Is this the beginning of the end of Rupert Murdoch's media empire?

I work/have worked with some people who are involved in developing two particular commercial market segments in China. Markets that we wouldn't have thought of existing in China 10 - 15 years ago. They are barn-burners now.

Things are changing so rapidly there. I'm not sure whether to be encouraged or frightened.

Rebekah Brooks could be headed for Australia
Nino Bucci
July 14, 2011 - 1:3o PM/the AGE

The former editor of the disgraced News of the World tabloid may head to Australia to take over one of Rupert Murdoch's local interests, British press are speculating.

News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, who was editor of News of the World from 2000 to 2003, is expected to quit next week following questioning over her role in the phone hacking scandal by a Commons committee.

London's Telegraph today reported she may be sent Down Under by Murdoch, who has stood by Brooks despite calls for her to quit.


News International Chief Executive Rebekah Brooks is pictured behind her car's tinted windows as she leaves Rupert Murdoch's London home on July 12. Photo: AFP

Murdoch's Australian division, News Ltd, owns most of the country's newspapers including the Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph and The Australian.

In the wake of the British scandal, News Ltd has announced an audit of its newspapers, to ensure journalistic practices are clean. ....<cont>

George Monbiot wrote in The Guardian that journalists should take a sort of Hippocratic Oath, as follows:

Quote:

Our primary task is to hold power to account. We will prioritise those stories and issues which expose the interests of power. We will be wary of the relationships we form with the rich and powerful, and ensure that we don’t become embedded in their society. We will not curry favour with politicians, businesses or other dominant groups by withholding scrutiny of their affairs, or twisting a story to suit their interests. We will stand up to the interests of the businesses we work for, and the advertisers which fund them. We will never take money for promulgating a particular opinion, and we will resist attempts to oblige us to adopt one. We will recognise and understand the power we wield and how it originates. We will challenge ourselves and our perception of the world as much as we challenge other people. When we turn out to be wrong, we will say so.

No, no ... a thousand times no!

Someone please tell me that this is merely wild speculation.
Please!

Totally false" said a spokesman for News Ltd. in Sydney on Thursday

No, no ... a thousand times no!

Someone please tell me that this is merely wild speculation.
Please!

Murdoch's Australian publications are bad enough already, thanks very much, Rupert!

Quote:

Rebekah Brooks could be headed for Australia
Nino Bucci
July 14, 2011 - 1:3o PM/the AGE

The former editor of the disgraced News of the World tabloid may head to Australia to take over one of Rupert Murdoch's local interests, British press are speculating.

News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, who was editor of News of the World from 2000 to 2003, is expected to quit next week following questioning over her role in the phone hacking scandal by a Commons committee.

London's Telegraph today reported she may be sent Down Under by Murdoch, who has stood by Brooks despite calls for her to quit.


News International Chief Executive Rebekah Brooks is pictured behind her car's tinted windows as she leaves Rupert Murdoch's London home on July 12. Photo: AFP

Murdoch's Australian division, News Ltd, owns most of the country's newspapers including the Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph and The Australian.

In the wake of the British scandal, News Ltd has announced an audit of its newspapers, to ensure journalistic practices are clean. ....<cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/rebekah-brooks-could-be-headed-for-australia-20110714-1hf3u.html

I thought we stopped transporting criminals to Oz years ago.

I have been busy & out of the loop today.
Any fresh developments that one should know about, anyone?

Political pressure on Rupert Murdoch has spilled across the Atlantic with a growing number of senior politicians calling for a legal investigation into whether News Corporation broke American laws over the phone-hacking scandal.

Members of Congress from both major parties have waded in to the affair with warnings of "severe" consequences if a report in the Daily Mirror that the News of the World attempted to access the voicemails of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks or other Americans is true.

Two New York members of the US House of Representatives, Pete King and Louise Slaughter, demanded an immediate justice department investigation of whether US laws were broken, particularly in relation to any attempt to hack in to the phones of terrorist victims.

King, who is the Republican chairman of the House homeland security committee, said in a letter to the FBI director, Robert Mueller, that journalists should face felony charges if evidence is found.

"The 9/11 families have suffered egregiously, but unfortunately they remain vulnerable against such unjustifiable parasitic strains. We can spare no effort or expense in continuing our support for them," he said in the letter.

Slaughter called for the application of the "full force of the law".

Four Democratic senators have joined the demands for an investigation of whether US anti-graft laws were broken by News Corporation as well as the alleged hacking of Americans' phones.

A growing number of US politicians are calling on Washington to investigate whether News Corp, which is headquarted in New York, has broken any domestic laws.
Senator Frank Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, on Wednesday said News Corp may have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act if its News of the World reporters paid London police officers to obtain information about the British royal family and other subjects of stories, as has been alleged.
More


Mr Lautenberg asked that the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission investigate the matter

You can assume that it is mostly those on the left, they who tend to hate Murdock with a passion.

Members of Congress from both major parties have waded in to the affair with warnings of "severe" consequences if a report in the Daily Mirror that the News of the World attempted to access the voicemails of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks or other Americans is true.

when both major parties apparently support an investigation?

A handful of lawmakers today joined calls for investigations into whether Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate News Corporation violated U.S. law by allegedly obtaining phone records illegally.

Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Jay Rockefeller sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro, asking them to investigate News Corp., which is incorporated in the U.S. Sen. Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg sent a separate letter to Holder and Schapiro with the same request.

Hawk has a bit of a problem with reality, he's probably thinking of the cartoon musicain Murdoc from Gorillaz.