Missing: 3 million News International emails

Three million emails at News International are missing after Rebekah Brooks changed the company’s email deletion policy, a jury heard.

Brooks ordered the change in June 2010, which resulted in a large quantity of emails being deleted, including those “covering her entire period as editor of the Sun”, Kingston crown court was told.

The issue of missing emails emerged as the prosecution completed its case in the trial of six Sun and former Sun journalists accused of making corrupt payments to public officials. All six deny the charges.

The Heiress - The rise of Elisabeth Murdoch

On Saturday, July 2, 2011, a high-society traffic jam descended on the cobblestoned town square of Burford, a village sixty-eight miles northwest of London, not far from the market town of Chipping Norton. Hundreds of chauffeured cars approached a gated stone wall, which opened to a long, circular driveway and the sprawling country house of Elisabeth Murdoch, a prominent television entrepreneur and the daughter of Rupert Murdoch, and her husband, Matthew Freud, who runs what may be the most powerful public-relations firm in Great Britain. In addition to their professional accomplishments, the couple have gained renown for their lavish “Chipping Norton set” parties, which are often attended by their friend Prime Minister David Cameron, government ministers, financiers, C.E.O.s, celebrities, and newspaper editors. “You’re never likely to be bored,” the former Prime Minister Tony Blair, an occasional guest, told me. The CNN host Piers Morgan, a former editor of Rupert Murdoch’s the News of the World, once told the Daily Mail, “I’ve never seen so many people who hate each other together in one room.”

News Corp. Split: Board Approves Breaking Company In Two

NEW YORK — The board of directors at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has approved a plan that calls for splitting the global media conglomerate into two separate companies, one holding its newspaper business and another its entertainment operations, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday.

The Journal, which is News Corp.'s flagship newspaper, cited a person familiar with the situation saying the board voted unanimously to approve the plan. It said the move is expected to be announced early Thursday.

James Murdoch Steps Down As Executive Chairman Of News International

James Murdoch has stepped down as executive chairman of News International, the British arm of News Corp., the company announced Wednesday. Murdoch, who was once seen as the heir apparent to his father Rupert at the head of News Corp., has now lost a key position within the company.

News Corp. cast the move as stemming from James' recent relocation to New York from London, and Rupert Murdoch said his son would "continue to assume a variety of essential corporate leadership mandates." He will also remain as the deputy COO of News Corp. But the reshuffling will be widely seen as a reflection of James' deeply diminished stature following wave after wave of damaging allegations about his complicity in News Corp.'s still-simmering phone hacking scandal. That scandal has mushroomed into a full-blown nightmare for the company, with the persistent threat of serious prosecution hanging in the air.

James has long denied having any knowledge of the widespread nature of phone hacking within the News of the World tabloid. But a series of testimonies and released documents have put him ever-closer to a crucial 2008 meeting in which the former editor and legal director of the paper have sworn he was informed that criminality had been out of control within the organization.

Leveson Inquiry: 'Culture Of Illegal Payments' At The Sun; Rebekah Brooks Tipped Off About Extent Of Hacking Probe

LONDON (AP) -- Rupert Murdoch's top-selling U.K. tabloid, The Sun, had a culture of making illegal payments to corrupt public officials in return for stories, a senior police officer said Monday, as Murdoch announced that the paper's first-ever Sunday edition had sold more than 3 million copies.

Sue Akers, a Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner, told Britain's media ethics inquiry that the newspaper openly referred to paying its sources and that such payments had been authorized at a senior level.

Her comments came the day Murdoch's company paid former teen singing sensation Charlotte Church 600,000 pounds ($951,000) in a phone-hacking settlement for violating her and her family's privacy.

Akers said Sun journalists had paid not only police officers but also military, health and other government officials. One official received a total of 80,000 pounds over several years, Akers said, and one journalist had been given more than 150,000 pounds in cash to pay his sources. She said payments went far beyond acceptable practices such as buying sources a meal or a drink.

Akers said "a network of corrupted officials" had provided The Sun with stories that were mostly "salacious gossip."

The Sun On Sunday Launches With Pledge Of 'Trust And Decency'

The Sun on Sunday launched today with a pledge of "trust" and "decency".

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch personally supervised the final stages of production of the new title which promised readers it would remain "fearless, outspoken, mischievous and fun".

The newspaper claimed it would hold all journalists to account and said it had appointed a readers' champion to deal with errors and feedback from the public.

In an editorial, the newspaper also commented on the arrests of 10 current and former employees over alleged corrupt payments to public officials, saying they were "innocent until proven guilty".

It said that the closure of its sister paper the News of the World, which ceased publication last July at the height of the hacking scandal, was a "sobering experience".

In an editorial, titled: A new Sun rises today, it said: "As we launch the seven day Sun, we want to strengthen that connection (with the readers) with a new independent Sun Readers' Champion to accept feedback and correct significant errors.

The Sun On Sunday To Launch: News Corp. Says New Tabloid Will Be Published Next Week

LONDON -- The successor to Rupert Murdoch's scandal-tarnished News of the World newspaper will start publication in a week's time, a senior News Corp. executive said Sunday.

In an email to staff, News International CEO Tom Mockridge said that Murdoch himself would be staying in the British capital to oversee the launch of The Sun on Sunday.

Mockridge said he was sure that "every one of us will seize the opportunity to pull together and deliver a great new dawn" for the newspaper.

The Sun on Sunday will replace the top-selling News of The World, which was closed in July after revelations that members of its staff had routinely hacked into phones and paid bribes to score exclusives. The ensuing scandal stunned Britain's establishment, led to dozens of arrests and resignations, and has spawned a wide-ranging official inquiry into U.K. media ethics.

Rupert Murdoch Announces Sun On Sunday Launch, Says Suspended Employees Can Return To Work

Rupert Murdoch announced Friday that he is launching a new tabloid, The Sun on Sunday.

Murdoch is in London to calm a staff revolt at The Sun in the wake of a string of recent arrests at the paper, which has become a chief target of a police probe into the bribery of public officials. He made the announcement in an email, and also said that all employees who had been arrested or suspended from their jobs could come back to work.

Murdoch said that the Sun on Sunday — which has been in the works ever since the company's previous Sunday paper, the News of the World, was shut down in the wake of the phone hacking crisis — would launch "very soon." He called the Sun "a part of me" and stressed that everyone who had been arrested was "innocent unless proven otherwise." He also told staffers that he would be staying in London for the next few weeks to show his "unwavering support."

Later, Murdoch toured the Sun newsroom. The Press Association reported that he spoke to several journalists and was accompanied by his son Lachlan.

Sky News correspondent Sophy Ridge reported that "the mood was visibly lifted" when Sun journalists saw the email. The paper has been enveloped in gloom ever since Saturday, when five journalists were arrested in connection with the bribery investigation.

News Corp. Civil War Shows No Signs Of Ending; Company Gives Anonymous Sources To Police

The battles within Rupert Murdoch's newspaper empire are only getting worse.

The Times, one of Murdoch's own papers, revealed Tuesday that News Corp. has given the names of some of its journalists' anonymous sources to police. The report, which is behind the paper's paywall online, is sure to cause another round of internal skirmishing within News Corp., which has broken out into what some are calling a "civil war."

Journalists inside News Corp. and its British division, News International, are said to be furious at upper management, including the Murdochs, for their willingness to cooperate so extensively with police. In addition, the latest round of arrests at the Sun have left employees there feeling betrayed and adrift, darkly telling other news outlets that the Murdochs are using their reporters as human shields since the arrests emanated from information given over by News Corp. itself. (As one senior executive told the Mirror, "there is nothing the Murdochs will not do to protect their own backs.")

On Monday, senior Sun editor Trevor Kavanagh issued an extraordinary broadside against the police and, indirectly, the Murdochs, saying that the paper had been subjected to a "witch-hunt" more appropriate for the Soviet Union than Britain.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Makes a Non-Denial Denial

London

If corporations really were people, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation would be breaking rocks. That’s the take-away from yesterday’s astonishing ruling by Geoffrey Vos, the judge presiding over the phone-hacking civil trial here. In agreeing to settle with thirty-seven victims yesterday the company clearly hoped to be able to draw a line under the scandal, which has already seen the closure of the world’s best-selling English language tabloid, The News of the World, and both Rupert Murdoch and his son James forced to give evidence before a Parliamentary select committee. With the trial scheduled to begin on February 13, the Murdochs must have hoped that if they could make the case go away by paying off the plaintiffs then the steady drip of information about News Corp.’s criminal activities—which include phone hacking, payments to police and breaking into e-mail accounts—might stop before it lead higher up the corporate chain of command.

The company’s first problem is that the thirty-seven victims who agreed to settle include many of the most famous boldface names—actor Jude Law, who had his phone messages hacked and was himself the target of physical surveillance by Murdoch’s men for a period of years received £130,000 (over $200,000); his ex-wife Sadie Frost got £50,000 (over $77,000); last May Law’s ex-girlfriend, Sienna Miller, was paid £100,000 (over $150,000) to settle her claim—it didn’t include all of them. Singer Charlotte Church, for example has yet to settle. So far just over half of those victims who have actually filed suit have agreed to settle. And there are literally hundreds of additional victims whose names have not yet been made public.

James Murdoch Could Be Recalled As 'Devastating' Papers Cast Doubt Over His Evidence

James Murdoch may be recalled to parliament to give evidence on phone hacking, an MP has indicated, after new evidence was released by a select committee that revealed inconsistencies in several key witnesses' testimonies.

Described by MP Tom Watson as "devastating evidence", the documents released on Tuesday include a letter by Clive Goodman to his former employer News International in which he claims phone hacking was widespread and known about by senior figures in the company.

Former News of the World Editor Andy Coulson has come under fresh criticism as a result of the new evidence.

Murdoch's ties to big tobacco

Rupert Murdoch's phone-hacking problems have been all over the news in recent days, but it wasn't too long ago his media properties were providing a supportive environment for Big Tobacco that went largely unreported.

Murdoch's connection to Philip Morris Co. was revealed through secret industry documents made public as a result of the landmark 1998 U.S. tobacco industry settlement.

The 1981 publication of a Japanese study suggesting that non-smoking wives of smoking husbands were more likely than wives of non-smokers to get lung cancer shocked the industry. Big Tobacco realized that second-hand smoke would be the greatest threat it had encountered, more potentially damaging than earlier studies linking smoking with lung cancer, heart disease and other illnesses.

Plausible deniability's not lack of responsibility

Rupert Murdoch has told British parliamentarians that he’s not responsible for the phone hacking at the News of the World. And Rebekah Brooks, the newspaper’s former editor, has done the same. I believe they’re both speaking honestly. But speaking honestly and telling the truth can be two very different things.

I’ve no doubt they believe they weren’t responsible for the actions at the heart of this scandal, just as Colonel Oran Henderson, the brigade commander who ordered the attack on My Lai in 1968, was certain he wasn’t responsible for that outcome. Col. Henderson had urged his officers to “go in there aggressively, close with the enemy and wipe them out for good,” an order that immediately preceded his men executing between 350 and 500 Vietnamese women, children and unarmed men. Accused of subsequently taking part in a cover-up, Col. Henderson denied being told about the murder of civilians. Ultimately, a military court backed him up. But, of course, we all know that “not guilty” is a legal outcome that shouldn’t be confused with “innocent.”

James Murdoch Accused of Misleading Parliament

Two former News Corp. employees say that James Murdoch, the company's deputy chief operating officer, misled Parliament in a committee hearing on Tuesday. Labour MP Tom Watson asked Murdoch about a settlement paid to phone-hacking victim Gordon Taylor, the former head of the Professional Footballers' Association. James denied knowledge of an incriminating e-mail that proved Taylor's phone had been hacked. Former News of the World editor Colin Myler and former News International legal chief Tom Crone said in a statement that Murdoch did know about the email:

Just by way of clarification relating to Tuesday's CMS Select Committee hearing, we would like to point out that James Murdoch's recollection of what he was told when agreeing to settle the Gordon Taylor litigation was mistaken.

In fact, we did inform him of the "for Neville" email which had been produced to us by Gordon Taylor's lawyers.

James Murdoch Accused Of Misleading Parliament Over Phone Hacking

James Murdoch was accused on Thursday of misleading Parliament about his knowledge of phone hacking at the News of the World by the paper's former editor and top lawyer.

Colin Myler, the former editor, and Tom Crone, the former lawyer, issued a statement on Thursday contradicting one of Murdoch's key claims in his testimony before Parliament on Tuesday: that he had signed off on huge payments to footballer Gordon Taylor without knowing why he was doing so.

Murdoch said that his lawyers had simply advised him that News Corp. was likely to lose if the Taylor lawsuit—which accused the paper of hacking his phone—went to court, and that he had authorized the company to pay Taylor hundreds of thousands of pounds as a way to end the suit, even though he did not know why, exactly, News Corp. was in such a compromised position.

To discuss the phone hacking scandal engulfing the Rupert Murdoch media empire from Britain to the United States, we are joined by longtime journalist Sarah Ellison. She is a Vanity Fair contributing editor and author of the book, "War at the Wall Street Journal: Inside the Struggle to Control an American Business Empire," which chronicled the sweeping changes at the publication after Murdoch acquired the newspaper in 2007. Ellison spent 10 years working at the Wall Street Journal. Commenting on Murdoch denying responsibility for the scandal, Ellison says: "It is even more difficult to really believe that when you know the way that his news organizations work... There is a myth of Rupert Murdoch, that his editors know what he wants without him even having to tell him. He creates a culture where everyone is of a like mind. … It is difficult to imagine that some of the responsibility wouldn’t lie [at] his feet given that it is his organization."

Video
Source: Democracy Now! 

Rupert Murdoch And James Murdoch Appear Before Parliament To Take Questions On Phone Hacking

Rupert Murdoch and his son James have been quizzed by MPs at a hearing about the phone hacking crisis, in an appearance that the News Corporation chairman described as the "most humble day" of his life.

The dramatic session, where an intruder attempted to attack Murdoch with a plate of foam, began with an apology.

Taking questions about the News of the World phone hacking scandal, James Murdoch was accused by the chair of the culture media and sport select committee, John Whittingdale, of misleading parliament.

A nation infected by scandal

Scandals used to be so simple. Power corrupts, we were taught, and scandals were the business of those few who held power. Teapot Dome, which before Watergate was what you thought of when you saw the words “American political scandal,” involved the payment of kickbacks to a single cabinet secretary. The Pacific Scandal was essentially a matter between Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir Hugh Allan.

In this democratic age, however, the locus of corruption has shifted. Now, scandals belong to everybody. The corruption more typical of our times—perhaps Watergate marked the transition—infects an organization generally, an “everybody does it” mentality in which large numbers of people who never thought of themselves as criminals become ensnared. Think of the huge numbers of people who participated in or at least knew about the various exchanges that went into the sponsorship scandal. The phrase popularized in Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, social epidemic, seems apt. The culture of corruption spreads from person to person, encouraging each to adopt a standard of behaviour that, as individuals, they might otherwise find repulsive.

Rupert Murdoch’s day of reckoning

The most telling story in Michael Wolff’s biography of Rupert Murdoch, The Man Who Owns the News, didn’t appear in the original 2008, 400-plus-page hardcover. It’s the tale of the media mogul’s reaction to the book, appended as a forward to the paperback version two years later. Eight weeks before the first edition hit the streets, the News Corporation proprietor somehow obtained a copy—“purloined,” writes Wolff, from a rival British newspaper that was bidding on the serialization rights. And as he read the product of the more than 50 hours of candid and profane interviews he had given, Murdoch got upset. Over the course of a single day, he left the author a dozen increasingly agitated voice mails, quibbling with ancient details, and complaining about tone and interpretation. Then he went ominously silent.

Further Links Claimed Between Arrested NOTW Exec And Met Chief

The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Paul Stephenson, came under fresh pressure Saturday as it was claimed by Sky News that he spent time free of charge at a health farm for whom Neil Wallis, a former-New of the World executive who was arrested in connection with phone hacking last week, was working.

The claims came after it emerged that Wallis worked for Scotland Yard for more than two years as a media consultant, earning £24,000 during the period that the Met decided not to further investigate phone hacking claims against the News International newspaper.