News Corp

This in my weekly foray into the world other than books and writing, although in this case there is a tenuous link. This is about newspapers and reporters.

I don’t know how much of this has spread around the world but Rupert Murdock’s News Corps is having huge problems in the UK.  Reporters from The News of the World a News Corp owned Sunday newspaper, claimed to be the widest read newspaper in the entire world, have allegedly been hacking the voice mail messages of not only the rich and famous, but also the families of murder victims. It has gotten so bad that the CIA in the US are beginning to investigate to see if the families of the 9/11 attack have been hacked. Contagion seems to be spreading. There are new allegations that The Sun a daily News Corp newspaper have also been hacking.

The matter has been discussed in the British Parliament it has become so big and lots of questions are being raised affecting much of society. It is claimed that politicians are scared of the newspapers because they can make or break a political campaign. The closeness of politicians to higher ups in the newspaper world is being questioned. David Cameron the current Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair previous Prime Minister allegedly courted News Corp staff. It has gotten very murky. Even the Metropolitan Police (London) who carried out an investigation of the allegations have not come out well. They are accused of being too close to newspapers and there are even allegations that reporters paid the police for information including phone numbers.

Everything is alleged at the moment but it is known the News Corp has paid compensation to a few people whose phones were hacked. This story is going to run and run. If half of it is true then British journalism has sunk to a new low and needs to sort itself out.