Rupert Murdoch and the Corruption of the British Media

[Douglas Caddy]

Rupert Murdoch pressured Tony Blair over Iraq, says Alastair Campbell

Murdoch joined an 'over-crude' attempt by US Republicans to accelerate British involvement in the Iraq war, Campbell says

By Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent

guardian.co.uk,

Friday 15 June 2012 14.30 EDT

Rupert Murdoch previously told the Leveson inquiry: 'I've never asked a prime minister for anything.' Photograph: Mike Theiler/EPA

Rupert Murdoch joined in an "over-crude" attempt by US Republicans to force Tony Blair to accelerate British involvement in the Iraq war a week before a crucial House of Commons vote in 2003, according to the final volumes of Alastair Campbell's government diaries.

In another blow to the media mogul, who told the Leveson inquiry that he had never tried to influence any prime minister, Campbell's diary says Murdoch warned Blair in a phone call of the dangers of a delay in Iraq. The disclosure by Campbell, whose diaries are serialised in the Guardian, will pile the pressure on Murdoch in light of his evidence to the Leveson inquiry.

The Cabinet Office released information on Friday that raised doubts about Murdoch's claim that Gordon Brown pledged to "declare war" on News Corporation after the Sun abandoned its support for Labour in September 2009. It supported Brown's claim that he never made such a threat by saying that the only phone call between the two men during the period took place on 10 November 2009 and focused on Afghanistan.

Murdoch tweeted in response: "I stand by every word is aid [sic] at Leveson." But there will be fresh questions about one of Murdoch's most memorable declarations from his appearance before the inquiry in April. The founder of News Corporation said: "I've never asked a prime minister for anything."

Campbell wrote that on 11 March 2003, a week before the Commons vote in which MPs voted to deploy British troops to Iraq, Murdoch intervened to try to persuade Blair to move more quickly towards war. "[Tony Blair] took a call from Murdoch who was pressing on timings, saying how News International would support us, etc," Campbell wrote. "Both TB and I felt it was prompted by Washington, and another example of their over-crude diplomacy. Murdoch was pushing all the Republican buttons, how the longer we waited the harder it got." The following day, 12 March, he wrote: "TB felt the Murdoch call was odd, not very clever."

Campbell's description of Murdoch's intervention is one of a series of disclosures in his diaries, The Burden of Power, Countdown to Iraq, which are serialised in the Guardian on Saturday and Monday. The diaries show:

• Blair believed that the Prince of Wales had been "captured by a few very rightwing people", according to Campbell, after the Daily Mail published leaked letters from the prince about a US-style compensation culture in 2002. Blair "liked, rated and respected" the Queen but thought her heir tried to have a "dig" at the Labour government in a speech during her golden jubilee in 2002.

• Gordon Brown agitated so aggressively against Tony Blair – demanding a departure date soon after the 9/11 attacks – that Downing Street concluded in 2002 that the then chancellor was "hell-bent on TB's destruction".

The diaries will raise questions about Brown's claim at Leveson that he and his staff never briefed against Blair. Campbell provides specific examples of when Brown and his chief aide, Ed Balls, were suspected of doing just that. In one example, the former health secretary Alan Milburn told Blair that Brown encouraged MPs to defy a government three-line whip to vote against foundation hospitals in 2003.

• Blair was "thwarted" from joining the euro by Brown and Balls in 2003. On 11 June 2003, two days after Brown concluded that Britain had not yet met his five tests on euro membership, Campbell wrote: "Things just hadn't worked on the euro and TB was pretty fed up...The judgment was settling that GB had basically thwarted him. TB feared we were making the wrong decision for the wrong reasons."

Campbell said he had mixed views about Brown. He told the Guardian: "I do have very conflicted views about Gordon. On the one hand he could be extraordinarily difficult to deal with. But on the other hand he could be absolutely brilliant. Often we were sitting there longing for the brilliant to be in charge and for the impossible to fade away and it never quite happened. During this period it is the first time that Tony does at least articulate the possibility of actually sacking him. And at various points [he] says I am going to do it. Of course he never did. I completely understand why he decided to stick with Gordon because, as Tony keeps saying throughout the diaries: 'Look, when it comes to ability, he and I are head and shoulders above the rest.' That may sound a bit arrogant but most people will accept that."

Campbell's disclosure of Murdoch's intervention on the eve of the Iraq war is the second substantive example to raise questions over the News Corp chairman's claim that he never tried to influence any prime minister. John Major told Leveson on Tuesday that Murdoch told him in February 1997, three months before the general election, that he would withdraw support for the Tories unless the then prime minister changed his policies on Europe.

Major told the inquiry: "If we couldn't change our European policies, his papers could not and would not support the Conservative government."

Campbell told the Guardian that Murdoch's intervention on Iraq was a "very rightwing voice" that came "out of the blue" adding: "On one level [Murdoch] was trying to be supportive, saying I know this is a very difficult place, my papers are going to support you on this. Fine.

"But I think Tony did feel that there was something a bit crude about it. It was another very rightwing voice saying to him: look isn't it about time you got on with this? I think, as I recall Tony saying, he didn't think it was terribly clever."

Campbell also mentioned the Murdoch phone calls in a second witness statement to the Leveson inquiry last month. News Corp believes there was nothing improper about the phone call, one of three, because the support of the Sun and News of the World for the war was well known.

Lord Justice Leveson, whose lead counsel, Robert Jay, asked Murdoch about the calls, also indicated that it was "reasonable" for him to have views on such international matters.

Leveson told Murdoch: "You've mentioned that you talked about Afghanistan, and it would be perfectly reasonable for you to have a view on that. Lots of people will. And your view may be informed by your worldwide contacts through the businesses that you operate. That's merely your view."

Murdoch addressed the phone calls in his witness statement to the Leveson inquiry. He said: "As for the three telephone calls with the then prime minister, Tony Blair, in 2003, I cannot recall what I discussed with him now, nine years later, or indeed even if I spoke with him at all. I understand that published reports indicate that calls were placed by him to me. What I am sure about is that I would not in any telephone call have conveyed a secret message of support for the war; the NI titles' position on Iraq was a matter of public record before 11 March 2003."

He then cited four articles from the Sun and the News of the World which illustrated their "pro-war stance" before 11 March 2003 when the main phone call took place.

In his testimony to the inquiry said he did not remember the calls but added that the Sun's support for the Iraq war was well known. "I don't remember the calls. The [call on] 11th might even have been calling me for my birthday, but no, our position on the war had been declared very strongly in all our newspapers and the Sun well before that date."

The company said tonight: "It is complete rubbish to suggest that Rupert Murdoch lobbied Mr Blair over the Iraq war on behalf of the US Republicans. Furthermore, there isn't even any evidence in Alastair Campbell's diaries to support such a ridiculous claim."

[Douglas Caddy]

James Murdoch should disclose contents of second mobile phone to Leveson inquiry, says Tom Watson

James Murdoch is under pressure to disclose text messages from a second previously undisclosed mobile telephone to the Leveson inquiry.

MPs are asking whether James Murdoch should have declared the existence of a reported additional phone to the Leveson inquiry

By Christopher Hope, Senior Political Correspondent

The Telegraph

2:34PM BST 17 Jun 2012

MPs are asking whether the former News International chairman should have declared the existence of a reported additional phone to the Leveson inquiry into press ethics and standards.

Until now, there have only been references at the Leveson inquiry to Mr Murdoch’s Blackberry, and not his iPhone.

Mr Murdoch was reported to have been given the iPhone when the devices were a new development in the media industry. It was supplied by O2, and not by News Interational’s usual supplier Vodafone.

Any second phone could contain information about further contacts with Downing Street and the bid by News Corporation for control of satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

Tom Watson, the Labour MP, said: “Now that we know James Murdoch had a secret second iPhone I hope he will disclose the content of text messages an emails to the Leveson inquiry and the police.

“I’d like to know whether he used the secret phones to discuss the parliamentary inquiry with the other senior executives who were issued phones.”

News International and News Corporation declined to comment on the iPhone. A company source said: "Mr Murdoch fully cooperated with the Leveson inquiry."

The news came as it emerged that Lord Justice Leveson had complained to the Government over comments made about his inquiry by a Cabinet minister.

The judge complained to Sir Jeremy Heywood, the Cabinet Secretary, after Education secretary Michael Gove told a press lunch that the inquiry had created a “chilling atmosphere” towards journalistic freedom.

Lord Justice Leveson made the call last month to enquire whether Mr Gove was speaking on behalf of the Government with his comments.

If Mr Gove’s comments did reflect the views of the Cabinet, Lord Justice Leveson said, then it questioned whether his enquiry was a waste of public money. Sources insisted that these remarks did not amount to Lord Justice Leveson threatening to resign, however.

Sir Jeremy is reported to have told Prime Minister David Cameron about the conversation.

The judge’s intervention apparently resulted in stopping ministers making public remarks about the inquiry, which will report in September.

Former Times journalist Mr Gove warned a Parliamentary Press Gallery lunch on Feb 21 of “a chilling atmosphere towards freedom of expression which emanates from the debate around Leveson”.

Mr Gove was called to give evidence to the inquiry and warned that recommendations from inquiries were often “applied in a way that the cure is worse than the disease”.

Mr Gove also concerns about restraints on the “precious liberty” of freedom of speech, prompting Lord Justice Leveson to reply: “I do not need to be told about the importance of freedom of speech, I really don’t.”

A Leveson Inquiry spokesman said: “Lord Justice Leveson is conducting a judicial inquiry and, in that capacity, will not comment on press stories outside the formal proceedings of the inquiry.”

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “We are not commenting on this.”

[Douglas Caddy]

Rebekah Brooks should hear in August whether she faces further charges

Former News International boss awaits decision on charges relating to allegations of phone hacking and illegal payments

By Lisa O'Carroll

guardian.co.uk,

Friday 22 June 2012 07.22 EDT

Rebekah Brooks and her husband Charlie arrive at Southwark crown court. Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters

Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, should know by the end of the summer whether she is to face further charges in relation to allegations of phone hacking and illegal payments to public officials.

Southwark crown court heard on Friday morning that Brooks is on bail until the end of July and a date in early August in relation to Scotland Yard investigations into alleged phone hacking and police corruption, respectively.

Brooks, 44, her husband Charlie Brooks, 49, and four others have also been charged with perverting the course of justice. They were bailed on these charges until 26 September, the date set by Justice Fulford for a plea hearing.

Andrew Edis, prosecuting QC, said that in relation to the phone hacking and police corruption allegations, although there were no "definitive charging decisions" he was "reasonably confident" that the Crown Prosecution Service would know which way it would proceed by the middle of August.

Hugo Keith, QC for Brooks, said: "It is a matter of public record that charges dates and bail dates loom."

But Keith added that all that is known so far is that files relating to unidentified people have been sent to the CPS. He also expressed concern about the amount of material on the internet in relation to his client.

Brooks was the first defendant to arrive at court, greeted by a wall of about 50 photographers and camera crews at around 8.30am on Friday.

Brooks emerged from the court two hours later to shouts from the photographers of "Rebekah, Rebekah". An ITN camerman was knocked to the ground and left with a bleeding head in the melee.

The former News International executive and confidant of Rupert Murdoch sat along with the five others in the glass-encased dock of court number 4 at Southwark crown court in central London throughout the 35 minute hearing,

Court no 4 was packed with barristers and journalists who filled the press, jury benches and the public gallery.

She spoke just once to confirm her name and barely made eye contact with anyone in the court, flashing an occasional glance at her husband, a race horse trainer and friend of the prime minister.

Brooks faces three charges of conspiring to pervert the course of justice in relation to the Metropolitan police's investigation into allegations of phone hacking and corruption of public officials in relation to the News of the World.

She is accused of conspiring to conceal documents, computers and electronic equipment from police and conspiring to remove seven boxes of material from the archive of News International.

Her husband and her former personal assistant Cheryl Carter, 48, of Mildmay Road, Chelmsford, Essex; head of security at News International Mark Hanna, 49, of Glynswood Road, Buckingham, Buckinghamshire; Mrs Brooks' chauffeur Paul Edwards, 47, of Victoria Park Square, Bethnal Green, east London; and security consultant Daryl Jorsling, 39, of Vale Road, Aldershot, Hampshire, all face a single charge of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

[Douglas Caddy]

Mystery of vital iPhone 'lost' by News International

by Cahal Milmo and James Cusick

The Independent

Saturday, 23 June 2012

Rupert Murdoch's News International has failed to recover one of four Apple iPhones issued to company executives and which are now being investigated by Scotland Yard's phone-hacking investigators.

The smartphones, whose existence was only publicly acknowledged by the company this month despite their being given to four senior figures – including the former executive chairman James Murdoch – in the summer of 2009, are the subject of an order from a High Court judge that the phones and their contents, including emails and text messages, must be preserved.

But News International has only managed to locate three of the phones, opening the possibility that emails and, in particular, text messages archived on the missing handset have been lost and cannot be scrutinised. The phones were "heavily used" by the executives, who ran up a bill of nearly £12,000 between them in the 11 months to this May.

The failure of NI to take possession of one of the phones was confirmed at the High Court in London by Hugh Tomlinson QC, the barrister representing victims of phone hacking by the News of the World in civil damages claims. Mr Tomlinson said three of the four phones had been located.

The loss of one of the devices would be embarrassing to Mr Murdoch's News Corp, which has pledged full transparency in the investigations. The existence of the phones was not disclosed to the Leveson Inquiry but NI has insisted the handsets were not "secret".

The company yesterday declined to comment in detail on its investigations into the iPhones. A spokeswoman said: "News International has complied fully with its disclosure obligations." The Labour MP Tom Watson, a leading campaigner on the hacking scandal, said: "In line with News Corp's promise to be transparent on this issue, I call on them to reveal which of the four iPhones that were issued to senior executives in 2009 they appear unable to locate."

Two of the phones, which were on a single contract with O2 rather than NI's normal provider, Vodafone, were issued to Mr Murdoch and Katie Vanneck-Smith, NI's chief marketing officer. Mr Murdoch, who oversaw the phone-hacking settlement with the footballers' union boss Gordon Taylor in 2008 and spearheaded News Corp's ill-fated 2011 bid for BSkyB, specified that he wanted a "white iPhone".

When The Independent called the number of the handset issued to Mr Murdoch it was still active and gave a message asking callers to contact his personal office at NI. But the phones issued to two other executives, including one individual who has since left the company, have been disconnected.

Operation Weeting, the Yard's investigation into phone hacking, is examining call records from the phones.

Text messages and emails sent and received by Murdoch executives and advisers from their BlackBerry devices have provided some of the most revealing evidence heard by the Leveson Inquiry. The period in which the iPhones were in use – and running up bills that reached up to £3,000 per month – covered climactic events for the company, including the closure of the NOTW last July.

NI has strongly denied that the existence of the phones, in particular that of Mr Murdoch, was shrouded in secrecy.

In a separate development, the High Court heard that 20 further civil damage claims are expected to be lodged shortly by phone-hacking victims, taking the total in the latest round of lawsuits to 70.

[Douglas Caddy]

News Corp's split makes Rupert Murdoch a paper tiger

News Corp's division into entertainment giant and struggling newsprint empire is a humbling

By Michael Wolff

guardian.co.uk,

Tuesday 26 June 2012 13.40 EDT

This may be the most humble day of Rupert Murdoch's life. His company seems to be spurning his newspapers, and also his leadership – or at least, his Sun God standing. Early Tuesday morning, News Corporation said, through its newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, that it was considering a spin-off of its print properties. Since using the Journal made this something of an in-house announcement, for "considering" one might better read "actively planning".

Perhaps not coincidentally, Chase Carey, News Corp's chief operating officer, was spied yesterday having lunch with Stan Shuman of Allen & Company, one of the company's long time investment bankers. Lunch was at Michael's, the media business canteen in New York, where they were sure to be seen – possibly something, in other words, of a victory walk for Carey, who is the primary operator of the entertainment assets which would become the whole of News Corp.

Even before the phone-hacking scandal in Britain killed the News of the World, the company's newspapers were an issue of internal complaint. From a rational business view, the papers consumed far more resources than any returns they can ever hope to offer. Still, because News Corp was singularly Rupert's company (pay no attention to its public shareholders), and Rupert was atavistically committed to his newspapers, there could be no real debate about their future.

The $5.6bn acquisition of the Wall Street Journal in 2007, at a steep premium to its market value, happened despite the recognition by News Corp's executives that the deal would have a profound negative impact on News Corp's shares – and despite the fact that the Journal would shortly be worth only a fraction of what the company paid for it. If Rupert wanted a paper, he got a paper.

But then there was the phone-hacking scandal. And perhaps even worse for the newspapers: investors everywhere suddenly seemed to wake up and agree that the newsprint titles were not just shrinking, but dissolving assets. By getting rid of the papers in the US, UK and Australia (together with Harper Collins, News Corp's book publishing company), the shares of News Corp itself could even be expected to rise. The phone-hacking saga, and the diverted attention, if not the much-reduced status, of the Murdoch family, was the opportunity.

But what of the papers, then? And of Murdoch himself?

The print division made a small profit last year. With the closing of the News of the World, one of its big earners, and with the continued fall in newspaper circulation and advertising, those earnings may be expected to disappear almost immediately. That will leave the three big money losers particularly exposed: the New York Post, the London Times, and the Wall Street Journal. The losses among them might be as great as $250m.

It is almost impossible to imagine that a stand-alone public print company would not have to quickly cut costs and dispose of those assets that do not have a credible path to profitability. Indeed, for each of News Corp's newspapers, protected so long by the company's vast diversification, being spun off, instead of sold to enthusiastic bidders, might be their worse fate.

And curiously, the papers, while they lose the upside of being part of News Corp, maintain what is arguably the downside: Rupert Murdoch.

Rupert and the Murdoch family trust will still control the papers. Indeed, this odd move, to create a company of ever-weakening businesses, may have been, for Murdoch, a bad choice – but a better choice than selling and losing them.

Meanwhile, it's awfully good news for Chase Carey and the new entertainment-focused company. Rupert and the other Murdochs will have an ever-deepening quagmire to attend to with the newspapers, keeping the Murdochs at an even greater distance from the entertainment business. Indeed, that is the de facto division that exists now, but the separation becomes cleaner and more widely understood with an actual split.

Surely, Rupert Murdoch can be counted on to follow his heart. By early morning, rumours were circulating among Rupert-watchers that Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert's oldest son and once the heir-apparent, who had been forced out of News Corp by the ever-more-powerful entertainment executives and into exile in Australia, might be tapped by his father to head the new newspaper company.

In fact, Lachlan would not even have to relocate because the Australian operation will become the centerpiece of this new company – thus bringing the long story back to where it all began.

[Douglas Caddy]

Rupert Murdoch snubs Britain and says he will invest his billions in the US

News Corp chairman tells Fox he has 'moved on' after abandoning BSkyB bid amid phone-hacking scandal

By Dominic Rushe

guardian.co.uk,

Thursday 28 June 2012 13.14 EDT

Lachlan Murdoch is 'highly unlikely' to run the new publishing arm of News Corp, his father Rupert told Fox

Rupert Murdoch appears to have turned his back on Britain following his humiliation over the phone-hacking scandal.

In an interview with the Fox Business channel on Thursday following New Corporation's confirmation that it was splitting into two companies, entertainment and publishing, Murdoch said he would be "a lot more reluctant" to invest in Britain now, compared to the US.

The News Corp chairman and chief executive also told Fox Business host Neil Cavuto it was "highly unlikely" that his eldest son, Lachlan Murdoch, would run the new newspaper, book publishing and education company.

Once Britain's most powerful media figure, Murdoch has seen his bid for broadcaster BSkyB blocked and his reputation dragged through the mud following the phone-hacking revelations. Last month a parliamentary committee said he was not a fit and proper person to run a major corporation.

Now he looks set to retaliate by taking his money elsewhere. Asked about his future plans following his decision to split his News Corp empire in two, Murdoch made clear the UK was not his first priority and said the company's thinking had "moved on" since it abandoned its Sky bid last summer at the height of the phone-hacking scandal.

"There are billions and billions of dollars, and if Britain didn't want 'em, there are plenty of good places to put them here [in the US]. I'm much more bullish about America than I am about England," he added. "I would be a lot more reluctant to invest in new things in Britain today, rather than here."

Asked by Cavuto whether this was because of what he went through, Murdoch replied: "No, not at all, just the English."

The News Corp boss also scotched rumours that Lachlan might return to the family firm and run the newly separated publishing business, saying: "I think that's highly unlikely." He added: "Lachlan is very happy running his own business in Australia – and he loves living there."

In response to a question about the prospects for the new publishing company, Murdoch said: "In the present climate of thinking in the markets, it'll carry a lower p/e ratio, certainly. But the other one [film and TV company] I think will get a lot higher. Net, net, net the shareholders who are here today will be a lot better off."

Murdoch said that Europe was in for a "very long, tough haul" and that business prospects in the US were far more rosy. That said the media mogul was worried about Thursday's decision by the US Supreme Court to uphold president Barack Obama's landmark healthcare legislation.

"I worry about this entitlement culture," said Murdoch. "We've seen where it's taken Greece. We've seen where it's taken France and Spain today. So, on a political level, I worry about it."

Ken Doctor, media analyst at Outsell, said the split presaged Murdoch's exit from the UK. "It's a recognition of his waning influence in the UK and the consolidation of his business in the US. If he was 60, I would bet on him making a UK comeback but he's not and I can't see him achieving that in his lifetime."

He said that he expected the UK papers would eventually be sold or put into a trust. "Those newspapers and his influence in the UK have grown hand in hand. That's over now," added Doctor.

Julie Tanner, a director at Christian Brothers Investment Services, which led a shareholder revolt against Murdoch and his board last year, said investors were keen to hear who would be appointed to head the new companies.

Tanner added that she would continue with plans to press for a new independent chairman at News Corp. "News Corp must consult with a broad and varied range of shareholders to ensure there are strong corporate governance guidelines established and oversight and monitoring mechanisms in place to assure the highest levels of integrity," she said.

Rich Greenfield, analyst at BTIG, dismissed concerns about Murdoch's control. "If you don't like Rupert, there are plenty of other media companies you can buy," he said.

[Douglas Caddy]

Rupert Murdoch denies News Corp split is linked to phone-hacking scandal

Division into entertainment and publishing is a result of three-year review and will make businesses easier to manage

• By Lisa O'Carroll
  

• guardian.co.uk,
  
• Thursday 28 June 2012 10.23 EDT
  

Rupert Murdoch has dismissed suggestions that splitting News Corporation into separately listed publishing and entertainment companies has anything to do with the phone-hacking scandal that led to the closure of News of the World.

In a conference call with Wall Street analysts in New York on Thursday, after News Corp confirmed the split, the 81-year-old media mogul denied there was a connection between the two.

"We're not doing this in any sense as a reaction to anything in the UK … This is not a reaction to anything in Britain," he said.

Murdoch added that the plan to split News Corp into two publicly listed companies – one for TV and film interests and the other newspapers, books and education – was the result of a "three- year" review of the business.

He said the asset structure had got too complicated and the changes would make the business "easier and better managed".

But he confessed that it was a tough decision for him personally. Murdoch has spent nearly 60 years building his global media empire, beginning with an Australian newspaper inherited from his father, the Adelaide News.

"I don't want to hide the fact that I've spent most of my life on this. It is a very big move and a very big decision for me," he said.

As part of the restructuring, Murdoch will be taking a step back from newspaper publishing, the business that is closest to his heart. He will remain as chairman of both new companies but will act as chief executive of just one – the media and entertainment business.

This immediately creates a vacancy for chief executive of what Murdoch called a "world-class" publishing operation with an "unparalleled portfolio of assets".

He told analysts this job was likely to be taken by an internal candidate, fuelling speculation that it could open the way for his eldest son Lachlan Murdoch to make a return to the News Corp executive fold after a seven-year absence.

Murdoch said: "I just want to say we have a wonderful group of managers in the whole company. This is going to take many months to complete, we are in no hurry to make a decision on that."

Others being mooted for the job include Tom Mockridge, the chief executive of News International who was parachuted in from Sky Italia in July last year to replace Rebekah Brooks when she was forced to resign at the height of the phone-hacking scandal.

Murdoch said he was convinced the publishing company had a bright future. "I am convinced that both of these new business will be able to reach new heights."

He added that he had not doubt the "naysayers" would see the announcement as a reflection of concern for the future of newspapers.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," he said. "People will pay for news. It is the most valuable commodity in the world."

The mechanics of the demerger have yet to be worked out. There was some confusion between Murdoch and his chief financial officer, David Davoe, during the conference call as to whether shareholders would get one new share in the each new companies for one old News Corp share, or whether the share structure would reflect the fact that the film and TV businesses are seen as having more growth potential than the publishing operation.

Davoe eventually stepped in and said it would initially be a one-for-one share offer, but added the structure had yet to be evaluated.

Murdoch also revealed that News Corp's stake in Australian pay-TV operation Foxtel would come under the publishing business. News Corp's Australian subsidiary, News Ltd,

[Douglas Caddy]

Phone-hacking victims hail Glenn Mulcaire court ruling

Private investigator forced to reveal who at the News of the World allegedly instructed him to intercept voicemails

By Josh Halliday and Lisa O'Carroll

guardian.co.uk,

Wednesday 4 July 2012 10.33 EDT

Glenn Mulcaire has fought to keep the information secret since November 2010. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Solicitors acting for phone-hacking victims have hailed a supreme court ruling that will force private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to reveal who at the News of the World allegedly instructed him to intercept voicemails.

Britain's highest court ruled on Wednesday that Mulcaire must pass key phone-hacking details to Nicola Phillips, the former assistant to Max Clifford whose voicemails were intercepted.

Mark Lewis, the solicitor for Phillips, said the ruling would finally force Mulcaire to reveal who at the now-closed Sunday tabloid allegedly instructed him and which journalist the voicemail messages were passed on to.

Mulcaire has fought a 20-month legal battle not to reveal the details to protect his privilege against self-incrimination. However, the supreme court has now thrown out his appeal in a unanimous judgment by five senior law lords.

Lewis told MediaGuardian: "It [the ruling] will take everything further on. It's a precedent that he's now got to pass this information on."

John Kelly, the solicitor for comedian Steve Coogan, who initially took the action with Phillips to force Mulcaire to disclose the information, said the decision would have implications for other civil litigants suing the News of the World publisher News Group Newspapers over hacking.

"They will be able to ask who asked him to hack phones and he won't be able to rely on PSI, if he does the judge will just refer to the supreme court decision," he said.

Mulcaire's legal team is weighing up whether to appeal the ruling to Europe. He said in a statement: "I will consider with my lawyers what the wider implications of this judgment are if and when I am asked to answer such questions in other cases."

Mulcaire has fought to keep the information secret since November 2010, when Mr Justice Mann at the high court ordered the private investigator to answer a series of questions asked of him.

He challenged a further high court ruling in February 2011 and a court of appeal ruling in the same month.

[Douglas Caddy]

Ex-Daily Mirror journalist Greig Box Turnbull arrested in 'corrupt payments' probe

A former Daily Mirror journalist was arrested today as Scotland Yard extended its inquiry into alleged corrupt payments to public officials beyond News International.

The Daily Mirror

By Sam Marsden and Martin Evans

3:13PM BST 04 Jul 2012

Greig Box Turnbull, 37, was held at his home in Morden, south London, on suspicion of corruption, conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office.

He was one of three people detained early this morning by detectives from Operation Elveden, the Metropolitan Police’s investigation into allegations that journalists made illegal payments to police and other public officials.

Police also arrested a 46-year-old prison officer at his home in south-east London and a 50-year-old woman at a railway station in Kent as she travelled to work, both on suspicion of corruption, conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office.

A total of 37 people have now been arrested under Operation Elveden, which is running alongside Operation Weeting, Scotland Yard’s phone-hacking investigation.

Until now all the journalists detained as part of Operation Elveden have been linked to either The Sun or the News of the World, titles published by Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspapers subsidiary News International.

Mr Box Turnbull joined the Daily Mirror in 2004 and left the paper in March this year.

He is currently working for Westminster City Council as a senior media officer on attachment to Richmond Borough Council.

A Westminster City Council spokesman said: “We are aware of the arrest. We have yet to speak to the employee.

“In the light of that and the possibility of further legal action, it would clearly be inappropriate for us to say anything further.”

Trinity Mirror, which publishes the Daily Mirror, declined to comment.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Today's arrests relate to suspected payments to a public official and are not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately."

[Douglas Caddy]

NOTW editor 'spiked paedophilia scoop on Arthur C Clarke for fear of Murdoch'

Ex-reporter claims story never ran because the sci-fi author was the proprietor's friend

MARTIN HICKMAN

The Independent

Saturday, 7 July 2012

The News of the World spiked an exclusive story exposing the science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke as a paedophile, according to a new book about life inside the newspaper whose closure was announced a year ago today.

In Hack, an account of his nerve-shredding days as a reporter on the News of the World and then the Sunday Mirror, Graham Johnson claims that although the NOTW prided itself on outing pederasts, editors made an exception for Mr Clarke because he was a friend of Rupert Murdoch.

Through BSkyB, the tycoon commercially exploited the futurologist's theory that satellites would be ideal for communications and praised him in public. As a result, according to Mr Johnson, who by that time had been sacked by the NOTW and had joined the Sunday Mirror, a story by reporter Roger Insall about Mr Clarke's alleged abuse of adolescent boys was never published for fear of upsetting the proprietor.

Tipped off about the story, the Sunday Mirror sent Mr Johnson to Colombo, where he extracted an confession from the author that he paid boys for sex. "I have never had the slightest interest in children – boys or girls. They should be treated in the same way. But once they have reached the age of puberty, then it is OK," Mr Clarke was quoted as saying in the Sunday Mirror. "If the kids enjoy it and don't mind it doesn't do any harm … there is a hysteria about the whole thing in the West."

Mr Clarke subsequently denied he was a paedophile, saying: "The allegations are wholly denied." But he never sued the Sunday Mirror and died aged 90 at his Sri Lanka home in 2008.

Speaking to The Independent yesterday, Mr Johnson said: "Roger [insall] said that because Arthur C Clarke was a mate of Rupert Murdoch, the editor wasn't having any of it and despite Roger getting a lot of evidence that Clarke was a paedophile they wouldn't publish it."

Yesterday, Phil Hall, the then editor, said: "I can vaguely remember that story. I do remember that Roger Insall worked on it and I remember it was not published. My only recollection is that the only reason we wouldn't publish it was because of legal reasons."

He said Mr Murdoch never asked him to spike stories. News International, publisher of the NOTW, made no comment.

[John Simkin]

Glenn Mulcaire forced to reveal who gave phone-hacking order

Investigator used by the News of the World told to reveal who told him to hack Max Clifford assistant's phone

• Lisa O'Carroll
  
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 18 July 2012 15.48 BST
  

Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator used by the News of the World has been forced to reveal who ordered him to hack the phone of an assistant to PR Max Clifford in compliance with a supreme court order.

He was due to hand over the information in relation to the hacking of the phone of Nicola Phillips phone at 4pm on Wednesday.

But a high court judge, Mr Justice Vos ruled this information should only be handed to her barrister, her solicitor and to the Metropolitan police and could not be shared by other litigants who are suing News International over alleged phone hacking.

He will hold a separate one-day hearing to determine how widely the Mulcaire witness statement could be shared on 30 July, he said.

Lawyers acting for 50 phone-hacking victims argued at a case management conference hearing on Wednesday that this information could be critical to their claims.

Vos agreed there was some merit in their argument, but said he did not want to make "a knee-jerk decision" as he could "foresee there are difficult questions that affect his rights, his article 6 rights".

Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights relates to an individual's right to a fair trial.

Mulcaire, who was jailed in 2007 for charges in relation to hacking of phones of members of the royal household, had argued that disclosure could leave himself open further prosecution.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jul/18/glenn-mulcaire-phone-hacking-order

[Douglas Caddy]

Rupert Murdoch steps down from NI boards

Rupert Murdoch's grip on UK newspapers is loosening "finger by finger", as he resigns string of directorships.

By Katherine Rushton, Media, telecoms and technology editor

7:00PM BST 21 Jul 2012

The Telegraph

Rupert Murdoch has resigned as a director of a string of companies behind The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times, fuelling expectations that he is preparing to sell the newspaper group.

Companies House filings show that Mr Murdoch stepped down from the boards of the NI Group, Times Newspaper Holdings and News Corp Investments in the UK last week. He also quit a number of News Corp’s US boards, the details of which have yet to be disclosed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

News Corporation played down the significance of the resignations as “nothing more than a corporate housecleaning exercise prior to the company split”.

The media giant took a similar line when James Murdoch resigned a string of directorships at News International last November, pouring cold water on suggestions that he was walking away from the UK newspaper arm. He quit as chairman three months later.

News Corporation has already said it will split into two separately listed companies, distancing its embattled newspaper and book publishing interests from its rapidly growing film and television operations, which account for nearly 90pc of News Corp’s $4.2bn (£2.7bn) annual revenues.

Mr Murdoch has repeatedly insisted that he remains committed to the UK newspaper business. He vowed at the time of the announcement to remain a “very active chairman” of the publishing business. But his surprise resignation of directorships on both sides of the Atlantic has raised expectations that he is gearing up to sever all ties with the company.

Splitting News Corp would also put some much-needed distance between its film and television assets and the newspaper business, whose reputation is threatening the whole News Corp empire.

Claire Enders at Enders Analysis said Mr Murdoch’s resignations were part of the “slow fade of Rupert and James from the UK” that began last year and will be “complete and permanent”. “The grip of the Murdochs, finger by finger, has been loosened and it’s not in order to return triumphantly. It’s a permanent shift.

“James and Rupert have decided that they are not welcome in the UK, and they’re right. there is an enforced emotional withdrawal from these assets because they are no longer useful [in terms of influence]," she said.

Sources close to News Corp say that its executives have discussed the possibility that, after the split, the Murdochs could sell down their stake in the publishing division altogether and use the equity to help fund a leveraged buyout of the film and entertainment division.

It is unclear whether the business still plans to pursue this course of action, but doing so would allow Mr Murdoch to shake off shareholder pressures and revive a long-held plan eventually to appoint his son James Murdoch as his successor.

However, some analysts claim that News Corp investors want the Murdochs to buy the publishing assets outright.

[Steve Knight]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jul/22/rupert-murdoch-ni-resignation-analysis?newsfeed=true

Does Rupert Murdoch's retreat mark his long goodbye to the UK?

His resignations may be described as internal housekeeping but there is no likely family successor at News International

• 
  
• 
  
  • 
    Dan Sabbagh
    
  • guardian.co.uk, Sunday 22 July 2012 20.54 BST
    

Rupert Murdoch's decision to resign from his remaining News International directorships marks the latest step of an imperial retreat that could yet end with the media mogul's family cutting ties with his British newspapers.

The 81-year-old is no longer a director of a UK company for the first time since the late 1960s and, with such diminished political influence following the phone hacking scandal, has few reasons to come to Britain bar cursory stops to Wapping and family visits to his daughter Elisabeth.

Over the past 10 years, Murdoch visited the UK every two months, for board meetings at the satellite broadcaster Sky, where he was chairman, and to catch up with two men eager for his counsel, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

The company has done its best to cover Murdoch's withdrawal from three boards at News International, including the symbolically significant Times Newspaper Holdings board, the seat of independent directors whose job it is to safeguard the independence of the Times titles.

Executives said the move was a "corporate house cleaning exercise" in advance of a planned spinoff of Murdoch's global newspapers.

But this week could bring an uncomfortable reminder of what has brought the once-mighty Murdoch to this point.

Sue Akers, detective assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan police, gives evidence to the Leveson inquiry on Monday for the third time. She will present an update on the News of the World phone-hacking investigation and the corrupt payments inquiry that has led to Sun journalists being among those arrested in connection with the cases.

A decision should follow on whether to charge former News of the World journalists and executives, including, it is believed, Andy Coulson, and Murdoch's confidante, Rebekah Brooks, on hacking-related offences.

This month, Keir Starmer, director of public prosecutions, said the Crown Prosecution Service might decide whether to lay charges by the end of July if at all possible, with activity by prosecutors frequently following evidence give at Leveson.

As for News International – perhaps more significantly – following Murdoch's departure there will no longer be any family members on any of the company boards, except his eldest daughter by his first marriage, Prudence MacLeod, who has never held an executive role at her father's company. She sits on the Times Newspaper Holdings board.

That said, there is persistent internal speculation that, despite previous denials, Rupert would still like his eldest son, Lachlan, to be chief executive of the soon-to-be spun-off newspaper company – which would provide the most realistic hope of leaving the family running the newspaper business.

The job remains unfilled but given the protest votes against Lachlan and his younger brother, James, by independent News Corp investors at last year's annual meeting, it would require Herculean bloody-mindedness to hand him the job.

James Murdoch, previously the heir apparent, has moved to New York. He is damaged goods after the "cover up" of the hacking affair. He remains as a non-executive director at Sky, with no discernible enthusiasm for newspapers, and is thought to have been behind a last-ditch plan to sell News International last summer in a failed attempt to get through the takeover bid for Sky.

That leaves Elisabeth, the "anti-Murdoch Murdoch", in the words of one ally Murdoch, who runs News Corp's TV production company Shine, the maker of the series Masterchef. Untainted by phone hacking, she is due to speak at the Edinburgh television festival in August.

But while television is her lifelong interest, her focus is the larger part of News Corporation, the Fox-based company she hopes she might chair when Rupert retires. She too, in short, is no obvious long-term supporter of News International.

As for the short-term, Rupert Murdoch's own interest in the UK is fading. He might have overseen the launch of the Sun on Sunday in February, but since then he has been back to endure two days of questioning at the Leveson inquiry in April and again in the summer.

A combination of his age, lack of legal responsibilities and loss of political influence, reduce the need to leave his New York base and visit the UK.

His tweeting on Saturday night that Britain is "more an entitlement state" with "growing debts", and his questioning as to whether it was "too late" to change culture "and restore energy", could be interpreted as a loss of faith in the country where the Australian-born tycoon got his university education.

Meanwhile, at News International, nervousness remains. Journalists at the Times titles expect redundancies – perhaps of 100 people – after News International's chief executive, Tom Mockridge, said the loss-making papers would have to improve their performance as the newspapers prepared for life as an independent business. The true scale of losses at the Times and Sunday Times is unclear but could be as much as £60m.

Reporters at the Sun await the conclusion of the Met's Elveden inquiry into corrupt payments of public officials.

At both titles, there is the genuine belief that the Murdoch family will one day sell newspapers which it was once thought would never change hands.

The company might describe this as internal housekeeping but the way Murdoch's resignation of three British directorships will be understood is as the beginning of the end.

[Douglas Caddy]

Murdoch Inquiry Extends to Cellphone Theft

By RAVI SOMAIYA

The New York Tims

July 23, 2012

LONDON — The phone hacking investigation in Britain, which began with Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid newspapers, has broadened to include allegations that information was obtained from stolen cellphones, significant payoffs were made to public officials, and “medical, banking and other personal records” were illegally accessed, the senior police officer in charge of the operations told a judicial inquiry Monday.

The officer, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers of Scotland Yard, gave the most detailed assessment yet of the three investigations prompted by allegations in 2009 that The News of the World tabloid had illegally intercepted voice mail messages on an industrial scale.

The newspaper was closed last summer under the weight of public outrage. But detectives have fresh details on a swath of related illegal activities, Ms. Akers told the panel headed by Lord Justice Sir Brian Leveson.

The police are aware of information that Mr. Murdoch’s papers obtained from two stolen cellphones, she said. One was in Manchester, in northern England, and the other in southwest London. She said that it seemed that one of thee phones had “been examined with a view to breaking its security code,” in order to gain access to its contents. The authorities are trying to establish whether the thefts were isolated incidents, or "the tip of the iceberg," she said.

Officers are examining 101 allegations of data interception, she said. That investigation, called Tuleta, has yielded seven arrests.

Another inquiry, into bribes paid to public officials, has led to 41 arrests -- including 23 current and former journalists, four police officers, nine current and former public officials and others who were conduits for the bribes. One prison official is accused of having received nearly $55,000 from Mr. Murdoch’s newspapers and from the rival Trinity Mirror and Express newspaper groups from April 2010 to June 2011.

The initial investigation into phone hacking, Operation Weeting, led to the arrest of 15 current and former journalists, 11 of whom will return to police stations on Tuesday as part of their bail conditions. The police have notified 2,615 people that they may have been targets of the voice mail interceptions. Of these, 702 "are likely to have been victims," she said.

Six people, including Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of Mr. Murdoch’s British newspaper group, News International, and her husband, Charlie Brooks, a horse trainer, have been charged in that investigation and will appear in court in September. The Brookses were friends of Prime Minister David Cameron.

[Steve Knight]

8 of the 13 will face charges and prosecution!

Coulson, Thurlbeck and Brooks amongst them.

EDIT : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18965079

Edited July 24, 2012 by Steve Knight