News Corporation scandal
Encyclopedia
The News Corporation scandal developed in mid-2011 out of a series of investigations
following up the News of the World royal phone hacking scandal
of 2005–2007. Where initially the scandal appeared contained to a single journalist at News Corporation
subsidiary News of the World
, with the 2007 jailing of Clive Goodman
and the resignation of then editor Andy Coulson
, investigations eventually revealed a much wider pattern of wrongdoing. This led to the closure of the News of the World on 10 July 2011, an apology by Rupert Murdoch
in an advertisement in most British national newspapers, and the withdrawing of News Corporation's bid
to take over the majority of BSkyB shares it did not own. However, investigations continued into what the company and individuals at the company knew of the phone hacking and when, as well as into other issues, including questions around police bribery
.
news programme The World at One
, former News of the World features editor Paul McMullan made an admission relating to police corruption
. He told of having used material obtained by a colleague's bribery of a police officer as the basis of a series of articles published over several years on Jennifer Elliott, the daughter of the actor Denholm Elliott
. He stated, 'The going rate for that kind of thing might have been two to five hundred pounds and that would have been authorised, and he [i.e. the police officer] would have been paid... and he would have been on the lookout for another story...' The articles described Ms Elliott's destitute situation and stated that she had worked as a prostitute. Jennifer Elliott killed herself in 2003. In Mr McMullan's opinion the News of the World — specifically, his own articles — contributed significantly to her suicide. In 2011, the paper knowingly used private investigators to gain stories from corrupt police officers.
launched Operation Elveden
, a probe examining illicit payments to police officers.
, including the New York Post
, The Wall Street Journal
, and the Fox News Channel
. Several media critics have called for investigations into whether they too engaged in phone hacking activities.
In addition to any possible illegal activities in the U.S., News Corporation and/or its executives might also face civil and criminal liability under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
.
On February 24, 2011, The New York Times
reported that court documents in another, unconnected case revealed that the senior executive at News Corporation that Judith Regan
referred to in her 2007 wrongful termination case against HarperCollins
was Roger Ailes
, head of Fox News. She claimed he had encouraged her to lie two years earlier to federal investigators. They were vetting Bernard B. Kerik for the job of Homeland Security secretary, and Ailes allegedly wanted to protect his close friend Rudy Giuliani
who was then running for president. HarperCollins settled her case for $10.75 million.
According to a former New York City police officer who spoke to The Mirror in 2009, the News of the World also attempted to retrieve private phone records of victims of the September 11 attacks. In light of the suspected hacking, Senate Commerce Committee chairman Jay Rockefeller
suggested that a U.S. investigation of News Corporation should be launched. On 14 July, the Federal Bureau of Investigation
announced it was launching an investigation into alleged hacking by News Corporation.
New investigations might also consider issues which had been raised in the past. In 2008, Dan Cooper
, one of the co-founders of the Fox News Channel
, alleged that network president Roger Ailes
had threatened to ruin his long-time agent's business if Cooper wasn't dropped as a client. This followed an interview Cooper had given to David Brock
for New York
magazine shortly after his Fox contract ended in June 1997. Cooper concluded that Ailes had pre-publication knowledge of his interview with Brock, believing that he had accessed Brock's phone records through Fox News' "Brain Room", which he claimed "housed a counterintelligence and black ops office." Fox News denied Cooper's allegations.
On 20 July 2011, US Senator Frank Lautenberg wrote a letter to the Department of Justice requesting that the on-going FBI probe include allegations that Floorgraphics had also been hacked by News America Marketing
, a major marketing business owned by News Corporation. On 21 July, it was reported that representatives of the US Dept. of Justice and the FBI had begun investigation into the Floorgraphics allegations.
News Corp is also being investigated over claims that senior executives misled investors in 2011, causing the company's stock to be traded at an artificially high price. A US class action has been filed for investors who purchased News Corporation common stock between March 3, 2011, and July 11, 2011.
On 11 July 2011, a group of shareholders led by Amalgamated Bank
who were already suing News Corps over the purchase of Rupert Murdoch's daughter's media company, Shine Group
, updated the lawsuit to include accusations that the board of News Corp "fail[ed] to exercise proper oversight and take sufficient action since news of the hacking first surfaced at its subsidiary nearly six years ago." On 13 September they added further charges concerning the Floorgraphics case and the behaviour of another of News Corps subsidiary companies, NDS Group
. The shareholders' attorney said that the phone hacking which took place in the UK was "part of a much broader, historic pattern of corruption at News Corp., under the acquiescence of a board that was fully aware of the wrongdoing, if not directly complicit in the actions." News Corp has yet to issue a statement on the new allegations.
, announced a review of all payments in the previous three years, and that he was personally willing to co-operate with any Australian Government led inquiry. On 22 July, it was reported that two former Victorian Supreme Court judges, Frank Vincent and Bernard Teague
, will act as independent assessors of how the review is run and will also assess its outcome.
In a recent action of wrongful dismissal by the editor in chief of the highest read daily newspaper against The Herald Sun newspaper, published by a subsidiary of the defendant, News Limited, accusations about the reliability of Mr Hartigan as a witness under oath have been made. During the period relevant to the proceedings, Mr John Hartigan was the chairman, and chief executive officer, of News Limited. Justice J Kaye deliberated in his 2010 findings against him in his role as boss of NewsCorp. Specifically Justice Kaye found Hartigan's evidence to be unreliable. Justice Kaye further commented that "were aspects about his evidence, which lead him to be cautious about accepting a number of critical features of it."
The Australian Greens
called for a parliamentary inquiry into News Limited, but Hartigan directly denied allegations by both the Greens and the governing Labor party that News Limited has been running a campaign against them, describing his group's journalism as "aggressive but fair."
The administration of Prime Minister Julia Gillard
stalled a ruling by an independent panel for Sky's bid to run the Australia Network
, imposing a "national interest" bar on the process. After the Murdochs had appeared in front of the UK Culture, Media and Sport Committee on 19 July, Gillard commented that: "When people have seen telephones hacked into, when people have seen individuals grieving having to deal with all of this, then I do think that causes them to ask some questions here in our country."
On the 13 September 2011, the government announced an inquiry into the country's media. Areas of scrutiny include the protection of privacy and the role of the Australian Press Council
.
On the 21 September 2011, documents were leaked to the news website Crikey
detailing a proposed rebranding of News Limited as News Australia.
The Times of London, also owned by NewsCorp, published an editorial cartoon labeled "Priorties" that depicted three naked Somalians holding empty bowls. One said, "I've had a bellyful of phone-hacking ...".
Researchers from the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism reported that Newscorp's Australian papers gave the scandal less coverage than independent papers. The authors also reported that "all papers carried at least one editorial [...] on phone hacking [...] Not one editorial supported the idea that there should be an inquiry into Australia's media."
News of the World phone hacking scandal investigations
The News of the World phone hacking scandal investigations followed the revelations in 2005 of voicemail interception on behalf of News of the World...
following up the News of the World royal phone hacking scandal
News of the World royal phone hacking scandal
The News of the World royal phone hacking scandal was a scandal which developed in 2005 - 2007 around the interception of voice mail relating to the British Royal Family by a private investigator working for a News of the World journalist...
of 2005–2007. Where initially the scandal appeared contained to a single journalist at News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
subsidiary News of the World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
, with the 2007 jailing of Clive Goodman
Clive Goodman
Clive Goodman is a former royal editor and reporter for the News of the World. He was arrested in August 2006 and jailed in January 2007 for intercepting mobile phone messages involving members of the Royal Household.Goodman initially worked as a journalist on Nigel Dempster's gossip column in the...
and the resignation of then editor Andy Coulson
Andy Coulson
Andrew Edward Coulson is an English journalist and political strategist.Coulson was the editor of the News of the World from 2003 until his resignation in 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's reporters in relation to illegal phone-hacking.He subsequently joined David Cameron's...
, investigations eventually revealed a much wider pattern of wrongdoing. This led to the closure of the News of the World on 10 July 2011, an apology by Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
in an advertisement in most British national newspapers, and the withdrawing of News Corporation's bid
News Corporation takeover bid for BSkyB
The News Corporation takeover bid for BSkyB was a proposed takeover of British Sky Broadcasting by News Corporation, the media conglomerate of Rupert Murdoch. The bid was launched in June 2010, but was withdrawn in July 2011 following the News International phone hacking scandal...
to take over the majority of BSkyB shares it did not own. However, investigations continued into what the company and individuals at the company knew of the phone hacking and when, as well as into other issues, including questions around police bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
.
Phone hacking
Police corruption
In a September 2010 interview broadcast on 7 July 2011, on the BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
news programme The World at One
The World At One
The World at One, or WATO for short, is BBC Radio 4's long-running lunchtime news and current affairs programme, which is broadcast from 1pm to 1:30pm from Monday to Friday. The programme describes itself as "Britain's leading political programme. With a reputation for rigorous and original...
, former News of the World features editor Paul McMullan made an admission relating to police corruption
Police corruption
Police corruption is a specific form of police misconduct designed to obtain financial benefits, other personal gain, or career advancement for a police officer or officers in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest....
. He told of having used material obtained by a colleague's bribery of a police officer as the basis of a series of articles published over several years on Jennifer Elliott, the daughter of the actor Denholm Elliott
Denholm Elliott
Denholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE was an English film, television and theatre actor with over 120 film and television credits...
. He stated, 'The going rate for that kind of thing might have been two to five hundred pounds and that would have been authorised, and he [i.e. the police officer] would have been paid... and he would have been on the lookout for another story...' The articles described Ms Elliott's destitute situation and stated that she had worked as a prostitute. Jennifer Elliott killed herself in 2003. In Mr McMullan's opinion the News of the World — specifically, his own articles — contributed significantly to her suicide. In 2011, the paper knowingly used private investigators to gain stories from corrupt police officers.
Operation Elveden
In July 2011, the Metropolitan PoliceMetropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
launched Operation Elveden
Operation Elveden
Operation Elveden is a British police investigation. It was opened as a result of documents provided by News International to the Operation Weeting investigation.-Background:...
, a probe examining illicit payments to police officers.
United States
News Corporation owns a multitude of news outlets in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, including the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, and the Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
. Several media critics have called for investigations into whether they too engaged in phone hacking activities.
In addition to any possible illegal activities in the U.S., News Corporation and/or its executives might also face civil and criminal liability under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 is a United States federal law known primarily for two of its main provisions, one that addresses accounting transparency requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and another concerning bribery of foreign officials.- Provisions and scope...
.
On February 24, 2011, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported that court documents in another, unconnected case revealed that the senior executive at News Corporation that Judith Regan
Judith Regan
Judith Regan is an American editor, producer, book publisher and television and radio talk show host. She is the mother of a son and a daughter and lives in New York City and Los Angeles.-Early life:...
referred to in her 2007 wrongful termination case against HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
was Roger Ailes
Roger Ailes
Roger Eugene Ailes is president of Fox News Channel, chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group. Ailes was a media consultant for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W...
, head of Fox News. She claimed he had encouraged her to lie two years earlier to federal investigators. They were vetting Bernard B. Kerik for the job of Homeland Security secretary, and Ailes allegedly wanted to protect his close friend Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
who was then running for president. HarperCollins settled her case for $10.75 million.
According to a former New York City police officer who spoke to The Mirror in 2009, the News of the World also attempted to retrieve private phone records of victims of the September 11 attacks. In light of the suspected hacking, Senate Commerce Committee chairman Jay Rockefeller
Jay Rockefeller
John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV is the senior United States Senator from West Virginia. He was first elected to the Senate in 1984, while in office as Governor of West Virginia, a position he held from 1977 to 1985...
suggested that a U.S. investigation of News Corporation should be launched. On 14 July, the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
announced it was launching an investigation into alleged hacking by News Corporation.
New investigations might also consider issues which had been raised in the past. In 2008, Dan Cooper
Dan Cooper
Daniel Cooper or Dan Cooper may refer to* Sir Daniel Cooper, 1st Baronet , speaker of the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales* D. B. Cooper, aircraft hijacker* Dan Cooper Executive producer, author, and Fox News journalist* Daniel C...
, one of the co-founders of the Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
, alleged that network president Roger Ailes
Roger Ailes
Roger Eugene Ailes is president of Fox News Channel, chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group. Ailes was a media consultant for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W...
had threatened to ruin his long-time agent's business if Cooper wasn't dropped as a client. This followed an interview Cooper had given to David Brock
David Brock
David Brock is an American journalist and author, the founder of the media watchdog group, Media Matters for America, and a Democratic political operative...
for New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine shortly after his Fox contract ended in June 1997. Cooper concluded that Ailes had pre-publication knowledge of his interview with Brock, believing that he had accessed Brock's phone records through Fox News' "Brain Room", which he claimed "housed a counterintelligence and black ops office." Fox News denied Cooper's allegations.
On 20 July 2011, US Senator Frank Lautenberg wrote a letter to the Department of Justice requesting that the on-going FBI probe include allegations that Floorgraphics had also been hacked by News America Marketing
News America Marketing
News America Marketing, often referred to as just News America, is a marketing business owned by the News Corporation. It is one of three companies in the United States that control almost all the in-store ads and grocery coupons in the United States.One major division of the company is...
, a major marketing business owned by News Corporation. On 21 July, it was reported that representatives of the US Dept. of Justice and the FBI had begun investigation into the Floorgraphics allegations.
News Corp is also being investigated over claims that senior executives misled investors in 2011, causing the company's stock to be traded at an artificially high price. A US class action has been filed for investors who purchased News Corporation common stock between March 3, 2011, and July 11, 2011.
On 11 July 2011, a group of shareholders led by Amalgamated Bank
Amalgamated Bank
Amalgamated Bank is a national bank owned by the Workers United/SEIU labor union. It was founded by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in 1923. It is headquartered in New York City....
who were already suing News Corps over the purchase of Rupert Murdoch's daughter's media company, Shine Group
Shine Limited
Shine Limited is a British media production company with offices in London and Manchester....
, updated the lawsuit to include accusations that the board of News Corp "fail[ed] to exercise proper oversight and take sufficient action since news of the hacking first surfaced at its subsidiary nearly six years ago." On 13 September they added further charges concerning the Floorgraphics case and the behaviour of another of News Corps subsidiary companies, NDS Group
NDS Group
NDS Group Plc. is a developer of pay TV technology. NDS was established in 1988 as an Israeli start up company. It was acquired by News Corporation in 1992. The company is currently headquartered in Staines, United Kingdom...
. The shareholders' attorney said that the phone hacking which took place in the UK was "part of a much broader, historic pattern of corruption at News Corp., under the acquiescence of a board that was fully aware of the wrongdoing, if not directly complicit in the actions." News Corp has yet to issue a statement on the new allegations.
Australia
In light of News Corporations global review, John Hartigan the boss of News Corps Australian company News LimitedNews Limited
News Limited is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies. The publicly listed company's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, Pay TV, National Rugby League, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television production trading assets.News Limited...
, announced a review of all payments in the previous three years, and that he was personally willing to co-operate with any Australian Government led inquiry. On 22 July, it was reported that two former Victorian Supreme Court judges, Frank Vincent and Bernard Teague
Bernard Teague
Bernard Teague, AO, was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria, in Australia, between 13 October 1987 and 15 February 2008. Justice Teague was the first solicitor to be appointed to the Supreme Court bench...
, will act as independent assessors of how the review is run and will also assess its outcome.
In a recent action of wrongful dismissal by the editor in chief of the highest read daily newspaper against The Herald Sun newspaper, published by a subsidiary of the defendant, News Limited, accusations about the reliability of Mr Hartigan as a witness under oath have been made. During the period relevant to the proceedings, Mr John Hartigan was the chairman, and chief executive officer, of News Limited. Justice J Kaye deliberated in his 2010 findings against him in his role as boss of NewsCorp. Specifically Justice Kaye found Hartigan's evidence to be unreliable. Justice Kaye further commented that "were aspects about his evidence, which lead him to be cautious about accepting a number of critical features of it."
The Australian Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
called for a parliamentary inquiry into News Limited, but Hartigan directly denied allegations by both the Greens and the governing Labor party that News Limited has been running a campaign against them, describing his group's journalism as "aggressive but fair."
The administration of Prime Minister Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...
stalled a ruling by an independent panel for Sky's bid to run the Australia Network
Australia Network
Australia Network, originally Australia Television International and later ABC Asia Pacific, is a free-to-air international satellite television service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation since 2006. The television and online service broadcasts 24 hours a day on 7 days a week, to...
, imposing a "national interest" bar on the process. After the Murdochs had appeared in front of the UK Culture, Media and Sport Committee on 19 July, Gillard commented that: "When people have seen telephones hacked into, when people have seen individuals grieving having to deal with all of this, then I do think that causes them to ask some questions here in our country."
On the 13 September 2011, the government announced an inquiry into the country's media. Areas of scrutiny include the protection of privacy and the role of the Australian Press Council
Australian Press Council
The Australian Press Council is the self-regulatory body of the Australian print media. It was established in 1976 and is a private organisation. Its aims are to help preserve the traditional freedom of the press within Australia and to ensure that the free press acts responsibly and ethically...
.
On the 21 September 2011, documents were leaked to the news website Crikey
Crikey
Crikey is an independent Australian electronic magazine comprising an open access website and an email newsletter available to subscribers. Well known in Australian political, media and business circles, Crikey was described by former Federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham as the "most popular...
detailing a proposed rebranding of News Limited as News Australia.
Criticism of coverage by News Corporation-owned outlets
Various News Corporation owned media outlets have come to defense of News Corporation, and these defense have themselves met with criticism. The Wall Street Journal, a News Corporation owned outlet, opined that "politicians and our competitors are using the phone-hacking years ago at a British corner of News Corp. to assail the Journal, and perhaps injure press freedom in general."The Times of London, also owned by NewsCorp, published an editorial cartoon labeled "Priorties" that depicted three naked Somalians holding empty bowls. One said, "I've had a bellyful of phone-hacking ...".
Researchers from the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism reported that Newscorp's Australian papers gave the scandal less coverage than independent papers. The authors also reported that "all papers carried at least one editorial [...] on phone hacking [...] Not one editorial supported the idea that there should be an inquiry into Australia's media."