Hard News: The scandal that keeps on giving
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I could discuss conspiracy theories, but won't.
Instead, I'd note that the UK government has the power (similar to statutory management here) to wind up a company that is being run counter the public interest. I'd say News Corp meets that definition.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
I’d say News Corp meets that definition.
And I'd suggest you'll be interested in the Commons select committee hearing that Brooks and the two Murdochs are about to appear before. It's live on Sky News tonight from 11.30pm. Yowza.
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You're right about PMQs in the UK---always brilliant.
Perhaps we could have question here on one day a week JUST for the PM. And NO READING OUT OF PREPARED NOTES either, please :-)
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Bryan Gould's column in the Herald is very interesting:
Does any of this matter to us, in New Zealand? Yes, it does.
The power that Murdoch has, whether real or perceived, means one man, with extreme views that would be rejected by all but a tiny minority, is able to shape the international political debate behind the scenes, and dictate terms to elected governments, whatever the views of the voters themselves.
We have to live in the global economy that he has helped to shape. And, it is worth registering that no New Zealand government has dared to introduce the "anti-siphoning" legislation that would have prevented Sky Television from using their monopoly of sports broadcasting to develop a position of dominance that means the death knell of public service television.
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I think everyone is being mean to Rebekah Brooks because she has red hair.
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Oh, okay. MORE WEIRD.
The Sun's website has been hacked, with readers redirected to a page carrying a fake death notice for Rupert Murdoch.
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Now The Sun website has been hacked with a story that Murdoch was dead and now redirects to a twitter feed of the hackers
Edit - Snap
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Russell Brown, in reply to
You’re right about PMQs in the UK—always brilliant.
Indeed. I was reminded of why I used to down tools and watch it when I lived in London.
Perhaps we could have question here on one day a week JUST for the PM. And NO READING OUT OF PREPARED NOTES either, please :-)
Oh, c'mon. Where's the photo-opportunity in that?
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Toby,
Credit to Sky for broadcasting the comte hearing - unlike its comedy stablemate in the US, Sky News UK has by most accounts been doing a thorough job on hacking (and gave it more play, from memory, in the days when no one wanted to know, than the Times and, sometimes, the BBC).
p.s. Heather Brooke not Brookes -
When you fire large numbers of people, there's a good chance they'll take their passwords with them, not to mention knowing which passwords the remaining sysadmins might forget to change....
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Russell Brown, in reply to
I think everyone is being mean to Rebekah Brooks because she has red hair.
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Megan Wegan, in reply to
I think everyone is being mean to Rebekah Brooks because she has red hair.
As discussed yesterday on Twitter, it's not natural.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Credit to Sky for broadcasting the comte hearing – unlike its comedy stablemate in the US, Sky News UK has by most accounts been doing a thorough job on hacking (and gave it more play, from memory, in the days when no one wanted to know, than the Times and, sometimes, the BBC).
Ditto for Sky News Australia. Unlike the rather more under-the-thumb Murdoch newspapers.
p.s. Heather Brooke not Brookes
Oops. Ta.
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What has left me shaking my head in shear wonder is the apparent depth and breadth of the corruption.
I really can't guess what will come next, how many MPs will be named or will they quietly not be selected in the next candidacy round? Will similar hacking be uncovered in the US? Hard to imagine that it isn't happening there as well and equally hard to imagine that someone won't blow the whistle. Will other newspaper companies be exposed as well?
We've seen policemen resign and incredibly powerful business people fall, what is next?
One very interesting question is will the culture change as a result of this? Will people start to make the connection between buying newspapers with gossip and scandal and the appalling behaviour of the industry that produced the gossip? Will people actually change? The cynical in me says no - but the cynical in me would never have believed this story could destroy business careers the way it has.
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The WSJ article opined that :
The Schadenfreude is so thick you can't cut it with a chainsaw.
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Here, it's sufficiently thick to luxuriate in... -
I’d forgotten the pace and intensity of Westminister PMQs on a big day. David Cameron was reckoned to have been rattled. I thought he did pretty well. I couldn’t escape the thought that our own Prime Minister would have been melted to a puddle in the first 10 minutes.
So true. Depressingly true.
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Sacha, in reply to
Perhaps we could have question here on one day a week JUST for the PM.
He'd just get Joyce or English to answer it on behalf. Mind you, that's possibly being more honest about who's really in charge.
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The Times website is now also down.
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With information coming thick and fast I'm starting to lose track of where I heard items from but one thing I noticed with the Met. resignations and the arrest of past editors was that the paper had apparently previous admitted to bribing officials but no charges came of it. Meanwhile the snowball rolled along until it created it's own hell.
Watch for the expontential accelaration if 9/11 families were targeted...
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I wonder what the British response to Nicky Hagar's Brash emails would have been? The suspicious deaths of whistle-blowing journalists springs to mind.
Our media is biased as well and I applaud this blogger for pointing it out: http://fearfactsexposed.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/doms-credibility-destroyed-by-double-standards/
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Russell Brown, in reply to
the paper had apparently previous admitted to bribing officials but no charges came of it.
It was Brooks in a 2006 select committee hearing. She admitted to paying police officers for information. It just sort of slid by ...
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@ Bart <I really can't guess what will come next, how many MPs will be named or will they quietly not be selected in the next candidacy round?>
A contributor to BBC's World Have Your Say predicted that little will come out of the H of C committee hearing as the interviewees know where all the members' skeletons are buried :--)
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
Now The Sun website has been hacked with a story that Murdoch was dead and now redirects to a twitter feed of the hackers
Edit - Snap
Poetic justice.
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Martin Lindberg, in reply to
As discussed yesterday on Twitter, it's not natural.
That's a bit harsh. Some people are born that way.
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Poetic justice
It's funny isn't it, for some reason, we become detached from the fact that we are witnessing vigilante justice play out. It happens in an online world and we perceive no-one to be hurt by it, so we are ok with it.
Yes News Corp have been dicks (understatement acknowledged), but are we ok with a group of anonymous 'hackers'* dishing out their own form of punishment?
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it, just thought it worth discussing.
*I use the term hackers lightly, a few denial of service attacks isn't super amazing
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