers yesterday.

Police have made more than 100 arrests, including former News Corp. journalists and staff, in probes of wrongdoing at the company’s U.K. publications triggered by the discovery two years ago that the now-defunct News of the World listened to messages on the mobile phone of a murdered teenager. News Corp. split its broadcast and newspaper units into different companies following the scandal.

Panel’s Power

A spokeswoman for the Culture, Media and Sport Committee declined to discuss what lawmakers want to ask him about. It is still unclear what powers committees have to compel witnesses. The committee also agreed yesterday it’ll take evidence from Brian Leveson, the judge who led a year-long inquiry into the practices of the press, on Oct. 10.

“I don’t know why they would bring Murdoch in again unless it’s to treat him like a school boy and give him another slap on the wrist,” said Alex DeGroote, a media analyst at Panmure Gordon & Co. in London.

News Corp. said last week that it would be “absolutely false” to suggest Murdoch knew of payments to police.

News Corp., the publishing arm of Murdoch’s empire, fell 1.5 percent to $15.71 yesterday in New York. 21st Century Fox Inc., the new film and TV company, fell 0.9 percent to $30.09.

Murdoch told Parliament during his last appearance in 2011 that it was “the most humble day of my life,” as he and his son James Murdoch blamed staff for not bringing phone-hacking to their attention.

Tape Transcript

In one section of the transcript published last week, Murdoch tells his staff, some of whom have been arrested in the bribery probe: “payments for news tips from cops: that’s been going on a hundred years, absolutely. You didn’t instigate it.”

He said one of the first things he saw when he bought the News of the World tabloid in 1969 was a safe full of money that he was told was for bribes, according to the tape published by Exaro, an online news service.

Elsewhere on the tape, Murdoch criticized the probes and said that the company “hadn’t given them anything for months.”

While Dick declined to comment on the content of the recording, she said that since May voluntary cooperation from the company and its Management Standards Committee had diminished.

“In terms of cooperation that is related to requests for new material, those are now always supervised by the court,” Dick told the lawmakers.

Rupert Factor

“The only person who could give evidence that could be used to investigate Rupert Murdoch is Rupert Murdoch,” said Mark Lewis, a lawyer for some phone-hacking victims, including the family of murdered school girl Milly Dowler. “When he spoke to his colleagues, he didn’t think it would be reported.”

One highlight of the 2011 testimony was a comedian attempting to attack Murdoch with a shaving foam pie, only to be fought off by Murdoch’s wife, Wendi Deng. Murdoch and Deng are now divorcing.

News Corp. competes with units of Bloomberg LP, owner of Bloomberg News, in selling financial news and information.

Rupert Murdoch could face criminal charges in US
Rupert Murdoch could face criminal charges in America after he was secretly filmed telling journalists at his newspapers that bribing police officers for stories was “the culture of Fleet Street”.

Rupert Murdoch was filmed talking to disgruntled staff at The Sun Photo: AP
By Katherine Rushton, US Business Editor
9:03PM BST 10 Jul 2013

US lawyers said that if the admission undermines his testimony to regulators, it could leave the News Corporation chief exposed under Title 18, Section 1001, which makes it illegal to lie to law enforcers.

Mr Murdoch was filmed talking to disgruntled staff at The Sun after journalists at News Corporation’s British newspaper operation were accused of intercepting voicemails and bribing officials for stories.

Journalists told him that they authorised payments to police “oblivious to the fact the long-term practice of this company to pay public officials was illegal”, and now felt they were being made “scapegoats”.

Mr Murdoch replied: “Yeah. And one of these high-priced lawyers would say it’s our fault, but that situation existed at every newspaper in Fleet Street. Long since forgotten. But absolutely. It was the culture of Fleet Street.”

His acknowledgement that the practice of police bribery was widespread is hard to square with his testimony to MPs during the phone hacking inquiry, when he denied any knowledge of voicemail interception or police bribery.

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Bradley Simon, a New York-based lawyer specialising in white-collar crime, said that Mr Murdoch’s remarks to staff could cause him new legal problems if he gave US regulators similar answers.

News Corporation is already facing investigations by the US Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation over potential breaches of the Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act. “The tape raises two issues ... the fact that he has admitted that he may have known about bribery, and also that he [appears to have been] making false statements,” Mr Simon said.

Breaches of Section 1001 carry a penalty of up to five years in jail.

A News Corp spokesman repeated an earlier statement: “Mr Murdoch never knew of payments made by Sun staff to police before News Corp disclosed that to UK authorities. Furthermore, he never said he knew of payments. It’s absolutely false to suggest otherwise.”

COULD THERE BE YET MORE TROUBLE AHEAD FOR SKY?
I REMEMBER SKY SALESPEOPLE COMING ROUND,SAYING THEY WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DIGITAL SWITCHOVER.
ANY SIGNUPS UNDER FALSE PRETENCES COULD HAVE PROBLEMS.

Badboy wrote:COULD THERE BE YET MORE TROUBLE AHEAD FOR SKY?
I REMEMBER SKY SALESPEOPLE COMING ROUND,SAYING THEY WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DIGITAL SWITCHOVER.
ANY SIGNUPS UNDER FALSE PRETENCES COULD HAVE PROBLEMS.

Sky are losing money Badboy and may well be sold off like VirginMedia. Both got too expensive and the original prices quoted when People bought the packeage always turn out dearer.