BILL O'REILLY (FOX) vs EMILY STEEL (NYT), EMILY WON; O'REILLY FIRED

BILL O'REILLY (FOX) vs EMILY STEEL (NYT), EMILY WON; O'REILLY FIRED:

FIRST ROGER AILES, NOW BILL O'REILLY.

BILL DESTROYED BY NYT REPORTER HE THREATENED OVER SEXUAL HARRASSMENT.

END OF A MALE DOMINATED, BIASED ERA AT FOX NEWS.

WHO IS NEXT?


Sources: CNBC, MSNBC, NY Times, Think Progress, Youtube


***** Bill O'Reilly's Payout Could Be as High as $25 Million


The day after Bill O’Reilly was ousted from Fox News, aftershocks rippled through the network, with news of Mr. O’Reilly’s exit package spreading through the newsroom and some employees questioning how committed executives were to rooting out sexual harassment.

Mr. O’Reilly is receiving a payout of as much as $25 million, equivalent to one year of his salary, two people familiar with the matter said Thursday. That development was met with “outrage” and “disgust” among some employees and among critics outside the company, who said it sent a message that a powerful newsroom figure could profit even after multiple sexual harassment allegations had been made against him.

“It’s terrible,” said Lisa Bloom, a lawyer who represents two women who reported sexual harassment allegations against Mr. O’Reilly. “Most people would consider $25 million a huge lottery win.”

Mr. O’Reilly’s package brought the total amount of payouts related to sexual harassment allegations at Fox News to more than $85 million — paid by the network’s parent company, 21st Century Fox. The vast majority of that — as much as $65 million in exit packages — is being paid to the men who were ousted because of the allegations.

Mr. O’Reilly, 67, was forced out on Wednesday after the disclosure of several sexual harassment allegations against him and after an internal investigation found more women with complaints about his behavior. He was dismissed nine months after the network’s founding chairman, Roger E. Ailes, was ousted amid a sexual harassment scandal. Executives promised at that time that there was no room for “behavior that disrespects women or contributes to an uncomfortable work environment.“ Mr. Ailes received a $40 million package when he left.

On Wednesday, Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch, the top executives at 21st Century Fox, said in a memo announcing Mr. O’Reilly’s departure that they had a “consistent commitment to fostering a work environment built on the values of trust and respect.”

Since Mr. Ailes left, the network has made an effort to clean up its culture, dismissing some executives close to him, installing a new head of human resources and conducting a series of training and sensitivity sessions.

Some Fox News employees said Thursday that while the dismissal of Mr. O’Reilly was a step in the right direction, they remained skeptical that real change would occur. As examples of how the network had yet to change, the employees pointed to the fact that Bill Shine and Jack Abernethy, the network’s co-presidents and former lieutenants to Mr. Ailes, remained in their positions. Employees in the newsroom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss delicate internal matters.

The network continues to face sexual harassment suits, including one from Julie Roginsky, a current Fox News contributor, who has asserted that she faced retaliation for rebuffing Mr. Ailes’s sexual advances and for refusing to disparage Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News host who sued Mr. Ailes last summer. “Contrary to a new environment, it is an environment of cover up and protect,” Nancy Erika Smith, the lawyer for Ms. Roginsky and Ms. Carlson, said in an interview Thursday.

d that she had been contacted by other women who had complaints about sexual harassment at the network.

The abruptness of Mr. O’Reilly’s exit has created widespread uncertainty in the newsroom about the future of other executives, including Mr. Shine and Mr. Abernethy. But some people at Fox News said that it was unlikely that the Murdochs would allow a sense of capitulation to permeate the network and that keeping Mr. Shine and Mr. Abernethy in place would provide some needed stability at an anxious time.

Mr. Ailes and Mr. O’Reilly have denied the allegations of harassment.

Mr. O’Reilly’s ouster was a stunning reversal for 21st Century Fox, which had long stood by him even as allegations and settlements started to amass. Mr. O’Reilly, who started at Fox News in 1996, was considered the network’s top asset. His nightly program, “The O’Reilly Factor,” generated high ratings and pulled in hundreds of millions in advertising revenue.

But pressure mounted on the company to take action after a New York Times investigation early this month found that Mr. O’Reilly and the company had reached settlements with five women who had complained about sexual harassment or other inappropriate behavior by him. The agreements totaled about $13 million, the majority paid by him.

Earlier this year, the network extended Mr. O’Reilly’s contract by an additional four years. At the time, the company was aware of allegations of sexual harassment against him and had even reached two settlements involving such complaints. His previous contract had been set to expire this year.

But the new contract provided the company with some protections. Those included a provision that Mr. O’Reilly could be dismissed if the company was made aware of other allegations against him or if new ones arose, according to one person briefed on the matter. The contract also included provisions meant to get Mr. O’Reilly to address his behavior, the person said.

In addition, though the contract was extended for four more years, it also modified the company’s financial commitment to Mr. O’Reilly if he was dismissed, so that he would receive a maximum of one year’s salary, according to two people. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations.

The exact financial terms of Mr. O’Reilly’s exit package are not known, but it is expected that the company will disclose them in future regulatory filings.

In addition to Mr. O’Reilly’s payout and the settlements made involving him, 21st Century Fox has reached settlements with at least six women who accused him of sexual harassment, according to a person familiar with the matter.

One was Ms. Carlson, the former Fox News anchor. She sued Mr. Ailes last July and left the network with a $20 million settlement.

Last November, 21st Century Fox disclosed that for the three months that ended Sept. 30, the company had about $35 million in costs related to settlements of pending and potential litigation after Mr. Ailes was ousted.

EMILY AUSTEN FIRED BY FOX NETWORK FOR RACIST REMARKS (WHITE PRIVILEGE)

EMILY AUSTEN FIRED BY FOX NETWORK FOR RACIST REMARKS; IT'S ABOUT TIME

EMILY'S REMARKS REVEALED ARROGANCE, IGNORANCE & WHITE PRIVILEGE.

SUCH A REPRIMAND FROM FOX NETWORK LEADERSHIP IS LONG OVERDUE.

I HOPE THIS ACTION IS NOT JUST BECAUSE IT'S THE 2016 CAMPAIGN SEASON.

Sources: Bleacher Report, Foxsports, AJC, Barstools, Facebook, Youtube

***** Fox Sports Reporter Emily Austen Fired After 'Insensitive Comments' About Race

Fox Sports cut ties with Tampa Bay Rays and Orlando Magic sideline reporter Emily Austen after she made "insensitive comments" on a Facebook live stream with Barstool Sports, per Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times.

Austen called Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love "a little bitch" several times, noted she "didn't even know Mexicans were that smart" and said the "Chinese guy is always the smartest guy in math class."

The video is no longer on Barstool's site, but Kevin Draper of Deadspin found the entire clip (warning: NSFW language).

Toward the end of the session, Barstool'sDan Katz told Austen, "We might have to hire you because you're going to get fired."

Here's Fox's statement (via Jones):

We were made aware that Emily Austen appeared in a social media video unaffiliated with FOX Sports in which she made insensitive and derogatory comments. She was not speaking on behalf of FOX Sports, nor do we condone any of the statements she made in the video. Emily has been advised that her comments were unacceptable, and she is not scheduled to appear on any upcoming FOX Sports Florida or FOX Sports Sun broadcasts.

Rupert Murdoch's Media Empire Continues To Crumble: More Arrests!

Sun journalists and police officer arrested in corruption investigation

Four current and former senior Sun journalists and one serving police officer have been arrested as part of Scotland Yard's investigation into police corruption.

The Metropolitan police have also launched a search at News International's headquarters in Wapping, east London, in an attempt to secure any potential evidence relating to alleged payments to police by journalists.

Officers were accompanied by lawyers who arrived at the Sun's offices between 6am and 8am on Saturday morning. They are there to ensure that "journalist privilege" in relation to sources is not compromised.

It is the first time since the phone-hacking scandal erupted that the Sun has been targeted in such a major way, but sources stressed the dawn raid had nothing to do with voicemail interception and was solely related to paying police for stories.

The four Sun employees arrested are understood to be Mike Sullivan, the Sun's crime editor, the former managing editor Graham Dudman, the executive editor, Fergus Shanahan, and Chris Pharo, a newsdesk executive.

The arrests came after information was passed to the police by News Corporation's internal investigations unit, the Management and Standards Committee. It was set up by Rupert Murdoch in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal, which erupted last July, and operates independently of News International.

It is understood that staff and management at the Sun had no warning of the police plans to make arrests or conduct a search of the paper's newsroom.

A statement from News Corp in New York said: "Metropolitan police service (MPS) officers from Operation Elveden today arrested four current and former employees from the Sun newspaper. Searches have also taken place at the homes and offices of those arrested.

"News Corporation made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated.

"It commissioned the Management and Standards Committee to undertake a review of all News International titles, regardless of cost, and to proactively co-operate with law enforcement and other authorities if potentially relevant information arose at those titles.

"As a result of that review, which is ongoing, the MSC provided information to the Elveden investigation which led to today's arrests.

"No comment can be made on the nature of that information to avoid prejudicing the investigation and the rights of individuals."

The Management and Standards Committee has been charged with ridding the company of old practices and illegal activities such as phone hacking which led to the abrupt closure of the News of the World in July after 168 years. One source said. "They are there to drain the swamp."

In his witness statement to the Leveson inquiry earlier this month, the Sun's editor, Dominic Mohan, said: "To the best of my knowledge, the Sun has never knowingly paid or made payments in kind to police … for information."

Scotland Yard confirmed in a statement that the investigation "relates to suspected payments to police officers and is not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately."

It is understood that three of the four journalists were arrested before 8am on Saturday while the fourth was arrested in mid-morning.

"Home addresses of those arrested are currently being searched and officers are also carrying out a number of searches at the offices of News International in Wapping. These searches are expected to conclude this afternoon," the Met said in an earlier statement.

A source said police were interested in everything from "notepads, emails, Post-it notes".

All four men were being questioned at police stations in Essex and London, police said. Fourteen people have so far been arrested under Operation Elveden – 13 by the Metropolitan police and one by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

The operation is being run in conjunction with Operation Weeting, the Met inquiry into the phone hacking of voicemail boxes.

It was launched after officers were handed documents suggesting that News International journalists made illegal payments to police officers.

Others questioned as part of the inquiry include the former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, the ex-Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson, the former News of the World managing editor Stuart Kuttner, the paper's former royal editor Clive Goodman, the former News of the World crime editor Lucy Panton and the Sun district editor, Jamie Pyatt.

Brooks and Coulson are both former editors of the News of the World, which was closed in July at the height of the hacking scandal following revelations that the murdered teenager Milly Dowler's phone had been hacked.

Deborah Glass, the deputy chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, said: "It will be clear from today's events that this investigation is following the evidence.

"I am satisfied with the strenuous efforts being made by this investigation to identify police officers who may have taken corrupt payments, and I believe the results will speak for themselves."


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Sources: Guardian, ITN News, RT, Youtube, Google Maps

Murdoch Family Allegedly Attempts To Thwart Parliament Investigation (Media "Mafia")

Its Being Reported The Murdoch Family Is Allegedly Attempting To Block Or Thwart Parliament's Ability To Publicly Interrogate/ Inquire About How So-Called "Journalists" Within Their Employ Operated & Obtained Information For Stories.

I'm NOT Surprised!

Now The Whole World Knows What's REALLY Going On!

The Murdochs & "Sopranos" Appear To Both Fall Into The Same Category If You Know What I Mean.

My Tea Leaves Tell Me That It May Be Time For Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch To Go.

The Question Is Will He Go Quietly Or Attempt To Destroy Everyone In His Path Who Tries To Make Him Go?










British Leader Defends His Actions in Hacking Case

Prime Minister David Cameron went before a loud and rowdy session of Parliament on Wednesday to offer a spirited defense of his record in Britain’s phone hacking scandal. For the first time, he seemed to distance himself from a former Murdoch employee he had hired to work in 10 Downing Street.

Mr. Cameron’s appearance before a special sitting of the House of Commons offered one more remarkable moment of passion and spectacle, following the separate appearance of Rupert Murdoch and his son James before lawmakers on Tuesday for nearly three hours of questioning of one of the world’s most powerful media moguls by British legislators.

Their appearance — made yet more dramatic by a protester’s attack on Rupert Murdoch with a plate of shaving cream — did not seem on Wednesday to have come close to answering many of the questions the father and son faced about phone hacking in the British outpost of their media empire in 2002.




Indeed, one of the two parliamentary panels investigating the widening scandal released a scathing report on Wednesday accusing Murdoch companies of “deliberate attempts” to thwart its investigations, and said police inquiries had been a “catalog of failures” to investigate the issue.

The events played out against a backdrop of huge public revulsion over the central allegation that The News of the World, a now-defunct tabloid closed down by Mr. Murdoch earlier this month, ordered a private investigator to hack the voice mail of Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old girl abducted and murdered in 2002. So great is the interest in the affair that the BBC devoted live television coverage on Wednesday to what it said was the Murdochs’ executive jet flying out of Luton airport north of London. Its destination was not announced.

The gathering of so many emotive issues, laced with big money deals, tabloid scandal and long-running British suspicion of the Murdoch machine, has crystallized into the most serious crisis of credibility and confidence of Mr. Cameron’s 15 months in office — a crisis in which he seemed to be trying on Wednesday to regain some of the initiative seized earlier by the Labour opposition leader, Ed Miliband.

Mr. Cameron returned home early from an African trade tour late Tuesday to face questions about his relationships with former senior figures at News International, the British subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s global News Corporation, particularly his choice of a former Murdoch employee, Andy Coulson, as his director of communications.

Mr. Coulson, a former editor of The News of the World tabloid, resigned from the prime minister’s office in January and was among 10 people who were arrested in the affair.

Referring to his decision to hire Mr. Coulson, Mr. Cameron said, “I regret and I am extremely sorry about the furor it has caused.”

“With 20-20 hindsight and all that has followed,” he said, “I would not have offered him the job and I expect that he wouldn’t have taken it. But you don’t make decisions in hindsight, you make them in the present. You live and you learn and, believe you me, I have learned.” He added that Mr. Coulson had been properly vetted before joining his staff and had given “assurances” that he had not been involved in phone hacking.

It was the closest Mr. Cameron has come to an apology, and seemed to show that the prime minister was distancing himself from his former aide.

But Mr. Cameron continued to defend Mr. Coulson’s work as director of communications and said he had “an old-fashioned view about innocence until proven guilty.” If it is proved that Mr. Coulson lied to him, he said, “that will be the moment for a profound apology.”



“It was my decision” to hire Mr. Coulson, Mr. Cameron said, “and I take responsibility.”

Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour opposition, responded by saying Mr. Cameron’s position had been compromised by his association with Mr. Coulson. “Why doesn’t he do more than give a half-apology?” Mr. Miliband asked.

Referring to Mr. Cameron, Mr. Miliband said: “He says in hindsight he made a mistake by hiring Mr. Coulson. He says if Mr. Coulson lied to him, he would apologize. That isn’t good enough. It’s not about hindsight, it’s not about whether Mr. Coulson lied to him. It’s about all the information and warnings the prime minister ignored. He was warned and he preferred to ignore the warnings.”

Mr. Cameron was questioned repeatedly about a New York Times investigation into The News of the World that was published in September 2010.

“There was no information in The New York Times September 2010 article to make me change my mind about Mr. Coulson,” Mr. Cameron said.

The article found that hacking was widespread, and quoted two former News of the World journalists as saying that phone hacking was discussed in Mr. Coulson’s presence.

One of the former journalists, Sean Hoare, who was found dead this week at his home of unexplained causes, was quoted on the record as saying that Mr. Coulson encouraged him to do it.

Shortly after the Times article was published, an opposition Labour lawmaker, Tom Watson, said he raised his concerns about Mr. Coulson with Mr. Cameron in a letter but never received a reply.

Mr. Miliband noted that the article led the police to reopen their investigation. Why, Mr. Miliband asked, did alarm bells not ring in the prime minister’s office?

Mr. Cameron also was asked why, following the article’s publication, his chief of staff, Ed Llewellyn, declined to be briefed by police officials. Mr. Cameron said Mr. Llewellyn had not acted improperly in turning down the offer.

“Ed Llewellyn’s reply to the police made clear that it would not be appropriate to give me or my staff any privileged briefing. The reply that he sent was cleared in advance by my permanent secretary, Jeremy Heywood. Just imagine if they had done the opposite and asked for, or acquiesced in receiving, privileged information — even if there was no intention to use it,” Mr. Cameron said.

“There would have been quite justified outrage,” he said. “To risk any perception that No. 10 was seeking to influence a sensitive police investigation in any way would have been completely wrong.”



He also said there had been no breach of regulations when his government was considering a $12 billion bid by the Murdoch family to assume full control of Britain’s biggest satellite broadcaster.

The Murdochs have since withdrawn the bid for British Sky Broadcasting under strong political pressure. Mr. Cameron said he had had no “inappropriate conversations” with News Corporation executives about the bid at the time it seemed likely to be approved by his government.

Mr. Cameron also said that “to the best of my knowledge” he had not known that Mr. Coulson had had consultations with another former News of the World executive, Neil Wallis, who has also been arrested. Mr. Wallis had not been employed by or contracted by his Conservative party, Mr. Cameron said.

British political analysts said that, with his appearance in Parliament on Wednesday, Mr. Cameron was seeking to draw a line under the crisis — at least for the time being — as Parliament goes into summer recess until Sept. 5 and many lawmakers leave the capital for vacations or their home areas outside London. Mr. Cameron appealed for cross-party cooperation in facing the crisis. “Over the past two weeks, a torrent of revelations and allegations has engulfed some of this country’s most important institutions. It has shaken people’s trust in the media and the legality of what they do, in the police and their ability to investigate media malpractice, and, yes, in politics and in politicians’ ability to get to grips with these issues,” he said.

“People desperately want us to put a stop to the illegal practices, to ensure the independence and effectiveness of the police and to establish a more healthy relationship between politicians and media owners,” he said.

“The public want us to work together to sort this problem out,” he said, “because until we do so it will not be possible to get back to the issues they care about even more, getting our economy moving, creating jobs, helping with the cost of living, protecting them from terrorism, restoring fairness to our welfare and immigration systems.”


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Sources: AP, CNN, Hollywood Reporter, NY Times, TIME, Youtube, Google Maps

Murdoch Vs. Sean Hoare's Strange Death: Warning To Others? Conspiracy?

Its About Time Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch Finally Reaps What He & Fox News Has Sown.

i.e., Dirty Journalism, Racist Views, Racial Discord, Lies, Division, etc., Thus I'm NOT Surprised In The Least Bit Of The Backlash He's Currently Experiencing.

He Bloody Deserves It!

But Wait A Minute!

Just When We Thought Things Couldn't Get Any Worse For Murdoch Sean Hoare, A Journalist Who Blew The Whistle On Murdoch's News Media Empire Destructive Phone Hacking Scheme, Was Recently Found Dead In His London Home.

Could Hoare's Death Be Considered A Warning To Other Whistleblowers & Witnesses?

Would Murdoch Stoop So Low To Do Just About Anything To Save His Empire Or Was Hoare's Death Caused By Suicide?

Can You Say "Godfather"?

Whether Or Not Murdoch's Media Empire Will Be Able To Survive This Horrific Scandal Remains To Be Seen.

Because Despite Murdoch's Attempts To Make This Story Quickly Disappear, I Have A Feeling Its Going To Be The Talk Of Town For Years.

This International Scandal May Also Be What Finally Topples Murdoch's Vast Media Empire.

Stay Tuned As The Murdoch Empire Phone Hacking "Soap Opera/Reality TV Show" Continues.






Sean Hoare knew how destructive the News of the World could be

At a time when the reputation of News of the World journalists is at rock bottom, it needs to be said that the paper's former showbusiness correspondent Sean Hoare, who died on Monday, was a lovely man.

In the saga of the phone-hacking scandal, he distinguished himself by being the first former NoW journalist to come out on the record, telling the New York Times last year that his former friend and editor, Andy Coulson, had actively encouraged him to hack into voicemail.

That took courage. But he had a particularly powerful motive for speaking. He knew how destructive the News of the World could be, not just for the targets of its exposés, but also for the ordinary journalists who worked there, who got caught up in its remorseless drive for headlines.

Explaining why he had spoken out, he told me: "I want to right a wrong, lift the lid on it, the whole culture. I know, we all know, that the hacking and other stuff is endemic. Because there is so much intimidation. In the newsroom, you have people being fired, breaking down in tears, hitting the bottle."

He knew this very well, because he was himself a victim of the News of the World. As a showbusiness reporter, he had lived what he was happy to call a privileged life. But the reality had ruined his physical health: "I was paid to go out and take drugs with rock stars – get drunk with them, take pills with them, take cocaine with them. It was so competitive. You are going to go beyond the call of duty. You are going to do things that no sane man would do. You're in a machine."

While it was happening, he loved it. He came from a working-class background of solid Arsenal supporters, always voted Labour, defined himself specifically as a "clause IV" socialist who still believed in public ownership of the means of production. But, working as a reporter, he suddenly found himself up to his elbows in drugs and delirium.

He rapidly arrived at the Sun's Bizarre column, then run by Coulson. He recalled: "There was a system on the Sun. We broke good stories. I had a good relationship with Andy. He would let me do what I wanted as long as I brought in a story. The brief was, 'I don't give a fuck'."

He was a born reporter. He could always find stories. And, unlike some of his nastier tabloid colleagues, he did not play the bully with his sources. He was naturally a warm, kind man, who could light up a lamp-post with his talk. From Bizarre, he moved to the Sunday People, under Neil Wallis, and then to the News of the World, where Andy Coulson had become deputy editor. And, persistently, he did as he was told and went out on the road with rock stars, befriending them, bingeing with them, pausing only to file his copy.

He made no secret of his massive ingestion of drugs. He told me how he used to start the day with "a rock star's breakfast" – a line of cocaine and a Jack Daniels – usually in the company of a journalist who now occupies a senior position at the Sun. He reckoned he was using three grammes of cocaine a day, spending about £1,000 a week. Plus endless alcohol. Looking back, he could see it had done him enormous damage. But at the time, as he recalled, most of his colleagues were doing it, too.

"Everyone got overconfident. We thought we could do coke, go to Brown's, sit in the Red Room with Paula Yates and Michael Hutchence. Everyone got a bit carried away."

It must have scared the rest of Fleet Street when he started talking – he had bought, sold and snorted cocaine with some of the most powerful names in tabloid journalism. One retains a senior position on the Daily Mirror. "I last saw him in Little Havana," he recalled, "at three in the morning, on his hands and knees. He had lost his cocaine wrap. I said to him, 'This is not really the behaviour we expect of a senior journalist from a great Labour paper.' He said, 'Have you got any fucking drugs?'"

And the voicemail hacking was all part of the great game. The idea that it was a secret, or the work of some "rogue reporter", had him rocking in his chair: "Everyone was doing it. Everybody got a bit carried away with this power that they had. No one came close to catching us." He would hack messages and delete them so the competition could not hear them, or hack messages and swap them with mates on other papers.

In the end, his body would not take it any more. He said he started to have fits, that his liver was in such a terrible state that a doctor told him he must be dead. And, as his health collapsed, he was sacked by the News of the World – by his old friend Coulson.

When he spoke out about the voicemail hacking, some Conservative MPs were quick to smear him, spreading tales of his drug use as though that meant he was dishonest. He was genuinely offended by the lies being told by News International and always willing to help me and other reporters who were trying to expose the truth. He was equally offended when Scotland Yard's former assistant commissioner, John Yates, assigned officers to interview him, not as a witness but as a suspect. They told him anything he said could be used against him, and, to his credit, he refused to have anything to do with them.

His health never recovered. He liked to say that he had stopped drinking, but he would treat himself to some red wine. He liked to say he didn't smoke any more, but he would stop for a cigarette on his way home. For better and worse, he was a Fleet Street man.


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Sources: AP, CNN, Guardian.co.uk, Hollywood Reporter, Youtube, Google Maps

Fox News Silent On Murdoch Empire Hacking Scandal (FBI Investigates)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Murdochs to give evidence at phone-hacking hearing

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and his son James will attend a hearing over the phone-hacking scandal before British lawmakers next Tuesday, their company, News International, told CNN Thursday.

The House of Commons had issued the pair a summons to appear after the Murdochs initially told the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee they could not attend the July 19 hearing.

News Corp. boss Rupert Murdoch wrote to the committee earlier that he was "not available to attend," although he said he was "fully prepared to give evidence to the forthcoming judge-led public inquiry."

That investigation was launched Wednesday by Prime Minister David Cameron in response to allegations that journalists working for Murdoch's media empire illegally eavesdropped on phone messages of thousands of people and bribed police.

James Murdoch, who heads the News International newspaper group, a News Corp. subsidiary, had said he could not appear before lawmakers before August 10 or 11.

Former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks, who is now chief executive of News International, had already agreed to testify before the committee on July 19.

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee issued a statement saying it wanted all three to appear "to account for the behaviour of News International and for previous statements made to the committee in Parliament, now acknowledged to be false."

Some of the most serious hacking claims relate to the period when Brooks was editor of News of the World, one of News International's papers.

In a letter to the select committee, Brooks said she was available to appear "and welcome the opportunity to do so." However, she said she would not feel able to respond to questions that might prejudice the police investigation into the allegations.

Meanwhile, police announced they arrested a 60-year-old man Thursday morning in London in connection with the phone-hacking probe, the seventh person arrested in the investigation.

The suspect has not been formally named by police but the Press Association news agency reports that he is Neil Wallis, a former executive editor of the News of the World.

Wallis also served on the Press Complaints Commission, the British newspaper industry's self-regulating body, which has been broadly criticized in recent days for failing to act against press misconduct.



A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed to CNN Thursday that a media consultancy company owned by Wallis, Chamy Media, had been appointed to provide communications advice to the Metropolitan Police Service from 2009 to 2010.

Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May wrote to London's top police officer, Sir Paul Stephenson, Thursday evening asking for the full picture about his links to Wallis, a Home Office spokesman confirmed to CNN. The spokesman did not give his name, in line with Home Office policy.

The commissioner appeared earlier before the Metropolitan Police Authority Thursday to answer questions about Scotland Yard's investigation into allegations of phone hacking and police bribery by journalists working for News International.

Asked if he regretted his decision in 2006 to have dinner with Wallis, then deputy editor of the News of the World, Stephenson said he was confident he had acted appropriately.

"I do not believe that on any occasion I have acted inappropriately. I am very satisfied with my own integrity," he told the independent regulators' meeting.

But he acknowledged that public perceptions of such meetings between senior police and media figures could be different. At the time of the dinner, police were investigating earlier complaints of misconduct by the News of the World.

The Metropolitan Police Authority meeting followed the announcement of an independent probe into the press, including journalists' relations with police.

A relative of a Brazilian man shot dead by London police weeks after the July 2005 terror attacks is the latest to say his phone number was on a list belonging to a private investigator at the center of the phone-hacking investigation.



The family of Jean Charles de Menezes, whom officers shot dead after mistaking him for a suicide bomber, called for the prime minister to extend the inquiry into the phone-hacking scandal to look at whether police also leaked information on his case to the press.

Cameron launched the wide-ranging investigation into the British press Wednesday shortly before News Corp. withdrew its bid to take over British satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

The moves came in the wake of public and political fury at allegations that journalists working for Murdoch illegally eavesdropped on phone messages of thousands of people and bribed police.

"It has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate," News Corp. Deputy Chairman Chase Carey said in announcing the company would end its attempt to increase its 39.1% share in BSkyB.

Cameron blasted Murdoch's company as he launched the high-powered inquiry, saying News Corp. executives need to focus not on taking over BSkyB, "but on clearing up the mess and getting their house in order."

He welcomed the withdrawal of the bid, which came hours before lawmakers voted across party lines to pass a symbolic measure urging Murdoch to give up his effort to take full ownership of the broadcaster, in which he already owns a controlling stake.

Opposition leader Ed Miliband of the Labour party -- who pushed the vote against the takeover -- welcomed the News Corp. decision and said it would not have happened had lawmakers not pressured Murdoch.

"The will of politicians was clear, the will of the public was clear, and now Britain's most powerful media owner has had to bend to that will," said Miliband, speaking as politicians rowdily debated the measure in the House of Commons.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose family's private records are alleged to have been obtained by News International newspapers, said it was vital to maintain the right to a free press.

But, he said, staff at News International, a subsidiary of News Corp., "cynically manipulated our support of that vital freedom as their justification and then callously used the defense of a free press as the banner under which they marched in step, I say, with members of the criminal underworld."

The criminality was "not the misconduct of a few rogues or a few freelancers," he said, but was carried out "often on an industrial scale -- at its worst dependent on links with the British criminal underworld."

In announcing the public inquiry into press practices and ethics, Cameron said anyone "found guilty of wrongdoing -- or of allowing it -- must not only be brought to justice, they must also have no future role in the running of a media company in our country."

The judge leading the inquiry will be able to summon witnesses, including newspaper owners, and compel them to testify in public, under oath, Cameron announced.

The investigation will look at whether News International, or other newspaper groups broke the law, their relations with the police and politicians and press ethics and practices.

The aim is to "bring this ugly chapter to a close and ensure that nothing like it ever happens again," the prime minister said.

The inquiries come in the wake of the accusation that victims of phone hacking included a missing 13-year-old girl, Milly Dowler, who was later found to have been murdered.

Cameron met with the girl's family Wednesday. Miliband and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg met with them separately earlier in the week.

The Dowlers are "delighted" by the launch of the judge-led investigation and pleased that politicians across the spectrum are working together on the issue, the family's lawyer, Mark Lewis, said after the meeting with Cameron.

Miliband hammered Cameron for having hired a former top News International journalist to be his communications director after the editor left his newspaper, News of the World, in the wake of one of its journalists going to prison over phone hacking.

The editor, Andy Coulson, insisted he knew nothing about the crime but resigned from News of the World because it happened on his watch. Coulson resigned as Cameron's spokesman this year when the scandal blew up afresh.

Journalists are accused of attempting to bribe police officers for information -- including personal contact details for members of the royal family -- in addition to the violation of privacy allegations.

The News of the World, which was Britain's best-selling newspaper, folded Sunday over other allegations of illegal breach of privacy at the order of James Murdoch.

The police officer leading the investigation said Tuesday they had identified 3,870 potential targets of phone-hacking and had notified 170 of them. The officer, Sue Akers, said a team of 45 police were going through 11,000 pages of documents seized from a private investigator working for News of the World.

The documents contain some 4,000 cell phone numbers and 5,000 land lines, Cameron said.

Murdoch flew Sunday to London, hours after the final edition of News of the World hit the stands. The publication was the first British national paper Murdoch bought, in 1969, as he began to propel himself from Australian newspaper proprietor to international media magnate.

News International owns the Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times in Britain.

Murdoch's News Corp. also encompasses Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and Harper Collins publishers.


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Murdoch's Empire Not Hurt By U.K. News Hacking Scandal

Even After He Closes His Corrupt "News Of The World" Media Organization Located In The U.K., Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch's Net Worth Will Still Be $7.6 Billion.

WOW!




Rupert Murdoch: Snapshot of an empire

Entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch is a self-made billionaire with impressive holdings and investments worldwide. Murdoch is CEO of News Corp., the parent company of News International, which recently announced the closing of one of the UK's longest-running newspapers, News of the World. Read on to learn more about Murdoch and his media empire.

Born: March 11, 1931

Birth place: Australia

Residence: New York

Education: Oxford University

Family: Married, 6 children

Net worth: $7.6 billion (estimated)

A sampling of Murdoch's holdings is listed below:

United States:

Fox Television (including Fox TV, Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Sports, FX, SPEED, myNetworkTV)

20th Century Fox
Wall Street Journal
New York Post
Community Newspaper Group
Dow Jones
HarperCollins
News America Marketing
The Daily (iPad)


United Kingdom:

The Sun
The Times
The Sunday Times
News of the World (closing)

Europe:

SKY Italia
BSkyB (39% stake)
Sky Deutschland
FOXTEL

Australia:

Murdoch owns almost 150 brands in Australia's publishing industry.

A few include:

The Australian
The Courier-Mail
The Daily Telegraph
Weekly Times
The Mercury
NT News
Inside Out
Herald Sun
Gold Coast Bulletin
ALPHA Magazine


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Murdoch's UK Tabloid Secrets Exposed! Dirty Journalism!

Hacking scandal exposed secrets at Murdoch's tabloid

In 2005, the best-selling weekly UK tabloid News of the World published a seemingly mundane story about Prince William's injuring his knee.

It was just another exclusive for a newspaper that had made its reputation on hard-hitting exclusives, often exposing the embarrassments of celebrities and politicians.

Britain's newspaper culture which developed around London's Fleet Street, nicknamed the "Street of Shame" by satirical magazine Private Eye, has long been based on cut-throat competition and dirty dealings -- anything goes, if you can land the big story.

But this scoop was different from the others. Royal officials realized that it could only have been sourced by the illegal interception of Prince William's mobile phone voicemail, and complained to the police.

This started a chain reaction of allegation and scandal that enveloped not just members of the royal family and celebrities but also murder victims and those injured in terrorist attacks.

It is linked to the office of UK Prime Minister David Cameron whose judgement has been called into question by opposition lawmakers, including Labour leader Ed Milliband for later employing the editor of the paper as his press spokesman. The growing scandal implicates London's police force and has now brought down one of the biggest assets of Rupert Murdoch's media empire.

News of the World, the world's top-selling English-language newspaper, is owned by News International, which also owns the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times in Britain. Murdoch's News Corps media empire also encompasses Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and Harper Collins publishers.

The initial complaint led to the arrest of News of the World's royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. Both were convicted in 2007 of conspiracy to intercept phone messages and jailed.

The paper's editor Andy Coulson also resigned, saying he knew nothing about the hacking of phones but accepted "ultimate responsibility." But he continued to attract flak after his resignation, especially when he became Cameron's media spokesman.

A series of investigations by police and the country's newspaper watchdog followed the arrest of Goodman and Mulcaire, all of which concluded that phone hacking was not widespread at the Sunday tabloid, and there was no evidence executives knew about the practice.

But the story refused to die, thanks to the doggedness of the left-of-center newspaper The Guardian which published a series of stories about the scandal. Celebrities and public figures also came forward alleging their phones had been hacked; some launched legal actions against News of the World and the police for allegedly failing to investigate.

When asked for comment by CNN about the allegations, the Metropolitan Police said prosecutors are re-examining the evidence from the original phone hacking investigation, and therefore the police will not comment further.

In a New York Times article last year former News of the World journalist Sean Hoare alleged that phone hacking was common practice at the newspaper.

Police launched a new investigation this year into hacking by journalists in response to widespread complaints from politicians, celebrities and other high-profile figures who fear they have been targets. News of the World's parent company News International paid out compensation to various victims, including actress Sienna Miller and publicist Max Clifford, and issued a public apology in April.

News International said in its statement: "Following an extensive internal investigation and disclosures through civil legal cases, News International has decided to approach some civil litigants with an unreserved apology and an admission of liability in cases meeting specific criteria."

The company added that it has asked its lawyers to set up a compensation fund to deal with "justifiable" claims -- but would contest cases that it believed were without merit.

"That said, past behavior at the News of the World in relation to voicemail interception is a matter of genuine regret. It is now apparent that our previous inquiries failed to uncover important evidence and we acknowledge our actions then were not sufficiently robust."

In January, amid growing speculation he knew about the hacking, Coulson resigned as Cameron's official spokesman. Cameron said Coulson -- who continues to deny the claims -- was quitting because of the continuing pressures on him and his family. The former newspaper editor also believed that the focus surrounding the issue was "impeding his ability to do his job and was starting to prove a distraction for the government," Cameron added.

The story was only propelled onto the front pages in July when police revealed that News of the World possibly hacked into the voicemail of a murdered schoolgirl, Milly Dowler, and victims of the London bombings.

The allegation stunned media watchers. "Outside of the political elite in Britain, this story has had little traction until now," said Roy Greenslade, a former editor of the Daily Mirror and an assistant editor of the Sun, a sister paper of News of The World.

"The allegations about the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone have the potential to change that. This is a step change: before we had hacking of celebrities and politicians, but here we have the interference of a murder inquiry involving a 13-year-old girl."

The father of one victim of the London bombings of 2005, in which 52 people died, said police also told him he was a possible hacking target.

The allegations sparked outrage, with opposition lawmakers demanding -- and obtaining -- a promise of a public inquiry. They have also demanded the resignation of the paper's then-editor, Rebekah Brooks, who was promoted to chief executive of News International in 2009. Several advertisers including Ford Motor Company said they were reviewing their accounts with News of the World.



In a memo to News International staff, widely circulated in the UK media before the announcement that News of the World would close, Brooks said it was "inconceivable that I knew or worse, sanctioned these appalling allegations."

"It is almost too horrific to believe that a professional journalist or even a freelance inquiry agent working on behalf of a member of the News of the World staff could behave in this way.

If the allegations are proved to be true then I can promise the strongest possible action will be taken as this company will not tolerate such disgraceful behavior."

Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott told CNN the failure of police officers to investigate the scandal properly pointed to the fact "something is rotten in the state of England."

Prescott, whose affair with a secretary was splashed across the front pages in 2006, said officers initially dismissed his fears that his voicemail had been intercepted and investigated his complaint only when he took legal action. Eventually he said police told him his phone had been hacked into on 44 occasions.



"You've got a very close relationship between the press and the police. Then a close relationship between them and the prosecuting officers," Prescott said.

"And it's now very clear that not all the information was made available, criminal acts were ... being committed by the papers and nobody really acted effectively on it. They just tended to deny it, that it was only one paper, a rogue reporter. Totally untrue."

One lawyer who is acting for up to 40 alleged hacking victims said the scandal showed some journalists had completely lost their moral compass.

"Phone-hacking was just one of the unlawful ways in which there was intrusion by journalists into the private lives of individuals," said Mark Lewis. "This was not just about celebrities, they didn't care whose lives they ruined.

"Phone hacking was too easy. It encouraged lazy journalism and dishonest practices. Journalists seemed to have no morals," he added.

One disillusioned former reporter for various newspapers said pressure contributed to the culture that led to illegal activities.

"Using private investigators to get a story gave you a great leap over rivals, so it's no surprise that phone hacking has reached the endemic level it has," said Dan Waddell, who added that he never himself hacked a mobile phone.

"This is symptomatic of the pressure piled on journalists, especially on a tabloid, who must get the story at all costs. As a reporter you don't want to be the one who gets shouted at by your boss."


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Murdoch's "News Of The World" Shuts Down! Fox News Next?

Murdoch's scandal-hit News of the World to shut down

The embattled British tabloid News of the World, one of the oldest and best-selling newspapers in Britain, will shut down after Sunday's issue, its owner, News International, told CNN Thursday.

The dramatic announcement follows accusations that the paper illegally eavesdropped on the phone messages of murder and terror victims, politicians and celebrities.

The scandal "sullied" the newspaper and "has no place in our company," News International Chairman James Murdoch said Thursday in announcing the shutdown.

And paying out-of-court settlements to some victims was "wrong and a matter of serious regret," Murdoch said. He is a son of media magnate Rupert Murdoch, the head of News Corp., which owns News International.


The paper's roughly 200 employees are now out of jobs, but are free to apply for other positions within News International, the company said.

The 168-year-old newspaper, which sells more than 2.5 million copies every Sunday, was brought down by an avalanche of public and political fury in the wake of revelations that the hacking victims included a missing 13-year-old girl who was later found to have been murdered.

In an interview for UK media, James Murdoch said he, his father and the company felt "regret" over what had happened.

He insisted he was satisfied that Rebekah Brooks -- the current chief executive of News International and former editor of the News of the World who has been the target of calls to step down -- "neither had knowledge of nor directed the activities."

He said the company was committed to doing the right thing, by cooperating with police and putting in place a process to make sure such practices did not happen again. All revenue from the paper's final edition will go to "good causes," he said earlier.

On Wednesday, Rupert Murdoch himself called allegations against his flagship Sunday paper "deplorable and unacceptable."

Prime Minister David Cameron Wednesday called the possibility that the hacking had taken place "absolutely disgusting" and backed calls for an independent inquiry into the affair after a police investigation concludes.

The scandal is potentially damaging to Cameron himself because he is close to current and former top officials at the News of the World's parent company, former Tony Blair spokesman Alastair Campbell told CNN Thursday.

Police launched a special investigation into the allegations of phone hacking on behalf of the newspaper in January of this year. It was the second police probe into the issue.

On Thursday, shortly before James Murdoch's announcement, police said they have identified the names of nearly 4,000 potential victims.

Police launched the new investigation this year in response to widespread complaints from high-profile figures who feared they may have been targets.

But the revelation this week that victims may have included the murdered girl, the families of terror victims and of British troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, raised the scandal to a new level.

The Royal British Legion, a top military veterans' organization, said Thursday it was suspending ties with the newspaper after the accusations.

A flood of advertisers announced Wednesday and Thursday that they were dropping campaigns with the tabloid.

Prof. Steven Fielding, at the Centre for British Politics at the University of Nottingham, told CNN it seemed News International had decided the brand was so badly damaged that it made more sense to close the paper.

But he believes the company will soon launch another paper in its place.

"I'm deeply skeptical that this actually means they will not be producing a Sunday paper in the near future, relaunched and repackaged -- a Sunday newspaper that will do very similar things to the News of the World, because it's the biggest selling Sunday (paper). It's a cash cow that will be subsidizing other papers, certainly The Times."



Chris Goodall, an analyst at the media research firm Enders Analysis, said the News of the World was the "sacrificial lamb being taken out into the desert and killed" in order to try to save the Murdoch empire's bid to take over UK broadcaster BSkyB.

"It's a recognition that for whatever reason, the News of the World was affecting the public perception of the bid for BSkyB and was likely to make it more difficult, so it was easier and cheaper to close it down," he told CNN.

He suggested News International might publish the News of the World's sister paper, The Sun, seven days a week instead.

Meanwhile, News International says it is co-operating with the police investigation into the accusations against it, which also include bribing police officers, and has welcomed "calls for a broad public inquiry into standards and practices in the industry."

The company is "close to identifying" how the hacking of murdered teenager Milly Dowler's phone happened, a News International source told CNN, declining to be named discussing internal corporate business.

The revelation that the girl's phone had been hacked after she was reported missing in 2002, and that messages were deleted, giving her parents hope she was alive when she had already been murdered, outraged Britain this week.

News International said Thursday that if the accusation of hacking into the messages of fallen troops' families was true, "we are absolutely appalled and horrified."

It made similar statements about the Milly Dowler accusation and the allegation it had targeted the families of people killed in the July 7, 2005, suicide bombings in London.

Graham Foulkes, whose son was killed in the terrorist attack, said Wednesday his phone number and home address were found in the files of a private investigator working for the News of the World.

"We are no longer talking about politicians and celebrities but murder victims, potentially terrorist victims. It's absolutely disgusting what has taken place," Cameron said Wednesday. "I think everyone in this house and country will be revolted by what they've heard and seen on their TV screens."

But Cameron said the inquiry could not begin until after the police investigation was done, for fear of interfering with it.

Cameron hired the News of the World's former editor, Andy Coulson -- who resigned from the paper after an initial complaint of hacking led to a journalist and investigator being jailed in 2007 -- as his communications director.

Coulson stood down from that role in January as questions mounted over what he had known about the affair.

On Thursday, London's Metropolitan Police said they were asking the Independent Police Complaints Commission to investigate the possible bribery of police officers by people working for the media group.

The announcement came a day after the police said they would investigate the case themselves.

"However, in view of the significant public and political concern expressed following the publication of this information," police Thursday "made a formal referral to the IPCC," they said in a statement.

News International Wednesday confirmed it had given police paperwork related to the possible bribery, calling the handover evidence of its "determination as a company to deal responsibly and correctly with the issues."

Phone hacking involves calling a phone from two other phones at the same time, sending one caller to voice mail. That caller then enters the code number to retrieve voice mail remotely. Hackers depend on the fact that many people never change the default PIN for voice mail retrieval.

The paper has apologized for hacking into the voice mails of celebrities and politicians, paying compensation to actress Sienna Miller and offering money to others.

At least five people have been arrested in connection with phone hacking investigations this year since a new investigation, Operation Weeting, was launched in January.

Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and a journalist working for the News of the World were sent to prison in 2007 for hacking into the voice mails of royal staff in an earlier investigation.

News of the World was the first British Fleet Street newspaper Rupert Murdoch bought, in 1969, as he began to propel himself from Australian newspaper proprietor to international media magnate.

In addition to owning News of the World, News International owns the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times in Britain.

Murdoch's News Corp. also encompasses Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and Harper Collins publishers.


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