Douglas Caddy

The question James Murdoch can't answer: will his father's empire survive? Unless James Murdoch proves particularly impressive in his Commons grilling on Thursday, his family may cease to be a force in British life By Henry Porter The Observer, Saturday 5 November 2011 It is difficult not to feel something for James Murdoch, as he prepares to answer questions for a second time at the House of Commons media committee. This is a man – not a bad man by any means – who is faced with maintaining a plea of ignorance when everyone knows that as the man responsible for running News International, not only should he have known about the extent of phone-hacking at the News of the World, he almost certainly did know. It stretches credulity to suggest he was not briefed with the facts about the toxic waste lying in the basement after he succeeded Les Hinton in 2007. Indeed, new evidence – emails, a note and a legal opinion prepared for the News of the World, released by the committee – seems to point to a much more detailed knowledge of the scandal than he is admitting to. The new facts are these. On 27 May 2008, the News of the World editor, Colin Myler, had a telephone conversation with a lawyer named Julian Pike at Farrer & Co, the solicitor representing the News of the World, about the possibility of settling with Gordon Taylor, the head of the Professional Footballers' Association, whose phone had been hacked. Pike made a note as they spoke and wrote down that Myler "spoke to James Murdoch". A few days later (3 June), News International received an opinion from its counsel, Michael Silverleaf QC, which warned of "overwhelming evidence of involvement of a number of senior journalists". Leave this new material aside and just for a moment consider the nature of tabloid newspaper executives. This is not a class of people given to glorious self-sacrifice. The elementary requirement of the job is to pass blame down the line and responsibility up to senior management. Men such as Tom Crone, the legal manager at the News of the World and recipient of the damning opinion from Silverleaf, and Colin Myler had absolutely no reason to keep this information to themselves. Indeed, emails between Myler, Crone and Pike suggest that Myler talked in detail to Murdoch about the real extent of the problem, as Myler has testified. So I may eat my hat and several goldfish if Murdoch manages to convince the world that he was not completely aware of and condoned the cover-up of the scandal, which, incidentally, is now believed by the police to have involved 5,795 separate individuals, somewhat revised from their original estimate of "a handful". At this moment, Murdoch is no doubt seeking to navigate his way through these new obstacles and produce a performance that is consistent with the evidence he gave alongside his father in the summer. It's going to be an ordeal because it seems entirely possible that he is holding two contrary thoughts in his head: a strategy of denial, inherited from the previous administration and tacitly blessed by his father, and the truth, which is that all the key senior figures at News International knew exactly what lay in the basement. He has been landed in this mess by his father, who denied knowledge of the scandal and shamefully blamed his subordinates, but also by his father's clannish need for a successor with his genes at News Corp. What must make it all the more painful for Murdoch is that an article by Sarah Ellison in Vanity Fair, for which I also work, suggests that Rupert contemplated a proposal from James's sister, Elisabeth, that he should resign after the closure of the News of the World. Life in the Murdoch family is like high-altitude Tennessee Williams, but the drama is not playing well with investors of News Corp in the US, especially the revelation that James and Elisabeth, plus Murdoch's other two adult children, Lachlan and Prudence, took part in a family therapy session to decide who would succeed their father as head of News Corp. Normally, this is left to a board of directors, not the offspring of a minority stake. The more immediate issue, if Murdoch does not succeed in convincing the committee, is his position as chairman of BSkyB, the broadcasting company that News International failed to buy out in the summer after the hacking scandal broke. In July, the independent directors supported Murdoch but this will change if he is discredited during questioning by committee stars such as Tom Watson, Paul Farrelly and Louise Mensch, because he could not, in those circumstances, continue to meet the standards of a "fit and proper person" required of a broadcasting licence holder by Ofcom. It became clear how much rides on his appearance when culture secretary Jeremy Hunt refused to back him in the Commons after being pressed by Labour MP Chris Bryant. So, Murdoch allies on the board may have an awkward choice between his interests and those of other shareholders. Three weeks after the hearing, Murdoch must make another appearance in front of the AGM of BSkyB shareholders. Like the recent AGM of News Corp in Los Angeles, this may be a rough ride, and let's not forget the pall that hangs over NI on account of two ongoing police investigations, the Leveson inquiry and 16 arrests of past and present employees, the most recent being of a Sun reporter in connection with payments to police officers. These are incredible pressures for a relatively untested 38-year-old man who must comply with a disastrous strategy that was not originally of his devising and who has not received all the support he should from his family. As Ellison points out, the conflict between feelings of protectiveness for his 80-year-old father and impulses of resentment must be extremely hard, which is why he has my sympathy. The phone-hacking scandal is a story of folly and arrogance, as well as corruption. We may well be watching the slow-motion disintegration of one of the greatest business empires and most formidable political influences ever known in the democratic world. There is a long way to go, but the thing to remember, especially by those commentators who continue to maintain that phone-hacking is an essentially frivolous issue, is that the scandal at News International may also involve extensive police corruption. When I spoke a couple of months ago to a US senator about the possibility of large-scale payments to the London police, it took a couple of beats before the senator's eyes narrowed and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was mentioned. It is this issue that may prove to be far the most serious aspect of the scandal for News Corp in a country where the penalties for bribing officials in another country are steep

James Murdoch: Will the crown remain beyond his grasp? A relative newcomer to the title of News Corp successor, his performance at this week's select committee hearing on phone hacking will shape not only his own destiny, but that of the dynasty founded by his father, Rupert. By James Robinson The Observer, Saturday 5 November 2011 When he was a teenager, James Murdoch and his older brother, Lachlan, used to hang from the rafters of their father's house in Aspen, Colorado, and challenge one another to pull-up competitions. One former Murdoch executive who attended a retreat at the holiday home recalls seeing red stains on the woodwork and being told by their mother Anna – Rupert Murdoch's second wife – that the boys were so pig-headed they would compete until their hands bled. "James usually won," he adds. Two decades later, he also looked set to triumph over Lachlan in the race to become their father's successor at News Corp. But now his grip on that prize is starting to slip. When James Murdoch returns to Parliament to face questions from MPs investigating the phone-hacking affair, he will be fighting to repair his reputation and that of the company his father founded. He will also be shaping his destiny and determining the fortunes of a dynasty. Should he fail to convince, the chances of James succeeding Rupert at the helm of the world's most powerful media conglomerate will be remote. Succeed, on the other hand, and the hereditary principle may yet hold at News Corp. It is no exaggeration to say that the future of the company is in the hands of the 38-year-old London-born executive, once regarded as the most rebellious and unconventional of his father's four adult children. The teenager who once sported an eyebrow piercing and ran a hip-hop label called Rawkus Records is now deputy chief operating officer at News Corp, where only Rupert and his number two, Chase Carey, outrank him. James has been groomed to take charge of News Corp, the owner of the Sun, Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, since Lachlan resigned as deputy chief operating officer six years ago. James had already served a youthful apprenticeship at News Corp's internet arm by then, followed by a rapid rise through the executive ranks at the company's television businesses. By the time he appeared before MPs alongside his father in July, when public revulsion over the News of the World's targeting of a mobile phone which belonged to murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler was at its height, Rupert's sharply suited son had also run News Corp's UK newspapers, Murdoch's power base for decades. Yet the activities of the News of the World, a paper which generated less than 1% of the group's profits, has shaken the foundations of the Wall Street-listed company so hard it is in danger of crumbling. When he was questioned by the culture, media and sport committee, which has been investigating phone-hacking for four years, his meandering responses were peppered with management-speak. His father, sitting beside him, grunted his answers. This time, he will face MPs alone. It promises to be a far tougher ordeal. Immediately after the Murdochs gave evidence in July, two former News of the World executives, the paper's former editor, Colin Myler, and ex-head of legal affairs, Tom Crone, issued a dramatic statement contradicting the evidence of their former boss. Both men insisted they had told Murdoch three years before about the existence of a company email from 2005 which showed beyond doubt that phone-hacking had not been the work of a single "rogue reporter". Myler and Crone allege that is why Murdoch agreed to pay more than £700,000 – to settle the case – to Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor, who was suing the paper after discovering it had intercepted voicemails left on his mobile phone. Murdoch denies he was told about the full content of what became known as the "for Neville" email, after the paper's chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck. He told MPs that Myler and Crone informed him in June 2008 about the existence of the email and they made it clear that it proved Taylor's phone had been hacked by the News of the World. Crucially, Murdoch denied the two men had also told him that the email showed hacking was not just the work of one reporter, as they insist they did. The decision to settle, Murdoch said, was based on legal advice which said Taylor would settle. Last week, that legal advice was published by the committee. In it, the company's QC, Michael Silverleaf, warned the "for Neville" email constituted "overwhelming evidence" there was "a culture" of hacking at the paper. MPs are likely to press Murdoch about how much he knew about that advice, because it blew apart the company's claim that hacking was the work of a single reporter. That is crucial, because News International subsequently issued a series of denials sanctioned by its most senior executives, including one in July 2009 which accused the Guardian, the Observer's sister paper, of choosing to "mislead the British public" when it claimed News of the World journalists were engaged in systematic phone-hacking. Murdoch's judgment and his integrity are at stake. Sources close to the company insist he stands by his version of events. Put simply, it is Murdoch's word against Myler and Crone's. The stage is set for a dramatic confrontation. If Murdoch is nervous about the encounter, he was hiding it well last week. On Wednesday, he and his glamorous American wife, Kathryn Hufschmid, who works for the Clinton Climate Initiative, attended a party organised by BSkyB, 39.1% owned by News Corp and which Murdoch still chairs. Murdoch, dressed in jeans and a sharply tailored jacket, seemed relaxed and amiable. The message, intentional or otherwise, was that it is business as usual at News Corp. In reality, however, the phone-hacking scandal means it is anything but. Last month, around two-thirds of News Corp's independent shareholders voted against the re-election of James Murdoch to the board of the company. The Murdoch family controls nearly 40% of News Corp voting shares, enough to ensure Murdoch was re-elected regardless, but that vote cannot be ignored. It is an indictment of Murdoch's handling of the phone-hacking affair and the clearest signal yet that News Corp's investors do not want him to succeed his father. This has thrown the family firm (it may be publicly quoted in New York, but it's run as if it were a private concern) into crisis. It has also disturbed the delicate equilibrium that exists between the younger members of the family, three of whom have held, or still do hold, senior positions at News Corp. Lachlan, Murdoch's oldest son, remains on the board and the company recently bought Shine, the production company owned by Elisabeth, the eldest of Rupert's three children from his second marriage. Both had been viewed as the most likely to succeed Rupert in the past – James only emerged in recent years as his father's heir apparent. The family – Murdoch also has two young children with his wife Wendi, and an older daughter, Prudence, from his first marriage – had accepted James as primus inter pares. But according to an article published in Vanity Fair, Elisabeth blames James for the company's disastrous response to phone-hacking. She reportedly urged her father to send James on a leave of absence, an idea he seems to have considered, if only fleetingly. The disagreements are serious, but as yet there is no rift. The family has sought help from a psychologist, however, in an attempt to ensure the succession issue does not result in schism. James is regarded as a chip off the old block in the media industry. He poured scorn on the BBC in an industry lecture two years ago, and shouted at the former editor of the Independent during a visit to the paper's offices. When the hacking scandal was at its height, it was James who argued the News of the World should be closed while his father prevaricated. At Sky, he demonstrated his mettle by authorising an audacious dawn raid on ITV, snapping up a stake of the rival broadcaster in a successful attempt to prevent it being sold to Sky's main competitor, Virgin Media. James was highly regarded at Sky. But at the end of the month, he could face another embarrassing vote at Sky's annual general meeting, where investors will vote on whether he should remain chairman. If Parliament finds his answers this week unsatisfactory, he may even be deposed by shareholders at Sky – which News Corp would have owned outright by now if the hacking scandal hadn't derailed its multibillion pound bid for the remainder of the company it did not already own. The key question now, for the Murdoch family and beyond is: has James been so tarnished by the hacking affair that he will never land the top job at News Corp itself? By the end of the week, the answer should be somewhat clearer. THE MURDOCH FILE Born In London 13 December 1972, the third child of Rupert and Anna Murdoch. Raised in the US. He won a place at Harvard but dropped out. Married American Kathryn Hufschmid in 2000. Best of times When he was made heir apparent to his father in 2007, becoming chairman and chief executive officer of Europe and Asia at News Corporation. Worst of times Ongoing. He has been under intense scrutiny following the phone-hacking affair, and will this week return to Parliament to face MPs investigating phone-hacking. What he says "In this all-media marketplace, the expansion of state-sponsored journalism is a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision, which are so important for our democracy." On the BBC at Edinburgh television festival 2009. What others say "There is an intensity to him. The guy's got intensity wrapped around energy." Frank Luntz, the Republican pollster who once worked for him. "I think he bears a great deal of responsibility. There's an expectation people have of you if you are a Murdoch that has made him quite mature." Charles Dunstone, chairman, Carphone Warehouse.

James Murdoch prepares to face MPs over phone hacking News Corp boss is preparing to concede that company should have taken further action over allegations earlier By Dan Sabbagh guardian.co.uk, Sunday 6 November 2011 13.48 EST James Murdoch is preparing to concede in front of MPs that News Corporation should have taken further action earlier to investigate allegations that phone hacking was more widespread at the News of the World than the actions of a single rogue reporter. The News Corporation boss is to appear before the culture media and sport select committee on Thursday ready to admit that more could have been done between 2007 and 2010 when first insiders and later rival newspapers said the illegal practice was widely deployed. Fighting to save his career, Murdoch is aware he has to appear informed about how News Corp dealt with the hacking allegations – and he has to be prepared to admit that mistakes were made, including by himself. However, with advisers such as News Corp's acting chief lawyer Janet Nova flying in, it is not clear how far the company's legal team will allow James Murdoch to make the limited concessions planned. Friends of Murdoch say he is "surrounded" by people giving him advice, making it hard to proceed. The News Corp boss also plans to sidestep any questions about the size of the severance payment made to former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks. It was reported at the weekend that the figure received was £1.7m, although it is understood the payment was in fact larger than this. Acutely aware of what is becoming a sensitive issue at the company, Murdoch is expected to say any payments made to Brooks cannot be discussed due to contractual confidentiality. News Corporation has no legal obligation to disclose the size of the severance because Brooks was not a director of the US-listed company. Murdoch was in charge of the News of the World and the company's other British newspapers as part of his job as executive chairman at UK subsidiary News International. He took over from Les Hinton at the end of 2007, nearly a year after News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman was jailed for his involvement in hacking into phone messages left for Prince William and Prince Harry's staff. Before Murdoch arrived Hinton agreed to pay Goodman a severance of £240,000, after Goodman launched an unfair dismissal claim. News International has said it found no evidence at the time that hacking went on more widely. A year later, Murdoch agreed to pay football boss Gordon Taylor £425,000 plus £200,000 to settle a phone hacking lawsuit. Controversy surrounds the payout – with former News of the World editor Colin Myler and chief lawyer Tom Crone saying Murdoch was told of an email that made it clear hacking went beyond Goodman. Murdoch has told the committee he had no knowledge of the email.He has also said he was not shown a separate report prepared for Tom Crone by QC Michael Silverleaf – which said that there appeared to be a "culture of illegal information access" at the News of the World. It is understood that he will offer new additional information about what he knew at the time.

Murdoch gave loyal lieutenant Rebekah Brooks £1.7m pay-off, car and office News International chairman may face questions in Commons over generous severance deal despite phone-hacking scandal By Daniel Boffey, policy editor guardian.co.uk, Saturday 5 November 2011 17.00 EDT Rebekah Brooks, the former News of the World editor who resigned as chief executive of News International at the height of the phone-hacking scandal, received £1.7m in cash, the use of a London office and a chauffeur-driven limousine as part of her severance package from the newspaper group. Brooks, a favourite of Rupert Murdoch who rose from being a secretary on the features desk of the Sunday newspaper to the very top of the mogul's UK operation, quit in July amid claims over the alleged illegal activities carried out by her executives and reporters. Days after she resigned, she was arrested and bailed in connection with allegations of phone hacking and corruption. Records at Companies House show that she has resigned from 23 directorships related to the firm. However, the Observer has learned that, along with a generous payoff and continued use of her company limousine and driver for two years, Brooks, 43, has been given an office for the same period of time in an affluent central London area which her spokesman asked the Observer not to reveal for security reasons. The decision to give Brooks an office will inevitably be raised on Thursday when James Murdoch, the 38-year-old son of Rupert and chairman of News International, returns to Westminster to answer questions from the Commons culture, media and sport select committee about his knowledge of illegal activities by his employees. Tom Watson, the Labour MP who helped lead the fight to expose the phone-hacking practices carried out by News of the World journalists, queried the company's decision. He said: "It is remarkably curious that such an generous package is given to Ms Brooks when others have been cut loose. It is almost as if she hasn't really left the company. I am sure Mr Murdoch will want to explain the decision to his shareholders." James Murdoch is set to make his second appearance before the Commons committee this week after discrepancies arose between his previous testimony and that of his key lieutenants. During the session he is also likely to be questioned about previous claims that illegal practices did not take place at the Sun newspaper, where Brooks was editor between 2003 and 2009 before being elevated to the role of chief executive of News International. The investigation into police corruption and newspapers' illegal payments to officers was extended to the Sun last week, as detectives arrested one of its reporters at his home near Windsor. Jamie Pyatt, 49, the first journalist from the title to be arrested by Scotland Yard's Operation Elveden into payments to police officers, has been at the Sun since 1987 and worked under Brooks when she was editor there. Dave Wilson, the chairman of Bell Pottinger, the public relations group hired by Brooks to deal with the fallout from her resignation, declined to comment on the "confidential" details of her severance package. News International also declined to comment.

In this radio interview conducted Nov. 4, 2011, which gets off to a shaky start but is worth listening to, Richard Hoagland stands by his proposed scenario that asteroid YU55 may hit the moon next Tuesday but will definitely not hit the Earth. He also maintains that FEMA'S shutdown for 3 1/2 minutes of all U.S. radio and television broadcasting that is scheduled for the next day is designed to allow President Obama to give assurance and to calm public fears if there is a YU55 collision on the moon. Also: http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/284400/3/National-Emergency-Alert-System-test-next-Wednesday?fb_ref=artsharetop&fb_source=home_multiline

http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2011/nov/04/sabato-and-stone-discuss-jfk-conspiracy-ar-1436493/ November 04, 2011 Sabato and Stone discuss "JFK" conspiracy The Daily Progress By Aaron Richardson Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone told a packed house Friday at the University of Virginia’s Culbreth Theater that his film “JFK” was more about poking holes in the Warren Commission Report than presenting a concrete theory as to who actually killed John F. Kennedy. The Warren Commission Report concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone to assassinate the 35th president, and that Jack Ruby acted alone to kill Oswald. Stone called the report a myth in a conversation with UVa Center for Politics Director Larry Sabato. “Too much weird stuff went on,” Stone said, but admitted his movie has limitations. “We can only present a counter myth. We can’t prove anything.” The film focuses on the work of Orleans Parish, La., District Attorney Jim Garrison, who worked extensively in the 1960s to uncover what he believed was a conspiracy plot to kill Kennedy. Garrison, like Stone, believed the Warren Commission Report was largely fiction, and that Oswald had been a “patsy” for a much larger and more sinister plot to kill the president. The film, starring Kevin Costner, follows Garrison’s work from the moment of the assassination on Nov. 22, 1963, through the acquittal of Clay Shaw, the main suspect in Garrison’s investigation. Stone said he was surprised at initial reaction to the film, which was released in 1991. “I was just kind of surprised at the amount of tempest there was around it,” he said. “Here was a case where conservatives and liberals jumped against the film.” Stone said the reaction from the Kennedy clan was particularly harsh, which he had not expected. “They were brutal,” he said. Stone later worked with John F. Kennedy Jr., and said the president’s son said little about his father’s assassination. “He was a nice young man,” Stone said. “But he didn’t have the mettle to really go after it.” Sabato, who will release a book next year on the fiftieth anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, asked Stone whether he would push for the release of nearly 50,000 documents relating to the event that are still classified. “Every little bit helps,” Stone replied. “But I don’t think there’s a smoking gun in those pages.” Stone was 17 the day Kennedy was killed, and said he originally had the same reaction as most of America. It wasn’t until he was filming “Platoon” in 1987 that he considered a conspiracy theory. “I think I had the normal reaction,” Stone said. “I was a regular American in that way … It was all believable and you moved on eventually.” During the making of “Platoon,” Stone said, he was given a copy of the book Jim Garrison wrote on his work and was enthralled. Over the next few years, years that included Academy Awards for Vietnam War dramas “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July,” the idea for a movie began to form. In 1990, “JFK” began to come together on the strength of Stone’s prestige in Hollywood. “I was riding the success of ‘Born on the Fourth of July’ and ‘Platoon,’ so I could do no wrong,” he said. “So I got Warner Brothers behind [“JFK”] as a thriller.” While Stone has no theory as to what specifically led up to the death of President Kennedy, he said he hopes people continue to question the Warren Commission Report. Having a discussion of the film and its impact, he said, was fitting. “Virginia is the heartland of America,” he said. “The youth should know about the film. I’m excited to mix it up with the kids.”

News Corp. Starts Compensation Process for Phone Hacking Claims The New YOrk Times November 4, 2011 By AMY CHOZICK News Corporation has begun a voluntary program that allows people who believe they have been the victims of phone hacking to apply online for compensation. A statement issued Friday by the company’s British publishing unit, News International, urged possible victims to take advantage of the settlement plan, calling it a “speedy, cost-effective alternative to litigation.” Charles Gray, a former High Court judge and arbitration specialist, will assess the applications and serve as an independent adjudicator, News International said. There is no limit on how much the company might have to pay. “It should provide very significant benefits to applicants such as avoiding the enormous expenses of court proceedings,” Mr. Gray said in the statement. As an incentive to participate, News Corporation is offering possible victims a premium of 10 percent on whatever Mr. Gray chooses to award. The company also said it would pay applicants’ legal costs and ensure confidentiality. The London police have said that the number of British citizens whose phones may have been hacked by reporters at the now-shuttered News of the World tabloid could reach as many as 5,795. On Wednesday, Chase Carey, News Corporation’s president and chief operating officer, said the company had “fully reserved” funds to pay for litigation related to hacking. Last month Rupert Murdoch, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said that he would personally donate $1.6 million to charities chosen by the family of Milly Dowler, the murdered British teenager whose phone was hacked by the News Corporation tabloid. Additionally, the company said it would pay $3.2 million to the Dowler family. The company first announced that it planned to offer a compensation program in April, a result of the 2006 arrest of a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, who was hired by News of the World and who admitted to intercepting voice mails. In June, News International confirmed that Mr. Gray would serve as an independent adjudicator, just before the phone-hacking scandal exploded in July. The program began accepting claims on Friday.

Sun journalist arrested over alleged police payments bailed Jamie Pyatt bailed until March following arrest by detectives working on inquiry into allegations journalists paid police By Lisa O'Carroll guardian.co.uk, Saturday 5 November 2011 06.51 EDT The Sun journalist arrested as part of Scotland Yard's investigations into alleged payments to police by journalists has been bailed until March. District editor Jamie Pyatt, 48, was released from a west London police station last night and given police bail pending further inquiries. Pyatt, who has worked with the daily tabloid since 1987, was the first Sun employee to be arrested in connection with any of Scotland Yard's three current investigations into the media, which focus on allegations of police payments, phone hacking and computer hacking. He is the sixth person arrested by detectives working on Operation Elveden, which was set up in July following allegations that police officers had received up to £130,000 over several years from the News of the World for information, including contact details for the royal family. News International, which owned the now-defunct paper and owns the Sun, confirmed that an employee had been arrested. "News International is co-operating fully with the Metropolitan police service in its various investigations," a spokesman said. Scotland Yard refused to confirm the identity of the man arrested, but said in a statement that it had arrested a 48-year-old man in connection with Operation Elveden. Its statement said: "He was arrested outside London on suspicion of corruption allegations in contravention of section one of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906."Operation Elveden is one of three Met investigations relating to alleged illegal activities by newspapers. The others are Operation Weeting and Operation Tuleta, set up to examine phone hacking and computer hacking respectively. On Thursday, Scotland Yard confirmed that the number of people whose phones may have been hacked had reached 5,800 – 2,000 more than previously stated. So far, 16 people have been arrested and bailed on allegations of phone hacking.

Journalist’s Arrest Adds to Woes of Murdoch’s British Empire The New York Times By SARAH LYALL November4, 2011 LONDON — A journalist at the tabloid The Sun was arrested Friday on suspicion of making illegal payments to police officers, a sign that a scandal has spread beyond The News of the World to other papers in Rupert Murdoch’s British media empire. The suspect, a 48-year-old man, is the sixth person to be arrested in Scotland Yard’s investigation into illegal payoffs by newspapers to police officers in the wake of the phone hacking scandal at The News of the World. He was arrested outside London “in connection with allegations of corruption,” the police said, and taken to a police station in southwest London for questioning. The police would not identify the man, but News International, the British newspaper arm of Mr. Murdoch’s media conglomerate, said in a statement that he was a News International employee, and people at the company have identified him as Jamie Pyatt, a senior journalist at The Sun, the Murdoch-owned tabloid that is the most popular daily newspaper in Britain. The arrest suggests that payoffs to the police may have extended beyond The News of the World, which was closed by Mr. Murdoch in July in an effort to contain the scandal, to other parts of the Murdoch newspaper stable. Mr. Pyatt is the first journalist not employed by The News of the World to be arrested in connection with the police corruption case; he has been at The Sun for more than 20 years and has never worked at The News of the World. In 2006, Mr. Pyatt, the newspaper’s district editor, won the Scoop of the Year prize at the British Press Awards for his report on how Prince Harry, the younger son of Prince Charles, attended a costume party dressed as a Nazi. There is increasing evidence that The Sun might also have been involved in phone hacking, a technique used to illegally intercept voice mail messages. Documents in the case of Guy Pelly, who sued News International this year when it became clear that his phone might have been hacked, show that information illegally obtained by The News of the World was passed to The Sun “from time to time.” Scotland Yard opened the investigation into police payoffs by journalists, known as Operation Elveden, this summer after e-mails turned over to the police by News International showed that its journalists might have paid more than $200,000 to police officers in exchange for news tips, including information about the movements of members of the royal family. Those arrested in the Elveden case so far include Andy Coulson, former editor of The News of the World and the former chief spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron; and Rebekah Brooks, who also worked as the editor of The News of the World and is a former chief executive of News International. Operation Elveden is running alongside the phone hacking investigation, known as Operation Weeting, which has produced 16 arrests so far. No charges have yet been brought in either inquiry; typically, suspects are questioned, released and asked to present themselves to the police for possible criminal charges at a later date. Meanwhile, News International announced Friday that it had set up what it called a “speedy, cost-effective alternative to litigation” that would allow phone hacking victims to apply for swift out-of-court settlements through a company Web site. The purpose of the program, called the Voicemail Interception Compensation Scheme, is to “process good claims quickly to an award of compensation, not to get bogged down in complex legal arguments and speculative requests for disclosure of documents,” the company says on the site. People claiming to be victims and wanting compensation are asked to fill out and submit electronic forms detailing their claims. News International has already set aside more than $30 million to pay phone hacking victims; this move is intended to contain its legal costs as it deals with an increasing number of claims. Earlier this week, the police admitted that as many as 5,795 people might have been victims of The News of the World’s phone hacking. This summer, they said the figure was 3,870. Ravi Somaiya contributed reporting.

Man arrested over alleged police payments named as Sun journalist Reporter arrested over alleged payments to police officers believed to be paper's district editor, Jamie Pyatt By Lisa O'Carroll guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 November 2011 10.56 EDT The man arrested by police is believed to be Sun journalist Jamie Pyatt. The reporter is believed to be Jamie Pyatt, district editor of the paper. The arrested journalist was taken to a South West London police station at 10.30am on Friday. Pyatt, 48, has been working at the Sun since 1987. He is the sixth person arrested by detectives working in Operation Elveden, which was set up in July following allegations that police officers had received up to £130,000 over several years from the News of the World for information, including contact details of the royal family. News International refused to comment on the arrest and saying it had "a very clear duty of care to employees and would not be making any comment on individuals". Scotland Yard also refused to confirm the identity of the person it arrested, but said in a statement earlier that it had arrested a 48-year-old man in connection with Operation Elveden. Its statement said: "He was arrested outside London on suspicion of corruption allegations in contravention of section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, and is being brought to a south-west London police station." Operation Elveden is one of three Met investigations relating to alleged illegal activities by newspapers. The others are Operation Weeting and Operation Tuleta, set up to examine phone hacking and computer hacking, respectively. On Thursday, Scotland Yard confirmed to the Guardian that the number of people whose phones may have been hacked had reached 5,800 – 2,000 more than previously stated. So far 16 people have been arrested and bailed on allegations of phone hacking.

11.22.63 by Stephen King - review Going back in time proves a step forward for a master storyteller By Mark Lawson guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 2 November 2011 09.00 GMT Article history People are commonly said to remember their location when told of President John F Kennedy's assassination, but many must also wish the place they had been on 22 November 1963 was Dallas, where they might somehow have diverted the motorcade or prevented Lee Harvey Oswald from entering the Texas School Book Depository. The possibility of such an intervention must number, along with its darker twin of going back and killing Hitler, among the principal fantasies of time travel, and is explored in the 54th work of fiction by Stephen King. 11.22.63 by Stephen King In 11.22.63, Jake Epping, a schoolteacher in Maine (a childhood reference point as recurrent in King's fiction as New Jersey in Philip Roth's), is summoned by the owner of Al's Diner, a local eaterie that has become popular but also suspect as a result of being able to sell, in 2011, burgers at near-1950s prices. The restaurateur, now mortally ill, has found a portal in his pantry that leads to a particular day in 1958, where the time-traveller can begin a stay lasting months or even potentially years, always returning two minutes later. Cancer has interrupted Al during a five-year mission to prevent the event that he believes to have misdirected American history: JFK's death. With the moral arm-lock of a dying man, Al passes on the task to Jake. Time machines that travel backwards invite a writer towards period detail and nostalgia, and it is striking that King's device defaults to a year in which he would have been an 11-year-old schoolboy in Maine. Jake, who adopts the cover identity of real estate salesman George Amberson when he goes back, luxuriates in the unadulterated root beers and chocolate pies of an era before fast food. "I wanted to see the USA in my Chevrolet," he sentimentally declares on the brink of one trip. "America was calling me." And, though the "temporal bedouin" from 2011 sometimes struggles with the lingo (what he calls a "motel" is a "Motor Court" there), the flashback America is largely a better one. Back in these days, baseball is played "as it was meant to be played" and Jake/George finds the prices astonishingly low except, interestingly, oranges and long-distance phone calls, both exotic luxuries at the time. Less heart-warmingly, a cancerous miasma of cigarette smoke clouds every 1958 scene and racism is standard. The only sustained criticism of King, apart from the howls of some incurable literary snobs, has been his books' alternative use as weight-lifter's training aids and there are moments, early in this 700-page work, when we may wonder if the mission couldn't have begun in, say, 1962. But King has an advanced understanding of narrative structure and it's soon clear that his protagonist needs first to undertake a trial mission to establish the rules of intrusion. Running under the book is the question of whether we would have the moral right to dam the river of time, a dilemma explored through a fictional Hitler-like president in King's The Dead Zone (1979). A novel about thwarting Lee Harvey Oswald is crucially different from one about killing Hitler because many readers will question whether the hero is going after the right man. Jake/George regularly frets that, even if he changes the shape of Oswald's day on 11.22.63, he may discover that the conspiracy theorists were right and JFK is taken out by another gunman from the grassy knoll or elsewhere. This nagging doubt about the security of the history being altered is beautifully used by King, who also cleverly exploits a major fascination of time-travel or counter-history stories: the historical adjustments that result from meddling. While the latter parts of the novel deserve heavy protection against plot-spoiling, it can be said that the racist Governor George Wallace, Paul McCartney and Hillary Clinton are among those whose Wikipedia entries are intriguingly re-edited. In a thoughtful afterword – in which King suggests that he partly intends the novel as a warning against "the consequences of political extremism" in contemporary America – the writer reveals that he first tried to write this book in 1972 but felt too close to the raw pain of the assassination. So this book makes, with the monumental Under the Dome (2009), the second recent case in which King has gone back in time to complete a project that previously eluded him. With some senior writers, the dusting out of bottom drawers indicates creative stasis. But King, whose writing life represents among other things a model of canny career management, has waited until the right time for these novels. In these books, the reader feels the benefit of 40 years of narrative craftsmanship and reflection on his nation's history. Going backwards proves to be another step forward for the most remarkable storyteller in modern American literature. Mark Lawson's Enough Is Enough is published by Picador

'Sun journalist' arrested over 'payments to police' Daily Telegraph By Mark Hughes, Crime Correspondent 12:26PM GMT 04 Nov 2011 Detectives investigating corrupt payments between journalists and police officers have arrested a 48-year-old man, believed to be a journalist on The Sun newspaper The arrest took place at an address outside of London at 10.30am although the Metropolitan Police refused to confirm the exact location. Sources said the man is a reporter at The Sun. The man is the sixth person to be arrested in Operation Elveden, the Scotland Yard investigation into illegal payments to police officers. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “At approximately 10.30 today officers from Operation Elveden arrested a man, 48, in connection with allegations of corruption. “He was arrested at an outside London and is being brought to a south west London police station.” News International declined to comment. Operation Elveden was launched in July after News International provided the police with emails which alleged that corrupt police officers had received payments totalling about £130,000 over several years. The News of the World’s former editor Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, the News International chief executive and former editor of both the News of the World and The Sun have been arrested by officers from Operation Elveden. It is running parallel to Operation Weeting, which is investigating phone hacking. A total of 16 people have been arrested in that inquiry.

Phone hacking: Scotland Yard arrests 48-year-old man Arrest is sixth made by detectives working in Operation Elveden, which is investigating alleged payments to police officers By Lisa O'Carroll and Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 November 2011 07.59 EDT A 48-year-old man has been arrested as part of Scotland Yard's investigation into alleged payments to police officers by newspapers. The arrest at 10.30am on Friday is the sixth made by detectives working in Operation Elveden, which was set up in July following allegations that police officers had received up to £130,000 over several years from the News of the World for information, including contact details of the royal family. The Guardian understands the man arrested is not a policeman. It is also understood that the person is a current employee of News International. Scotland Yard said he was arrested outside London and brought to a south-west London station. Scotland Yard said in a statement: "He was arrested at an outside London on suspicion of corruption allegations in contravention of section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, and is being brought to a south-west London police station." Operation Elveden is one of three Met investigations relating to alleged illegal activities by newspapers. The others are Operation Weeting and Operation Tuleta, set up to examine phone hacking and computer hacking, respectively. On Thursday, Scotland Yard confirmed to the Guardian that the number of people whose phones may have been hacked had reached 5,800 – 2,000 more than previously stated. So far 16 people have been arrested and bailed on allegations of phone hacking.

Phone hacking: number of possible victims is almost 5,800, police confirm News of the World private investigator Glenn Mulcaire may have targeted 2,000 more people than previously acknowledged By Lisa O'Carroll guardian.co.uk, Thursday 3 November 2011 14.35 EDT The number of possible victims of phone hacking by the News of the World private investigator Glenn Mulcaire is now close to 5,800, the Metropolitan police have confirmed. This is 2,000 more than previously identified by detectives tasked with trawling through 11,000 pages of notes seized from Mulcaire's home. It will reinforce claims, by solicitors acting for victims and by MPs investigating phone hacking for a parliamentary select committee, that hacking was conducted on an "industrial scale" at News of the World. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: "It is not possible to give a precise figure about the number of people whose phones have actually been hacked but we can confirm that as of today's date, 3 November 2011, the current number of potentially identifiable persons who appear in the material, and who may therefore be victims, where names are noted, is 5,795. This figure is very likely to be revised in the future as a result of further analysis." The Guardian's original story in 2009 suggested that between 2,000 and 3,000 individuals may have been victims of phone hacking and this was dismissed at the time. Assistant commissioner John Yates said, after reviewed the first inquiry, that there were "hundreds, not thousands" of potential victims. A Scotland Yard spokesman said the number referred to the list of full identifiable first and second names in Mulcaire's notes but it may not be the final figure. In July this year, deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers, the senior detective in charge of the Operating Weeting inquiry into phone hacking said there were just under 4,000 victims identified at that time by officers. A spokesman for Scotland Yard added "the figure of 3,870 first and second names given by DAC Akers at the home affairs committee in July 2011 referred to material recovered from Glen Mulcaire that had been put on a searchable database". He said Operating Weeting continues to analyse relevant material. It is known that Mulcaire kept meticulous notes of his activities, with names of victims and of those whose messages he may have intercepted. He was jailed in 2007 for charges related to phone hacking but is now facing more than 40 more civil cases being taken by celebrities such as Hugh Grant, Jemima Khan and crime victims such as Shaun Russell.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#45141542 NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams reports on asteroid YU55's close flyby of Earth next Tuesday.

Elisabeth Murdoch 'wanted James Murdoch to step down', magazine claims Elisabeth Murdoch allegedly persuaded her father to remove her brother as chairman of News International because he had allowed the phone hacking scandal to “spiral out of control”. Daily Telegraph By Mark Hughes, Crime Correspondent 6:00AM GMT 03 Nov 2011 Rupert Murdoch’s daughter approached her father days after the closure of the News of the World in July and told him that her younger brother James should “step aside”, the magazine Vanity Fair has claimed. The 80-year-old media mogul was “open to the idea” and told his son “maybe you should go”, but changed his mind the following morning, according to an article in the magazine. The report also says that Mr Murdoch’s eldest four children — James, Elisabeth, Lachlan and Prudence — saw a family therapist earlier in the year to discuss the issue of who would succeed their father as the head of News Corporation. The 11-page article provides an insider account of the ruptures that the phone hacking scandal has created in the powerful media family. It describes how they have been at odds over the phone hacking issue, with Elisabeth vocal in her thoughts about how it has been handled. Miss Murdoch is said to have told her father that Rebekah Brooks, who was News International chief executive, and Les Hinton, the chief executive of the News Corp subsiduary Dow Jones who was News International chairman during the years that phone hacking was carried out, should resign. Mr Hinton and Mrs Brooks, the former editor of the News of the World and The Sun, stepped down from their positions less than a week later. However, the article claims that James was also close to leaving. It states that the family met in London after Rupert Murdoch arrived in Britain days after the announcement that the News of the World would close. The article states: “Elisabeth blamed her brother for allowing the phone-hacking crisis to spiral out of control. After the meeting, Elisabeth approached her father and urged him to take control of the situation. “She said Brooks and Hinton needed to resign (they eventually did) and that James needed to take a leave. “Rupert was open to the idea – he and James had been at odds for months. Elisabeth had been urging her father to step in. “The next morning, Elisabeth, at her father’s suggestion, confronted James and said he should step aside and let Rupert handle the crisis moving forward. The suggestion infuriated James.” The article continues: “Rupert summoned Brooks and told her she should take a leave. He called Hinton and asked him to come to London. Rupert then spoke to James and suggested that he take a leave – 'Maybe you should go too,’ he said. But after a sleepless night he changed his mind.” Sources confirmed to the Daily Telegraph that the meeting took place in James Murdoch’s Wapping office on Monday 11 July, one day after the final edition of the News of the World was published. The source claimed that while James’s resignation was discussed it was not seriously considered. In July, The Daily Telegraph revealed that Miss Murdoch was “furious” with Mrs Brooks and thought she had “f***** the company”. The article points to other suggestions of unease in the Murdoch family, claiming that the adult children attended therapy together over who would take over their father’s empire. The piece says that in February Rupert Murdoch had considered relinquishing his News Corporation chief executive title and wanted Chase Carey, the chief operating officer to “groom” James for the top job. The article continues: “Lachlan, Prudence and Elisabeth had discussed the move extensively with James. The siblings had been in family counselling with a psychologist over the issue of succession. “They told James that if they worked together as siblings they could help him and their father have a better relationship. “Together the siblings agreed that James was the best-suited to be the heir apparent but they also agreed he had to stop being so aggressive and alienating in his public postures.” The article also provides an insight into the relations between extended members of the Murdoch clan. It says that Rupert Murdoch and Elisabeth’s husband, public relations guru Matthew Freud, enjoy and “uneasy” relationship. The article quotes an unnamed News Corp executive who says: “Rupert hated Matthew…Rupert still doesn’t trust him.” And it claims that Mr Freud and James Murdoch’s wife, Kathryn Hufschmid, are also on bad terms. The magazine quotes an unnamed source as saying: “She detests Matthew with a passion.” A spokesman for Elisabeth Murdoch declined to comment on the article. A spokesman for News Corporation refused to comment. The article paints Miss Murdoch as an unwilling heir apparent. Miss Murdoch previously worked for one of her father’s companies when she joined satellite broadcasting company BSkyB in the mid 1990s. She married Matthew Freud in 1997 and in May 2000 resigned from her father’s company to start her own production company. The Vanity Fair article claims that she did not even tell her father she was resigning, instead faxing him a copy of the press release announcing her resignation shortly before she quit. She started Shine Productions and she and her husband became firm members of the exclusive social group known as the Chipping Norton set, socialising with the Prime Minister and other famous faces. She later sold the company to News Corp. and agreed to take a place on the board. But the magazine piece claims that she went back on that decision when her husband, a public relations expert, warned her it would be a bad idea to involved herself as a senior member of the company during the phone hacking scandal. However, despite having no official voice in News Corporation, the article alleges that she had a crucial say in the futures of certain executives as the scandal threatened to engulf her father’s empire.

James Murdoch fails to win Jeremy Hunt's full backing Culture secretary dodges issue of whether Murdoch is 'fit and proper' person to run BSkyB in wake of phone-hacking scandal By Josh Halliday guardian.co.uk, Thursday 3 November 2011 10.13 EDT The culture secretary declined an opportunity to throw his support behind James Murdoch's continuing chairmanship of BSkyB, with the minister saying he could not give a settled view until police and public inquiries had concluded. Jeremy Hunt, answering questions in the House of Commons on Thursday, said that "the most important thing is that the truth comes out" when asked if James Murdoch was a "fit and proper" person to run BSkyB. Hunt was pressed on the future of Murdoch by the Labour MP Chris Bryant, who claimed that internal News International documents published earlier this week show that the company's sole rogue reporter line was "completely and utterly untrue". The documents released include a counsel's opinion prepared in 2008 for the News of the World's former chief lawyer, Tom Crone, which described a "culture of illegal information access" at the newspaper. James Murdoch, who was in charge of the newspaper at the time, denies seeing the document. Bryant asked: "Does the secretary of state really believe, with the AGM of BSkyB coming up on 29 November, that James Murdoch is therefore a fit and proper person to be chairing that company any longer?" Hunt replied: "The most important thing is that the truth comes out. James Murdoch is speaking to the select committee, we have the public inquiry by Lord Justice Leveson and we have extensive police inquiries. "Before those are complete it would not be appropriate for me to make specific comments about who should do what job." Earlier in the Commons session, the culture secretary told MPs that the government will publish its white paper on future regulation of the press by the end of 2012, after the Leveson inquiry reports in September next year. "We are overhauling the system of press regulation," Hunt said. "But we don't want to go too far in the opposite direction and stop the press being free, vibrant and robust. "The Leveson inquiry will be reporting by September 2012 and there will be a government white paper before the end of next year, which will include what we think should happen in the light of those recommendations." The Leveson inquiry begins on 14 November at the high court in London, with the first witnesses due to appear a week later on 21 November

Murdoch writes off $91m for shutting News of the World in hacking scandal News Corp also lost anything up to $130m over failed bid to get 100% of BSkyB satellite broadcaster, in quarter's 'other charges' By Dominic Rushe in New York The Guardian, Wednesday 2 November 2011 Closing the News of the World cost Rupert Murdoch's News Corp $91m (£57.2m), the company has announced. The tabloid, the most profitable newspaper in Murdoch's portfolio, was shut in July amid an escalating investigation into illegal phone hacking at the company that has cast doubt on the 80-year-old Murdoch's succession plans. The scandal has triggered investigations into the company on both sides of the Atlantic, the resignation of senior executives and more than a dozen arrests. Last month, independent shareholders overwhelmingly voted to have James Murdoch, deputy chief operating officer and head of the division that oversaw the UK title, and his brother Lachlan booted off the board. Announcing the latest quarterly earnings, Chase Carey, News Corp's chief operating officer, said: "We have great confidence in James. James has done a good job. We are not contemplating any changes." He said he took the views of shareholders seriously but was "proud" of News Corp's board and the work it had done. Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of the company, was not on the call with press and analysts. Carey said he could not comment on the ongoing investigations of News Corp. He said the issues would be properly addressed and that the company was fully co-operating with the UK authorities. "I really want to assure you that despite the time spent on the UK issues, the last three months have been a time of real progress, driving the business toward both our short- and long-term goals," he said. News Corp also incurred $130m in "other" charges over the quarter, which included the cost of dropping its bid to acquire 100% of satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting. The company reported total revenue for the first quarter of $7.96bn, 7% higher than a year ago. Net income was down by nearly 5% to $738m thanks in part to the News of the World closure and fees the company incurred after it was forced to withdraw its full takeover bid for BSkyB. News Corp's cable network group, which includes the FX network and Fox News, performed well, producing operating income of $775m for the quarter, up 18% from a year earlier, as advertising revenue picked up and the firm increased fees for the rights to distribute shows including American Idol, the Emmy Awards and The X Factor. The company's film group reported a 24% increase in operating income for the quarter to $347m, powered by Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which grossed more than $450m at the box office and home entertainment sales of the animated release "Rio" and "X-Men: First Class. Carey confirmed that Fox has commissioned a second series of Simon Cowell's The X Factor for US television.

Phone hacking: anatomy of a cover-up – what QC's advice papers revealAnalysis: Publication of warning to NI bosses tells the story of how secret payoff evolved By David Leigh guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 2 November 2011 15.49 EDT Reporters were riveted this week by a rare publication: a counsel's opinion commissioned by News International of the kind normally kept strictly under legal wraps. Michael Silverleaf QC's view of the News of the World's phone-hacking scandal was so damning that a huge secret pay-off to a litigant followed in order to keep it covered up. "To have this paraded at a public trial would, I imagine, be extremely damaging to [NI's] public reputation," Silverleaf wrote in June 2008. "There is overwhelming evidence of the involvement of a number of senior journalists in the illegal inquiries … There is a powerful case that there is (or was) a culture of illegal information access." This reprise of the tabloid's by now well-known iniquities may have overshadowed something more significant: the continuing threat to James Murdoch, the likely successor to his father Rupert's empire. The records obtained by the Commons culture, media and sport select committee from NI's former solicitors, Farrer & Co, include emails, billing files and handwritten notes, which provide an extraordinary anatomy of the developing cover-up. Those records, on one interpretation, appear to depict James Murdoch at its centre, despite his previous denials of complicity. Julian Pike, the Farrer & Co lawyer handling the negotiations, testified that he believed Murdoch personally authorised up to £500,000 as a payoff to Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, as the price of his silence. When Murdoch testifies again next Thursday, his challenge will be to explain Pike's documents. The NoW's legal officer, Tom Crone, and former editor Colin Myler both also insisted to the committee that they had put James Murdoch in the picture on the crucial point – that a "damning email" showed the NoW's "rogue reporter" defence was simply untrue and phone hacking was widespread. James Murdoch is equally insistent that he was never told of the so-called "for Neville" email, and had no idea of the true state of affairs when he signed off on the secret settlement. The story the documents tell begins on 24 May 2008, when Crone sent a doleful memo to Myler, the recently appointed editor. It was a briefing document "as the basis for [Myler's] chat with chief exec James Murdoch". The memo described a devastating email "from a News of the World reporter enclosing a large number of transcripts of voicemails … fatal to our case … Our position is very perilous. The damning email is genuine." The journalist on the story "now remembers the transcripts". Their opponents also had lists of crimes such as "'turning round' car reg and mobile phone numbers (illegal)" by NoW journalists. "A number of those names are still with us and some of them have moved to prominent positions on NoW and the Sun." Crone had offered £150,000 for Taylor to drop the case. It wasn't enough. He had asked a senior QC for guidance but "inevitably" there would have to be a further "expensive" offer. Crone had reached the limit of his financial authority, according to subsequent testimony by Pike. Myler confirmed to Pike that his "chat" with Murdoch had occurred, three days later. Pike's jotted note begins: "Spoke to James Murdoch – not any options – wait for silks view." James Murdoch previously denied to the committee that he had had any such preliminary chat. Myler added an ambiguous phrase to Pike: "James wld say get rid of them – cut out cancer." This apparently referred to the NoW executives investigated following earlier claims by the jailed reporter Clive Goodman that he had not acted alone. The phrase could mean Murdoch specifically discussed the potentially widespread nature of the hacking with Myler. The QC's opinion was that a judge would regard the NoW's widespread hacking as "immoral and repugnant" and the publicity would be awful. Silverleaf recommended offering £250,000, saying it was "extremely unlikely" Taylor would get more at a trial. But on the same day, 3 June, NI offered far more: £350,000, plus an extra payment in return for confidentiality. Taylor's lawyer still held out, talking of "seven figures not to open his mouth". James Murdoch became involved for a second time. He met Crone and Myler at Wapping on 10 June. Murdoch claims the "for Neville" email was not mentioned and he was unaware of wider wrongdoing. He also claims: "Prior to the meeting of 10 June I do not recall being given any briefing." Crone reported back to Pike that "JM said he wanted to think through options." Myler was "moving towards telling Taylor to xxxx off". Myler appeared to note another worrying possibility: "Do a deal with them – paying them off + then silence fails." Pike says he thinks Murdoch authorised payment up to £500,000 at this meeting. In fact, the offer was upped to £425,000 plus lavish legal fees of £200,000. Taylor took the money.

Time for a brief break in this thread to post a recent Houston Chronicle photo of me feeding the ducks in Houston's Hermann Park. I feed about 75 ducks, geese and other birds each morning 20 lbs. of nutritious bird seed. Many of the birds prefer to eat out of my hand. A plus is that I get an hour of exercise in a beautiful environment. Scroll down in the article to see the photo. http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2011/10/rain-watch-will-the-city-of-houston-get-lucky-today/

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/11/Murdoch-Clan-Met-with-Family-Therapist-to-Discuss-News-Corps-Future

Murdochs 'discussed News Corp succession with family therapist' James Murdoch was to be groomed for top job before phone-hacking scandal broke, Vanity Fair report to claim By James Robinson guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 2 November 2011 12.28 EDT The adult Murdoch siblings saw a family therapist last year to discuss succession at the media empire built by their father, Rupert Murdoch, an article to be published in the forthcoming issue of Vanity Fair is to claim. The report, by former Wall Street Journal journalist Sarah Ellison, will also reveal that Rupert considered stepping aside as chief executive of News Corp last year to allow his son James to be groomed for the job. According to the magazine, Rupert wanted the company's chief operating officer Chase Carey to step in to the chief executive role on the understanding he would then prepare James, who is the youngest of Murdoch's three children from his second marriage, to take the top job at the media conglomerate. Rupert would have stayed on as chairman. Ellison writes that to aid the succession process: "the [Murdoch] siblings had been in family counselling with a psychologist over the issue of succession" since before last February. As well as James, the others involved in the therapy were Lachlan, Rupert's eldest son, who sits on the News Corp board, and Elisabeth, whose production company, Shine, was recently acquired by News Corp. Rupert's oldest child, Prudence, the product of his first marriage, was also involved. The article reveals the tensions that the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World caused within the Murdoch empire. "Elisabeth blamed her brother for allowing the phone-hacking scandal to spiral out of control," Vanity Fair reports. "She approached her father and urged him to take control of the situation." According to the account, Elisabeth told her father that James should take a leave of absence from the company, while arguing that Rebekah Brooks, who was chief executive of News of the World publisher News International, should resign along with Les Hinton, the loyal Murdoch deputy who had run News International previously. Rupert considered the idea, the article claims, and telephoned James. "'Maybe you should go too', he said. But after a sleepless night he changed his mind." The article also claims Elisabeth Murdoch did not take up her position on the News Corp board following the Shine acquisition earlier this year because her lawyers advised her to stay off the board to avoid becoming embroiled in the phone-hacking affair. It had been thought she had not taken up the position because she believed it was a bad idea for another Murdoch to join the board when the company was in crisis. Rupert Murdoch also voiced misgivings about James, according to Ellison. "Rupert felt that James, while a talented executive, needed to learn to exercise better judgement and exhibit some humility." That view was shared by his siblings, she adds, who "agreed that James was the best-suited to be heir apparent, but ... also agreed he had to stop being so aggressive and alienating in his public postures". James Murdoch delivered a lecture at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television festival in 2009, using it to attack the BBC. News Corp declined to comment.

Headline: “Lies, Damned lies and New International” The Independent November 2, 2011 By James Cusick and Cahal Milmo [excerpt] Secret documents kept by News International reveal that executives knew three years ago that there was “overwhelming evidence” of senior journalists involvement in phone hacking… Last night a News Corp spokeswoman said, “James Murdoch has been clear and consistent in this testimony. He is appearing in front of the Select Committee on 10 November and will be happy to answer any further questions then.”

Phone hacking: NoW warned about 'culture of illegal information access'The legal opinion, only now made public, was prepared in June 2008 and referred to the activities of 'at least three' journalists By James Robinson and Lisa O'Carroll guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 November 2011 16.53 EDT Senior executives at News International were warned by a company lawyer in June 2008 that there was "a culture of illegal information access" at the Murdoch-owned media group involving "at least three" of its journalists. They were also cautioned that it would be "extremely damaging" to the publisher's public reputation if that information reached court as part of a legal action brought by Gordon Taylor, whose lawyers had uncovered evidence of phone hacking at the News of the World during a legal battle with the title. The warning is contained in a legal opinion prepared by Michael Silverleaf QC, the group's counsel, for the News of the World's legal officer, Tom Crone, on 3 June 2008 – and was made public for the first time on Tuesday. It was handed over by the company's former legal advisers Farrer & Co to MPs on the culture, media and sport select committee, which is investigating phone hacking at the paper, as part of a group of documents requested by parliament. They were published on the committee website. In the legal opinion, Silverleaf said there was "overwhelming evidence of the involvement of a number of senior ... journalists" in repeated attempts to access private information relating to Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association. Silverleaf named Greg Miskiw, a former news editor at the paper, and Ross Hindley, a reporter, as apparently "intimately involved". A third name given by Silverleaf is redacted. The documents will be seized on by MPs when they question James Murdoch, third in command at the parent company News Corp, next week, during his second appearance before the committee. The committee chairman, John Whittingdale, said on Tuesday: "This contradicts the evidence given to us previously and we shall be asking about this when James Murdoch comes before the committee." In January 2007, the News of the World's royal editor, Clive Goodman, and the newspaper's private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, were found guilty of hacking into phones belonging to members of the royal household. In the aftermath of that incident, News International said hacking was confined to a single "rogue reporter". Murdoch told MPs in July this year that he was unaware that other News of the World journalists were hacking into mobile phones when he authorised his executives to settle Taylor's case in 2008 by paying him damages of £425,000 plus costs, taking the total payout to more than £700,000. But the former News of the World editor Colin Myler and Tom Crone both told the committee in September that they had made Murdoch aware at a meeting on 10 June 2008 that hacking was not restricted to a single journalist. They claimed this was the reason Murdoch agreed to settle the Taylor's case. James Murdoch subsequently wrote to the committee to deny this. MPs will want to establish if Murdoch saw Silverleaf's opinion when they question him next week, although News International insistedon Tuesday he did not. They said he was made aware of its existence only several weeks ago. The legal opinion from Sliverleaf was prepared for Crone in advance of the 10 June meeting with Murdoch to discuss the Taylor case. The documents released to parliament also show that an earlier meeting between Myler and Murdoch took place on 24 May 2008. A briefing note prepared by Crone for Myler in advance of that meeting made it clear the company was certain to lose its legal action with Taylor. "Our position is very perilous," it reads. "The damning email is genuine and proves we actively made use of a large number of extremely private voicemails from Taylor's telephone". That is a reference to an email sent by a News of the World journalist "for Neville" – believed to be its chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck – which contained transcripts of messages left on Taylor's phone. Murdoch told MPs in July he did not remember the earlier meeting, but Farrer & Co has released a copy of a note made by its partner Julian Pike of a phone conversation with Myler in which the former editor revealed what he had discussed with Murdoch in May. It appears to show that Myler told Pike on 27 May 2008 – several days after his meeting with Murdoch – that they had agreed to seek Silverleaf's opinion before deciding whether to settle the case. The note refers to allegations made by Goodman that other staff were also guilty of intercepting voicemails. "James wld (sic) say get rid of them – cut out the cancer," it reads. Sources close to News International highlighted that comment as evidence that Murdoch would have sacked journalists who were guilty of wrongdoing had it been brought to his attention when the meeting took place

[Poster's note: Be sure to watch the Telegraph's video by clicking on the link below] News of the World bosses 'were warned phone hacking was widespread' in 2008 Senior executives at the News of the World were aware that phone hacking was widespread among its reporters as early as 2008, a secret internal email suggests. By Murray Wardrop Daily Telegraph 6:02PM GMT 01 Nov 2011 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/8863288/News-of-the-World-bosses-were-warned-phone-hacking-was-widespread-in-2008.html A memo from Tom Crone, the tabloid’s former legal chief, to editor Colin Myler warned that a “damning email” existed showing journalists had used "extremely private voicemails" from football boss Gordon Taylor’s phone. The correspondence states that “a number of” journalists were named in the email obtained by Mr Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, who was then pursuing a case against the tabloid. A separate memo written by Mr Crone says that Mr Myler was to brief James Murdoch, News Corp’s chief executive, about the email – suggesting he was also made aware of the extent of phone hacking. The documents, published by the parliamentary committee investigating the scandal, reveal the newspaper’s efforts to achieve a "confidential settlement" with Mr Taylor, who subsequently received a £725,000 out-of-court payment from the tabloid. In a memo on May 24 2008, Mr Crone advised Mr Myler: "Our position is very perilous." Mr Taylor had obtained an email containing transcripts of his private voicemails as well as evidence from the Information Commissioner of other illegal activities by News of the World journalists, Mr Crone said. "Amongst the documents from the Information Commissioner is a list of named News of the World journalists and a detailed table of Data Protection infringements between 2001 and 2003 (this is based upon evidence seized in a raid on another private investigator who was subsequently prosecuted). "A number of those names are still with us and some of them have moved to prominent positions on NoW and The Sun. "Typical infringements are 'turning around' car reg and mobile phone numbers (illegal)." In a subsequent email to solicitor Julian Pike, Mr Crone says that Mr Myler was to use the memo "as the basis for his chat with Chief Exec James Murdoch" - suggesting that Mr Murdoch was made aware of the issues at that stage. Murdoch, who is to appear before the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee for a second time on November 10, has said he did not recall being briefed about the Gordon Taylor case until June 10, 2008. Also published today are the notes of Mr Pike, the News of the World's external solicitor, from a phone call with Mr Myler on May 27, 2008 in which he writes that the editor "spoke to James Murdoch". The documentation, provided by Mr Pike's firm Farrer & Co, shows how the News of the World tried to negotiate a settlement with Mr Taylor that would keep the case out of the courts. Having initially offered £150,000 plus costs, the paper then offered £350,000. Mr Pike told Mr Taylor's solicitor, Mark Lewis, that "there might be a little bit more on the table if a confidentiality deal could be agreed". Mr Lewis apparently told Mr Pike Mr Taylor wanted "seven figures not to open his mouth". "He wanted to be vindicated or made rich. As well as £1 million, he wanted all his costs being paid," Mr Pike wrote in his notes of the conversation. A leading counsel warned the News of the World on June 3, 2008 that there was a "powerful case that there is (or was) a culture of illegal information access" at the News of the World. In a legal opinion, Michael Silverleaf QC said that the allegations would be "extremely damaging to NGN's (News Group Newspapers) public reputation". He wrote that there was "overwhelming evidence of the involvement of a number of senior NGN journalists" in "illegal enquiries" into an individual whose name is redacted in the published opinion. "In addition there is substantial surrounding material about the extent of NGN journalists' attempts to obtain access to information illegally in relation to other individuals," he said. "In the light of these facts there is a powerful case that there is (or was) a culture of illegal information access used at NGN in order to produce stories for publication." Mr Murdoch has denied the claims of Mr Myler and Mr Crone that they informed him of the so-called "for Neville" email which seemed to implicate other News of the World journalists in phone hacking. They told the select committee earlier this year that they had told News International boss Mr Murdoch about the document when he sanctioned the Gordon Taylor settlement in 2008. In his note to Mr Myler shortly before that meeting with Mr Murdoch, Mr Crone wrote: "This evidence, particularly the email from the News of the World, is fatal to our case (with Gordon Taylor). "Our position is very perilous. The damning email is genuine and proves we actively made use of a large number of extremely private voicemails from Taylor's telephone in June/July 2005 and that this was pursuant to a February 2005 contract, ie a 5/6-month operation."