Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I could not agree more. The question is, what is anyone going to do about it?
A British parliamentary committee said on Tuesday in a scathing report of News Corp.’s handling of the phone hacking scandal that Rupert Murdoch “is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company.” Rupert Murdoch is not fit to run a major company, British panel finds | Washington Post:
The report, which culminates months of investigation by a select committee, was far more condemning of the 81-year-old media titan than expected, saying the chairman and chief executive of News Corp. had “turned a blind eye and exhibited wilful blindness” over the widespread malpractice at his now-closed News of the World tabloid.
“This culture, we consider, permeated from the top throughout the organization and speaks volumes about the lack of effective corporate governance at News Corporation and News International,” the report said.
The committee approved the report six votes to four, with the four members from Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party staunchly objecting to the description of Murdoch as an unfit proprietor.
“The issue on which no Conservative member felt they could support the report itself was the line put in the middle of the report that said that Mr. Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to run an international company,” said Louise Mensch, a Conservative MP and panel member, at a news conference in central London on Tuesday.
So we're good on everything else, right?
The 121-page report includes a catalogue of criticisms, accusing three senior figures at News International, the British arm of News Corp., of misleading the committee. The three included Les Hinton, the former head of News International, who the panel said was “complicit” in a coverup. The lawmakers also said that Colin Myler, the former editor of News of the World and now editor at the New York Daily News, and Tom Crone, the tabloid’s former legal manager, “answered questions falsely” while testifying before the committee.
The panel also pointed a finger at Murdoch’s sprawling media empire as a whole, blaming its overall corporate governance. “In failing to investigate properly, and by ignoring evidence of widespread wrongdoing, News International and its parent News Corporation exhibited wilful blindness, for which the companies’ directors — including Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch — should ultimately be prepared to take responsibility,” the report said, referring also to Murdoch’s 39-year-old son, the former head of News International.
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[News Corp. admitted that]: “Hard truths have emerged from the Select Committee Report: that there was serious wrongdoing at the News of the World; that our response to the wrongdoing was too slow and too defensive; and that some of our employees misled the Select Committee in 2009.”
Ofcom, Britain’s broadcasting media regulator, said in a statement that it was reading the report “with interest.” Britain’s broadcast media regulator is looking into whether the profitable satellite broadcaster BSkyB, which is partially owned by News Corp., is a “fit and proper” owner of a license.
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The panel said it was now up to the House of Commons to decide what “punishment should be imposed” on those it deems guilty of contempt.
– Read highlights from report on Murdoch
There are continuing reports of British citizens ready to file claims in the United States under the Corrupt Foreign practices Act against News Corp. UK lawyer set to file phone hacking claims in U.S. – CNN (April 12, 2012):
British lawyer Mark Lewis said Thursday he is preparing to take legal action on behalf of three clients who believe their phones were hacked while they were in the United States.
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Lewis represents dozens of individuals in the U.K. who say their phones were hacked by Murdoch's newspapers.
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Last year Lewis told CNN he was "looking to pursue legal action on the basis of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the United States, whereby a holding company can be liable for practices outside the jurisdiction where the offense is said to have taken place."
"Proceedings will be issued in the U.S. where we will seek information from the company's directors about those issues and about corporate governance."
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, enacted in 1977, makes it illegal for a U.S. citizen or company to pay foreign officials to obtain or retain business.
Potential liability flows from journalists at News of the World to its parent, News International, and to that company's parent, News Corp., which is a publicly held company in the United States, and runs Fox News.
Is it too much to hope that this trail of corruption leads to FAUX News Fraudcasting and Roger Ailes as well?