Rupert Murdoch and the Corruption of the British Media

[John Dolva]

I take this as a recognition of the actual seriousness of this issue. There are fractures appearing. The truth might actually come out in the process. I do think that Robertson has the right cred and can take it the distance. I wouldn't be surprised if a certain jockeying for position by various players will follow.

[Douglas Caddy]

Rupert Murdoch's email to staff announcing Sun on Sunday launch – full text

Read the full email sent by Murdoch to News International staff, as he visits Wapping in the aftermath of journalists' arrests

guardian.co.uk,

Friday 17 February 2012 10.02 EST

Rupert Murdoch has emailed staff about a Sun on Sunday launch.

Dear colleagues:

I've worked alongside you for 43 years to build the Sun into one of the world's finest papers. It is a part of me and is one of our proudest achievements. The Sun occupies a unique and important position within News Corporation.

I have immense respect for our heritage, your exceptional journalism and, above all, you, the talented women and men who work tirelessly every day to ensure our readers have access to such a trusted news source. I believe this newsroom is full of great journalists and I remain grateful for your superb work and for the stories you uncover to inform and protect the public. None more so than over the last three weeks.

My continuing respect makes this situation a source of great pain for me, as I know it is for each of you.

We will obey the law. Illegal activities simply cannot and will not be tolerated – at any of our publications. Our board of directors, our management team and I take these issues very seriously.

Our independently chaired management & standards committee, which operates outside of News International, has been instructed to co-operate with the police. We will turn over every piece of evidence we find – not just because we are obligated to but because it is the right thing to do.

We are doing everything we can to assist those who were arrested – all suspensions are hereby lifted until or whether charged and they are welcome to return to work. News Corporation will cover their legal expenses. Everyone is innocent unless proven otherwise.

I made a commitment last summer that I would do everything I could to get to the bottom of our problems and make this company an example to Fleet Street of ethical journalism. We will continue to ensure that all appropriate steps are taken to protect legitimate journalistic privilege and sources, which I know are essential for all of you to do your jobs. But we cannot protect people who have paid public officials.

I am confident we can live by these commitments and still produce great journalism.

We will build on the Sun's proud heritage by launching the Sun on Sunday very soon. Our duty is to expand one of the world's most widely read newspapers and reach even more people than ever before.

Having a winning paper is the best answer to our critics.

I am even more determined to see the Sun continue to fight for its readers and its beliefs. I am staying with you all, in London, for the next several weeks to give you my unwavering support.

I am confident we will get through this together and emerge stronger.

Thank you,

Rupert Murdoch

[Douglas Caddy]

The old monster Rupert Murdoch finds his elixir with his back against the wall

Who could fail to be impressed with Murdoch the adrenaline junkie, handbrake-turning into the offices of the Sun?

By Marina Hyde

guardian.co.uk,

Friday 17 February 2012 13.20 EST

It normally requires historical perspective to be amused by the monsters of an age. When Caligula was killing for fun – on one occasion finding himself so bored by the lack of condemned criminals to enliven the intermission during a spectacle that he ordered several rows of spectators to be tossed into the arena and fed to the lions and tigers – it seems unlikely that the people of Rome could have found it in themselves to unleash much mirth at his expense (and by extension, their own). Time is a great desensitiser, though, and even the Russians eventually developed a whole joke shtick about Stalin's capacity for randomly shooting their ancestors.

In the case of Rupert Murdoch, however, the pleasure is being able to have a giggle while the News Corp overlord is still in post. Don't mistake me – I still wouldn't risk a friendly tour of his cage, certainly not without four layers of protective clothing and afterwards participating in an ablutionary ritual known as the Karen Silkwood Memorial Shower. But for someone long held to be stifling the nation, Murdoch has begun adding to its gaiety.

The obvious explanation for the merriment is that people aren't frightened of him any more. But after the indignities of the past few months, there is another, more curious sort of amusement to be had: watching how revitalised the old boy appears to be by having his back against the wall. Compare today's bullish announcement that the Sunday Sun was on its way with that doddery appearance before the select committee last July. It goes without saying that his suggestion that "this is the most humble day of my life" was the worst piece of acting of 2011 – including anything accomplished by The Only Way is Essex cast. And there was something embarrassingly unwatchable about his willingness to play the fond old man, shielded from a slapstick attack by his young missus.

Yet just look at the life in him now, virtually handbrake-turning into the offices of his beleaguered Sun yesterday and announcing that the paper was "part of me" in the familiar tones of a man who'd sell it in a heartbeat if it was necessary to his survival. (As his daughter Elisabeth recalled to Tatler, she once raced home from school to her beloved pony only to be informed by her father that he'd given it away in a News of the World competition.) Why, it's almost infectious – almost – and if I weren't wearing my protective suit I'd swear his story was taking on some of the characteristics of the sort of crime caper where you almost find yourself rooting for the villain. But again, only almost.

Consider giddy scramble, which saw him arrive at News International to tackle the crisis at the Sun. Contrary to demonic lore, Murdoch does not simply apparate through the portrait that always used to grace the building's lobby. Instead, his Range Rover careened into the company's underground parking garage yesterday morning as though it were being driven with the cavalier ineptitude of Monty Burns himself. "I'll take the wheel, Smithers!", he might have been rasping, as the wind rushed through his shaven hair.

Even that non-hair is part of Murdoch's re-emergence after the undignified follies of recent years. Few historical figures have made themselves more endearing by choosing to become skinheads, but in Murdoch's case, the transition marked a clear attempt to reclaim some dignity. No longer would he stalk the Pantone spectrum between Reagan Raven and Macca Mahogany – and who knows, were he to have his time again he might even have thought better of getting done up in age-inappropriate white casualwear for his daughters' christening on the banks of the Jordan. (In attendance: Mr Tony Blair and Wolverine.)

Rumour has it that he regretted the excruciating footage from a 2002 BBC documentary which showed him participating in a boxing workout with a flattering courtier of a personal trainer, while the voiceover solemnly intoned "he believes he will live to be 100".

As well he now might, and not just because his mother is still going at 103. In that first scene of The Godfather, in the darkened inner sanctum at his daughter's wedding, Vito Corleone seems tired by the family business. But the amateur physiologist in me suspects that this late-surge energy rush will add years to Murdoch's life. After all, the character trait he is least able to disguise, even behind blacked-out windows, is his enduring relish for the chaos and drama of such times.

Seeking historical episodes that illuminate the man, people often cite 1991, when News Corp's aggressive expansion had led to it becoming so overloaded with debt that the advertising recession would have toppled it had even one of the many banks extending short-term loans to the company held out. But Murdoch survived a game of hair-raising brinkmanship, and at some level it's impossible not to admire the adrenaline-junkiness of it all.

A repeat of that stunning comeback seems impossible with his current problems – but in the necessity to fight for his life's work once more, the old monster might have found that unlikely and elusive elixir

[Douglas Caddy]

Poster's note: This turn of events supports John Dolva's astute assessment in his recent posts that this criminal case is about to get more complicated.

-------------------------------

International staff 'full of legal errors'

Human rights lawyer says media mogul is not legally obliged to hand over evidence to police, and that doing so is unethical

By Lisa O'Carroll

guardian.co.uk,

Saturday 18 February 2012 07.53 EST

Rupert Murdoch is not legally obliged to hand over evidence of wrongdoing in his newspapers to the police, contrary to claims he made in a letter to News International staff, a leading human rights lawyer has said.

Geoffrey Robertson has said that Murdoch's letter in relation to this issue "is full of errors, both of law and history".

He added that the media baron was "ill-advisedly and unethically throwing away the shield that parliament gave to journalists in 1984 so they could protect their sources".

On Friday, Murdoch told staff that his internal investigations unit, which had already handed over evidence that has led to the arrest of nine Sun journalists in the past month, would continue to disclose material to the police because the company was "obligated" to do so.

"We will turn over every piece of evidence we find – not just because we are obligated to but because it is the right thing to do," Murdoch's email said.

He said he would "continue to ensure that all appropriate steps are taken to protect legitimate journalistic privilege and sources" but warned he "cannot protect people who have paid public officials".

Robertson said: "Apparently, he thinks it is right to hand over confidential source material – including the names of whistleblowers – to police without them even asking. This is a breach of the most fundamental ethic that journalists must not betray their source and there is no law that requires it.

"On the contrary, the 1984 Police and Criminal Evidence Act defines confidential journalistic material as 'excluded material', which police cannot seize at all, other than in a few cases such as official secrets, when they have to get an order from a circuit judge."

In 1984, a delegation from the press, led by Lord MacGregor and including James Evans, the then-solicitor for Times Newspapers, and Geoffrey Robertson saw the home secretary in order to ensure that the 1984 Police Act provided a special procedure whereby confidential journalistic material could only be obtained by police applying to a circuit judge with proof that the public interest required them to have it. This doesn't apply, however, if a voluntarily give their documents to the police or invite police into their offices to take what they want."

News International insiders have expressed concern that Murdoch's letter to staff means that his policy of voluntarily handing over documents to the authorities has not changed, and it will continue to disclose sources in breach of the code of practice for journalists.

Robertson added: "What is so unattractive about Mr Murdoch's behaviour is that he is handing over journalists without ever asking them, or their editors, or their executives who must have signed off on the payments, what they were doing and whether they were genuinely pursuing a public interest story. Any significant payment must have been approved by executives, and News Corp does not appear to have turned them over."

He added: "The real danger of this behaviour is that it is a blow to investigative journalism, which depends on the cultivation of sources. "Whistleblowers will be much less likely to come forward, however much they trust the journalist, if they fear that his proprietor may turn them over to police."

"Everyone seems to have forgotten that over 200 years ago John Wilkes went to prison to stop government agents getting hold of his journalistic material without a specific warrant. He sued the government and won a great constitutional case. He would be turning in his grave."

[Douglas Caddy]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/19/sun-sunday-launch-news-corp_n_1287988.html

[Douglas Caddy]

Buccaneer Murdoch does it again by striking back to save the empire

By Roy Greenslade

Sunday 19 February 2012 19.18 EST

guardian.co.uk

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/feb/20/sun-rupert-murdoch

When Rupert Murdoch began his counter-attack on Friday I quoted a wise old Sun staffer who said: "He's done it again."

Well, he has done it yet again - surprising everyone by deciding to launch the Sun on Sunday next week.

The wily old media tycoon has a habit of being at his best when he is at bay.

I thought he had lost the plot when he appeared before the Commons select committee last year, especially after his sorry performance in the week following the Milly Dowler disclosure in July.

Clearly, I was wrong because this gambit smacks of the Rupert of old. It will surely have his rivals gasping, leaving them little time to prepare.

Undoubtedly, there will be more shocks along the way. Expect the first issue to be very cheaply priced indeed. Expect him to flood the market.

Most of all, expect him to stay the course because this is about him rescuing his tarnished reputation.

He knows that the arrests of 10 staff have not damaged the Sun in the eyes of the paper's 2.7m buyers nor has it prompted any revolt among advertisers.

The Sun brand therefore remains a saleable item. The Sunday version will therefore be unlikely to look anything like the News of the World.

It will draw on the Sun itself, using the same logo and design in order to reinforce the "distance" from the paper he was forced to close.

Mind you, the Sun on Sunday will surely get to be known by its initials, SoS. That's apt, given that it is something of mayday rescue.

The fact that Murdoch feels he can pull it off also shows the strength of buccaneers running papers rather than corporations.

He might have to answer to shareholders in the States, but this is a backyard pastime as far as they are concerned. So he can do as he wishes.

This astonishing initative is all about one angry man, having suffered a setback that looked as if it might end in him sacrificing his British media interests, striking back to save his empire.

It's personal, not corporate. He wants to show his staff, the politicians, the rest of Fleet Street, the readers, News Corp's investors - indeed, the world - that he will not go quietly.

Love him or hate him, you have to admire the chutzpah. What a guy!

[Douglas Caddy]

Watson queries whether Murdoch can lift suspensions of arrested Sun staff

Labour MP's letter to Met police says he believes bail conditions ban arrested journalists from making contact with each other

By Lisa O'Carroll

guardian.co.uk,

Monday 20 February 2012 10.17 EST

Labour MP Tom Watson has written to the head of the Metropolitan police questioning whether Rupert Murdoch is legally entitled to lift the suspensions of Sun staff arrested in relation to alleged payments to public officials.

Watson says it has been "known for many years" that Murdoch's company has "destroyed and obstructed police and parliamentary inquiries into corrupt and illegal practices" and asks the Met commissioner, Bernard Hogan Howe, whether he is "satisfied vital evidence is secure as a result of Mr Murdoch's actions".

The media mogul announced on Friday that any of the 10 staff who were arrested in relation to alleged bribery could return to work and five of them have already done so, with the remaining five expected to return in the next week.

Watson's intervention comes as the Sun prepares to launch its first Sunday edition this weekend.

Watson, who has been at the vanguard of the parliamentary investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World, believes the bail conditions ban any of those arrested from making contact with each other, which would suggest that it could be problematic for them to work together.

Scotland Yard has refused to comment but sources at News International have indicated that a "no contact" condition does not apply to the 10 Sun staff.

In his letter to Hogan-Howe, Watson says: "It seems remarkable that the people being investigated of such serious crimes should be put in a position that makes it impossible to determine whether bail terms have been breached."

In addition to this clarification, Watson asks Hogan Howe to "confirm that you have secured computer and paper filing systems" relevant to the investigation into police payments.

"The public will think it odd that the circumstances that lead to the bail of a number of high profile individuals will allow them to be in the proximity of evidence that can be tampered with."

In January police launched a raid of the Sun headquarters in Wapping and are believed to have taken away computers, notepads and other material.

Watson's letter comes just weeks after News International was accused by a high court judge of destroying evidence that could have helped in the investigations into phone hacking.

In January News Group Newspapers, the part of News International that owned the News of the World, was ordered to search its computer databases for evidence of an alleged cover-up. Mr Justice Vos, who is presiding over civil actions against News International said he had seen evidence that raised "compelling questions about whether [NGN] concealed, told lies, actively tried to get off scot free". In that same hearing, it was alleged that in 2010 computers used by eight News of the World journalists implicated in phone hacking were "physically destroyed" by the company.

[Douglas Caddy]

Sun on Sunday: Rivals likely to take the biggest hit this weekend

Expect Murdoch's new edition to sell about 2.5m and for the Sunday Mirror, People and Daily Star Sunday to forfeit readers

By Dan Sabbagh

guardian.co.uk,

Monday 20 February 2012 11.15 EST

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/feb/20/sun-on-sunday-sales

Rupert Murdoch's Sun on Sunday marks the rebirth of one newspaper. But that impact will it have on others in a shrunken Sunday tabloid market? Seven months after the News of the World published for the final time, it is arguably Rupert Murdoch's rivals that look vulnerable.

A quick glance at the figures shows that the News of the World's demise appeared to weaken the market overall. Of the News of the World's 2.67m sales (figure June 2011, source ABC), 1.3m simply disappeared. Half the rest went to the Sunday Mirror; the rest were split between the Daily Star Sunday and the People. Initial gains by the Mail on Sunday were rubbed out, although the Sunday Express made a little progress.

Sunday paper sales compared So what's the Sun on Sunday going to sell? We don't yet know what the price is going to be of course, but Murdoch likes to play down low. The Sunday Mirror is at a benchmark £1, as is the People and you would have to bet on the Sun on Sunday coming in under that. Murdoch can't afford a flop, so if you wanted to bet...well, 50p sounds plausible. Market share matters right now when you have advertiser-friendly events including the end of the Premiership, Euro 2012 and of course the Olympics all coming in a matter of months.

Saturday's Sun sets a high-water mark of about 2.85m; the average sale for the daily is 2.75m. Curiosity will help, although it will still be quite an achievement if the first week is above 3m. But Enders Research reckons that the News of the World, had it still been around, would have been reduced to about 2.5m in January, because newspaper sales just keep on falling.

More to the point, though, is whether the Sun on Sunday can bring the lapsed NoW buyers back; some of them would have been middle class types too hung over for a broadsheet, or double buyers who liked some entertainment with their Sunday Times. This is the bigger unknown, which suggests that the settle down figure for the Sun on Sunday will be in the 2m to 2.5m range. That would still give Murdoch all important market leadership back.

What then of the rest? British newspaper buyers are a pretty conservative lot, and market shares only move incrementally in normal times. But this is a shake up moment. Can the Sunday Mirror stay above 1m? Will the perennially written-off People hold over 400,000? Sly Bailey, the Trinity Mirror chief executive, hasn't exactly been communicating optimism with no obvious extra marketing in either title and a just announced plan to cut yet more jobs.

Richard Desmond, meanwhile, has to protect new found gains at the Daily Star Sunday. The mogul is not shy of cutting prices though while Trinity Mirror almost always refuses to play that game. It's only a hunch, but few would be surprised if the Daily Star Sunday hung on to a few more readers compared to the People come the weekend.

In all this, the great unknown is the lurking giant of Associated Newspapers. In one sense, the Mail on Sunday looks a little vulnerable. Priced at £1.50 and having gained nothing from the interregnum, the MoS looks set to lose some sales ground as well as the number one spot. Of course it was Associated that thought about launching a "red-top" and concluded it did not need to do so because it thought the market was all going middle-brow. But an initial spike upwards in sales vanished, which makes the temptation to launch a Derry Street spoiler all the greater today.

As for Murdoch himself, he too has skin in the game. The mood music around the launch announcement has been relatively upbeat, with an acceptance on Fleet Street that the Sun on Sunday is not just a rebadged News of the World. Buyers may see it differently though, and any settle-down sales figure closer to 2m than 2.5m will be considered as something of a disappointment.

There are also risks from the ongoing police investigation into alleged corrupt payments to public officials that has seen 10 Sun journalists arrested, as well as the News of the World phone-hacking inquiry. You'd have to assume that Murdoch thinks there is not much worse to come on the corrupt payments front, while phone hacking is associated with a masthead that no longer exists.

Those kind of assumptions may turn out to be correct, but as anybody who has followed this drama over the past two and half years will know, predictions (and particularly those about the future) are not that easy to make

Edited February 20, 2012 by Douglas Caddy

[Douglas Caddy]

Why the Sun on Sunday Is Murdoch's Last Hurrah

By Alexander WaltersFinancial Times digital product manager, journalist

Posted: 02/21/2012 10:02 am

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexander-walters/rupert-murdoch-sun-on-sunday_b_1288401.html

In the closing days of 1968, a little-known Australian newspaper proprietor flew to London with the intention of taking a gamble. By the fifth day of 1969 he had mortgaged his entire business to purchase The News of the World, then a bloated and barely-profitable behemoth of a paper. Forty years on and Keith Rupert Murdoch has flown into London again, with one last gamble on his mind.

In pushing ahead with the launch of the Sun on Sunday, Murdoch has sent out a message of defiance to his critics. He is under pressure from News Corporation shareholders in the US, who feel that the phone hacking scandal has cost them enough already. He is also under pressure from his own staff in the UK, who feel betrayed by his lack of support. This time last week he faced two options: cut ties and sell up or gamble on a fightback. True to form he chose the latter.

The challenge Murdoch now faces is twofold. In order to save his British operation he must reassure Sun staff and guide the paper through its current crisis without losing any of the advertisers that have so far stayed loyal. He must also make the Sun on Sunday a commercial and critical success. Only by achieving both of these feats will he placate News Corporation, an organization that sees print as minor indulgence in a digital media age.

But why does Murdoch want to do this at all? He could quite easily sell The Sun and, as Michael Wolff suggested, even preserve his beloved but eternally loss-making Times. The Sun already has keen suitors -- Express Newspapers owner Richard Desmond has long been an admirer.

It's possible to argue that the paper is a financial asset but by News Corp standards its revenues are small and are used partly to offset the losses incurred by The Times. The Sun's success thus has the twofold benefit of leaving Murdoch in charge of the most influential tabloid and broadsheet papers in the UK.

Yet the phone hacking scandal has left the influence of News International titles significantly bruised. Politicians and spin doctors who played nice with NI under duress during their time in office have now come out to lambaste the organization's influence and tactics. Even David Cameron, the old boy's old boy, looks shy after his indiscretion with Andy Coulson.

But there is one thing that motivates Rupert Murdoch more than money, power or prestige. It's the thrill of a challenge.

This is a man who built his British empire by taking gambles. After the NotW purchase came the purchase of The Sun and the controversial launch of page 3. In the early 80s came the skillful avoidance of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission in his acquisition of Times Newspapers. Shortly afterwards he revolutionized printing methods and neutered the rampant print unions. In the 90s he battered rivals with price wars and by the turn of the millennium his domination of the British press was complete.

At 81, however, Mr. Murdoch finds himself confronted with a digital age that he doesn't understand and a scandal of cataclysmic proportions enveloping him. He has been forced to close the paper that kick-started his whole career. The British establishment that he hated and so effectively subverted and dominated is laughing at him once again. This, to a man like Murdoch, is a humiliation.

After the MySpace debacle and the underwhelming launch of The Daily iPad app, the Sun on Sunday is Murdoch's last chance to shine in the inky-fingered industry that he loves so much. The entire project is fraught with risk but it is this very risk that will spur him on, just as it did in every great gamble of his career. In years gone by the prize was prestige and power. Now the prize is pride and the success of the Sun on Sunday would be a delicious two fingers to those who have written him off.

Yet Mr. Murdoch, contrary to popular belief, is human like the rest of us and there is a grim, human reality lurking in this story. There is likely a tacit understanding at News Corporation that the big man can have one last roll of the print industry dice for the twilight years of his career. The British papers, unless blessed with vast increases in digital revenue, will be News Corporation assets only so long as Mr. Murdoch has breath in him. Richard Desmond will be watching the rise and fall of Mr. Murdoch's chest with Machiavellian interest.

Edited February 21, 2012 by Douglas Caddy

[Douglas Caddy]

Cherie Blair files lawsuit against News Corp over phone hacking

Daily Telegraph

4:55PM GMT 22 Feb 2012

Cherie Blair is to sue News Corp and a private investigator over claims that the News of the World hacked her phone.

Mrs Blair launched proceedings against News Group Newspapers Ltd. and Glenn Mulcaire at the High Court in London yesterday.

The court case is likely to prove uncomforable for Tony Blair, the former Prime Minsiter, who is godfather to Rupert Murdoch's youngest daughter, Chloe.

Mr Blair was present in March 2010 when Murdoch's two daughters by his third wife, Wendi, were baptised on the banks of the Jordan.

A court case comes at a particularly sensitive timed for Murdoch, who announced on Monday that the first edition of a Sunday edition of the Sun would appear this weekend.

The latest development comes after it emereged that Charlotte Church, the singer, was expected to settle her phone-hacking case against the News of the World this week, meaning its publisher could avoid any High Court trials over the scandal.

Miss Church and her parents had until now refused to accept an offer of damages and costs from News Group Newspapers, which owned the now-defunct tabloid, and the case had been due to be heard on Monday.

But sources close to the case said yesterday that Miss Church was “close to settling” her case after NGN made an offer of between £380,000 and £500,000 to pay the family damages and legal costs.

Miss Church and her parents were the only plaintiffs not to have settled their claims out of an initial batch of 60 who sued NGN for breach of privacy.

The damages element of the settlement is understood to be more than £180,000, which would average £60,000 for each of the three claimants, making it one of the higher awards agreed this year.

Miss Church, 26, her mother, Maria, and her stepfather, James, had complained that the News of the World published distressing stories about them that had originated from voicemail messages hacked by Glenn Mulcaire, the private detective jailed for phone hacking in 2007.

More than 800 hacking victims have been identified by the Metropolitan Police in the year since Operation Weeting, the investigation into the practice, was launched.

Last month 37 victims were given out of court settlements by News International ranging from £25,000 to £130,000. However many more cases are likely to be brought against the company.

[Douglas Caddy]

The Blairs and the Murdochs: a special relationship

Daily Telegraph

4:55PM GMT 22 Feb 2012

Cherie Blair's decision to sue Rupert Murdoch's News International over alleged phone hacking follows a close relationship between the former Prime Minister and the newspaper owner.

Tony Blair is godfather to Rupert Murdoch's youngest daughter, Chloe. He shares the honour with Lachlan Murdoch, the media baron's eldest son and the actors Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.

Mr Blair was present in March 2010 when Murdoch's two daughters by his third wife, Wendi, were baptised on the banks of the Jordan. The former Prime Minister was said to be "garbed in white" at the event, hosted by Queen Rania.

Tony Blair attended the baptism of Rupert Murdoch's wife Wendi.

Murdoch's papers had been heavily critical of Neil Kinnock in the 1992 election. But things changed when Mr Blair flew to Hayman Island, Australia, while opposition leader in 1995 to address News Corp executives.

Mr Blair later said in his memoirs: "The country's most powerful newspaper proprietor, whose publications have hitherto been rancorous in their opposition to the Labour party, invites us into the lion's den. You go, don't you?"

Mr Blair said of Murdoch: "He was hard, no doubt. He was rightwing. I did not share or like his attitudes on Europe, social policy or on issues like gay rights, but there were two points of connection: he was an outsider and he had balls."

In 1997 the daily tabloid announced: "The Sun Backs Blair - give chance a chance." In 2005, ahead of Gordon Brown's election bid, it swung back to the Tories, saying: "Labour's Lost It."

Mr Blair would address the annual gathering in California again in 2006. During his time in office Mr Blair did little to change the regulation of newspapers or BSkyB.

The News International titles supported the war in Iraq, and former Number 10 staff credit Murdoch for discouraging Blair from holding a referendum on euro entry.

"I think if there hadn't been Murdoch there, he would have felt braver and more able to follow his instincts. It was certainly under consideration for early in the second term. The fact that there wasn't one is a credit to Rupert Murdoch rather than to anyone else," recalled Lance Prince, a former Blair press secretary.

Alastair Campbell, Mr Blair's press secretary, attended News International chief executive Rebekah Wade's wedding to Charlie Brooks - as did David Cameron and Mr Murdoch.

Rebekah Brooks is a friend of both Tony and Cherie Blair

He later defended the relationship. "For any political leader who's been operating in Britain in the last 30 or 40 years, the power of the media is such that you can't but have a relationship with people who are major and powerful media people.

"By the way, that's not limited to News International. There's this slight sense in the UK where it's all about Rupert Murdoch and News International. That's true of any of the major media outlets

Edited February 22, 2012 by Douglas Caddy

[Douglas Caddy]

Charlotte Church ready to settle hacking claim for 'up to £500,000'

Singer in line for substantial payout as Murdoch seeks to reach deal on last of civil cases

The Independent

By Cahal Milmo, James Cusick

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

The singer Charlotte Church was last night on the verge of settling her phone-hacking claim against the News of the World in a deal which would allow News International to avoid an embarrassing trial exposing the details of voicemail interception at the defunct Sunday tabloid.

The basis of an agreement between the singer, who along with her parents is suing the NOTW over 33 articles allegedly based on illegally obtained information, and Rupert Murdoch's media empire is understood to have been thrashed out over the weekend, along with a "substantial" six-figure payment reported to be as much as £500,000 including damages.

The settlement would mean that a High Court trial of Ms Church's case, which is due to start next Monday, will not go ahead, sparing NI further negative headlines the day after Mr Murdoch launches the first Sunday edition of The Sun this weekend in a high-profile attempt to draw a commercial line under the hacking scandal and claw back some of the lost market share caused by the closure of the NOTW. Ms Church, 26, and her parents, James and Maria, were the last remaining litigants with viable cases in the first wave of 60 civil claimants seeking damages after their phone messages were accessed.

The case, which would have required the airing of detailed evidence about the methods used by the NOTW and its private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to access voicemails, was intended to help the courts set benchmarks for the damages that future claimants could expect.

A legal source with knowledge of the case said the impending settlement meant it was "back to square one" as a second wave of victims, who include the singer James Blunt and politician Nigel Farage, start their claims.

Ms Church's case threatened to be particularly damaging to News International's already battered image.

The complaint included a story about her father's private life which, it was alleged, had led to her mother trying to kill herself.

It was reported last night that News Group Newspapers, the NI subsidiary which published the NOTW, has agreed to pay between £380,000 and £500,000 in damages and legal costs to the family. The Financial Times said the damages element of the figure was around £180,000. Ms Church's lawyer did not return requests for a comment. News International declined to comment.

[Douglas Caddy]

Phone hacking: News of the World bosses ordered emails to be deleted

By Gordon Rayner and Mark Hughes

Daily Telegraph

9:30PM GMT 23 Feb 2012

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/9102231/Phone-hacking-News-of-the-World-bosses-ordered-emails-to-be-deleted.html

New evidence of a cover-up of phone hacking at the News of the World has been disclosed in court documents, which show the company created a policy to delete emails which could be used against it in legal proceedings.

The documents, released to The Daily Telegraph by a High Court judge, says the policy’s stated aim was “to eliminate in a consistent manner” emails that “could be unhelpful in the context of future litigation in which a News International company is a defendant”.

Hundreds of thousands of emails were deleted “on nine separate occasions”, computers were destroyed and one senior executive told an underling to remove seven boxes of paper records relating to them from the company’s storage facility.

Clive Goodman, the royal reporter who was jailed for phone hacking in 2007, claimed during an internal employment hearing that "all of the stories" he wrote in his final two years at the News of the World "were based on phone hacking”, the court papers state.

The court document was created by lawyers for a series of phone hacking victims and is based on information they have been provided by News International’s Management and Standards Committee.

It would have been used in any High Court trials had News Group Newspapers, publisher of the now defunct News of the World, not spent millions settling cases out of court.

It includes detailed information about admissions that NGN would have made had the cases gone to trial.

The documents were released following a hearing before Mr Justice Vos at which lawyers for News Group said they were adopting a "neutral" position on whether the papers could be released, but did not raise any objections.

For the first time, it can be disclosed that one reporter, named as Journalist E, carried on intercepting voicemail messages even after the arrest in 2006 of Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who was later jailed.

The reporter was one of at least six News of the World journalists who hacked phones themselves.

However it is details surrounding the cover-up which are the most damning.

The papers state that from 2008 on, the News of the World had a legal obligation to “preserve all relevant evidence” of phone hacking because it had been notified of civil claims that were pending.

But in Nov 2009 it created the “Email Deletion Policy” to “eliminate in a consistent manner across News International (subject to compliance with legal and regulatory requirements) emails that could be unhelpful in the context of future litigation in which an NI company is a defendant”.

The document includes emails sent from a senior executive which says that all emails prior to January 2010 would be deleted.

A further email to a lawyer at News International asks “how are we doing with the…email deletion policy?”

The lawyer sent the email to a member of News International’s IT department asking: “Should I go and see them now and get fired – would be a shame for you to go so soon?!!!…Do you reckon you could add some telling IT arguments to back up my legal ones?”

The document alleges that the need for email deletion intensified following a legal claim by Sienna Miller on September 6, 2011. The claim demands that documents be preserved.

But an email from a News International IT employee three days later states: “There is a senior NI management requirement to delete this data as quickly as possible.”

The court document also cites a statement from Paul Cheesbrough, News International’s chief information officer, in which he admits that, in January last year, all emails on News International’s archive system up to September 31 2007 were deleted.

Mr Cheesbrough previously worked at The Daily Telegraph.

One journalist, described as Mulcaire’s “primary point of contact” until July 2005, instructed him to intercept voicemail messages on “at least” 1,453 occasions.

Despite settling more than 50 claims from hacking victims over the past two months, NGN could still face up to five High Court trials over phone-hacking, it emerged yesterday.

On Monday a judge will be told that several litigants have been unable to reach agreements with the company, including Ryan Giggs, the footballer, and Paul Burrell, the former butler to Diana, Princess of Wales.

Charlotte Church, the singer whose hacking case had been expected to go to trial on Monday, has now settled her case, details of which will be made public next week, her solicitor said.

A News International spokeswoman was unavailable for comment.

[John Dolva]

Editorial: The Australian wages Fox News-style war on Greens

Saturday, February 18, 2012

NSW Greens MPs John Kaye, David Shoebridge and Jamie Parker lampoon The Australian, February 12. Photo: Rachel Evans Rupert Murdoch’s media empire does not have a TV network like Fox News in Australia — at least not yet. But he does have the sole national newspaper, The Australian, which is busy running a Fox News-style smear campaign against the Australian Greens.

Anxious at the Greens’ growing electoral success, the paper said in a 2010 editorial that it planned to have the Greens “destroyed”.

The Australian’s plan is transparent: attack the Greens and give space to its critics. But its method is odious: if the facts don’t fit the story, ignore the facts.

Two recent examples show this in practice. Former Liberal party staffer Christian Kerr has written several articles in the Australian that say ASIO files show federal Greens MP Lee Rhiannon met with a high-ranking KGB spy in 1970 before she boarded a Russian cruise ship bound for England.

Rhiannon has denied the claims, saying on February 6: “On 19 January 1970 when I left Australia on the MS Shota Rustaveli and for the following six weeks of the voyage and indeed for my whole life to the best of my knowledge, I have never met a Russian spy.”

But Kerr wrote on February 13 that Rhiannon “has yet again refused to offer a categorical denial to a report in The Australian that a secret meeting was set up between her and the man identified as the KGB station chief in Australia”.

Of course, Rhiannon did offer a complete denial. More than that, she said she had never knowingly met a Russian spy in her entire life. The Australian published a letter from her that denied Kerr’s claim completely. Do Kerr and Australian editor Chris Mitchell even read their own newspaper?

In the other example, The Australian attacked Greens NSW MLC David Shoebridge for giving greetings to the Socialist Alliance national conference in January.

Imre Salusinszki and James Massola wrote in the February 2 Australian that “eyebrows were raised within the party” due to Shoebridge’s decision. But the authors could not say who exactly in the Greens was supposed to be upset.

Shoebridge said on February 13: “Having not seen any such eyebrows myself, you’d have to think that certain people are spinning so hard they’re in real and present danger of flying right off the political chess board.”

He said that he, along with NSW Greens MPs John Kaye and Jamie Parker, “also had a bit of fun at The Australian’s expense [at the Sydney Mardi Gras Fair Day], posing for a photograph or two at the Socialist Alliance’s stall, photos which we then tweeted, hiding in full sight our joke about The Australian’s previous attack piece”.

But Salusinszki wrote in the February 14 Australian that the joke had angered “fellow NSW Greens who said yesterday they planned the matter at a state council meeting”. Again, Salusinszki’s mysterious insider critics, who, most conveniently, always agree with the claims he makes in his articles, are not named.

But Murdoch’s media empire doesn't let facts or a lack of sources get in the way of a good story that favours elite interests. And its near-monopolistic media control gives it the political leverage to attack the Greens and, in turn, progressives and leftists broadly.

If progressives are to rise to the huge challenges that face us — from climate change and racism, to hunger, poverty and discrimination — standing together against Murdoch's attacks and building the widest unity between Greens and leftists is essential.

[Douglas Caddy]

UK media scandal: 2 new computer hacking arrests

By RAPHAEL SATTER

Associated Press

Feb 24, 2:00 PM EST

LONDON (AP) -- Britain's media ethics scandal flared again just ahead of Rupert Murdoch's launch of The Sun on Sunday, with two men arrested on suspicion of computer hacking Friday and a senior police officer placed under investigation for allegedly leaking information to the Australian tycoon's U.K. newspaper company.

Police said that the latest arrests were carried out in Hertfordshire and Surrey, two English counties just outside the capital, under the aegis of Operation Tuleta, which is investigating allegations that journalists broke into computer systems to steal information.

But in a statement the force said that "these arrests are not directly linked to any news organization or the activities of journalists."

The force refused to say whether that meant that the suspects arrested on suspicion of computer hacking were police officers or private investigators. A spokeswoman said police wouldn't go any further than the statement. She demanded that her name be kept out of print, citing policy.

Operation Tuleta is one of three parallel investigations spawned by the tabloid phone hacking scandal, which grew out of revelations that journalists at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid routinely hacked into the cell phones of those in the public eye to score scoops.

Dozens have been arrested or been pushed to resign because of the scandal, include two of Britain's top police officers, who were accused of not doing enough to get to grips with the tabloid's wrongdoing.

The latest arrests follow news announced Friday morning that a senior London police officer is being investigated for allegedly making an "inappropriate disclosure of information" to the paper's publisher during the initial inquiry into phone hacking in 2006.

That investigation, now discredited, found little evidence to support claims that journalists at the News of the World tabloid illegally intercepted voice mails. Critics cite the failed inquiry as evidence that police deliberately helped the Murdoch paper cover up its crimes.

The News of the World was closed in July, but Murdoch is in London to oversee the launch of its successor, The Sun on Sunday, this weekend