The Phone Hacking Scandal

Following the guardian's live blog on this is absolutely fascinating...

7.13pm: Krishnan Guru-Murthy tells Channel 4 news that there was a "lynch mob mentality" after News of the World were told the news.

Rebekah Brooks was reportedly escorted from the building by security staff.

7.17pm: BSkyB's market value has fallen by the curious figure of £666m this week,

8.05pm: Potentially more information implicating Rebekah Brooks, from ..er.. George Michael:
Live blog: Twitter

@GeorgeMichael Rebekah Brooks sat two feet from me in my own home and told me that it was never the public that came to them with information.....

@GeorgeMichael on celebrities, and that the Police always got there first. I think thats enough to be going on with. (Don't ask me how she got there)..

and sub-editors at The Sun (of all places) have walked out of work 'in solidarity' of their News of the World collegues.

....not sure this is going to have the effect Murdoch wanted...

I'd honestly be surprised if this keeps rolling into the other tendrils of the Murdoch empire but I would love to see the witch hunt unfurl if it does. The man has vast influence with some of the most powerful people in the world and it would be damn near poetic if what was done to that poor girl and her family (amongst many others) is what does him in. Must ... not ... dream ...

DudleySmith wrote:

when some victims refuse to trouser the bung.

Well, never heard that one before.

As for Newscorp? They're not going anywhere and I honestly don't know why anyone's surprised at their "nuke it from orbit" style of crisis management.

Kehama wrote:
DudleySmith wrote:

when some victims refuse to trouser the bung.

Well, never heard that one before.

As for Newscorp? They're not going anywhere and I honestly don't know why anyone's surprised at their "nuke it from orbit" style of crisis management.

Yeah.. even if Murdoch's effectively kicked out of the UK, he's still got a tremendous political and financial base in the US.

Man, this thing is going crazy. I can only imagine where this goes from here. I found the commend in the guardian blog about the feeling of 'catharsis' from watching MP's being able to openly question the policies of News of the World/News Corps without fear of retribution interesting.

Tanglebones wrote:

Yeah.. even if Murdoch's effectively kicked out of the UK, he's still got a tremendous political and financial base in the US.

Speaking of which...

MediaMatters, which monitors the US media, suggests that Murdoch's US operations could be damaged by the fallout from the hacking scandal because of his decision to make Les Hinton publisher of the Wall Street Journal.

I'll be watching Newsnight tonight, that's for sure. Its a crying shame that most of the world is deprived of The Paxman at a time like this.

Something interesting about the shuttering of News Of The World and it's implications on evidence in ongoing criminal cases.

Reuters[/url] (Article by Alison Frankel)]

Under British law, Stephens explained, all of the assets of the shuttered newspaper, including its records, will be transferred to a professional liquidator (such as a global accounting firm). ... “Why would the liquidator want to keep [the records]?” Stephens said. “Minimizing liability is the liquidator’s job.”

That’s a very different scenario, Stephens said, from what would happen if a newspaper in the U.S. went into bankruptcy. In the U.S., a plaintiff (or, for that matter, a criminal investigator) could obtain a court order barring that kind of document destruction. In the U.K., there’s no requirement that the estate retain its records, nor any law granting plaintiffs a right to stop the liquidator from getting rid of them.

Funny you say that, Jolly Bill;

@frasereC4 Exclusive: News International official went to data store in Chennai, India and asked if data could be deleted. Request was denied

By the by, as weird as this sound, Hugh Grant has been astounding tonight

Edit; oh and @pandorasinbox Thankfully seems that Reuters #notw story is untrue- NoTW only a brand, not a company, so can't liquidate, can't destroy records cc

Dang, briefly I read that as Ann Coulter. Ah well.

I'm really going to have to catch BBCQT on iPlayer, aren't I?

Shall we start a singalong?

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane
Lenny Bruce is not afraid

Maq wrote:

I'm really going to have to catch BBCQT on iPlayer, aren't I?

I'd advise everyone to watch it. Not that I thought Grant was particularly clever or well thought out but it was amazing to see an outsider cause the members of the two major parties squirm. Its very clear to many that News International holds incredible sway over British politics when it takes a foppish actor to point out the obvious. I really hope the worm has finally turned.

Re Hugh Grant: This was pretty funny - http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011...

Here's the video of the exchange from Wednesday between Grant and the journalist from that article he caught out. Very entertaining.

Eee, it's a good job Hugh Grant's ex-partner was editing the New Statesman..and that her brother is a Conservative MP, else we'd never have heard of this event. And his attempt to generate some interest in his fading career.

In a juxtaposition which can only be scripted by the Comedy Gods, The Irish Daily Star has a strapline across the middle of its front page "Murdoch closes disgraced Sunday rag", together with a smaller picture of the Sun newspaper with "Lowlife Brit sister rag" next to it.

The headline for the day

"Woman dies after sex with dog" in 2 inch high letters.

YCNMIU.

davet010 wrote:

"Woman dies after sex with dog" in 2 inch high letters.
YCNMIU.

... was the dog okay?

I'm not sure, I hope so.

The Irish Daily Star is a vile little publication. I'm sure it suits them to point the finger right now.

Rezzy wrote:
davet010 wrote:

"Woman dies after sex with dog" in 2 inch high letters.
YCNMIU.

... was the dog okay?

I'm assuming he felt good afterward. Probably was getting a paw ache from all the high fives he was getting from his pack brothers.

An Irish mother of 4, apparently. Any paw-ache would have been him desperately trying to wash himself.

Some audio of Rebekah Brooks talking to members of the NOTW staff and getting jeered. She sounds like she actually believes her own spin, but I suppose you don't get to that level without being able to shovel it out in cart loads.

Link.

Kehama wrote:
DudleySmith wrote:

when some victims refuse to trouser the bung.

Well, never heard that one before.

You're streets behind.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011...

Years of outright lies and denials whenever they were questioned on illegal phone monitoring. Screw those guys.

Wow. I can't believe anyone would get up and argue "we want to print the truth, and what better way to do that than listen to people's phone messages?" Coogan is right: Worst PR job, ever.

So it's true, working for Murdoch really is like going over to the Reapers...only someone who has been totally indoctrinated could have come out with stuff like that and appear to believe it.

Funkenpants wrote:

Wow. I can't believe anyone would get up and argue "we want to print the truth, and what better way to do that than listen to people's phone messages?" Coogan is right: Worst PR job, ever.

wow, that guy is scum.

Also...

(from guardian live blog today)

Robbie Collin, film critic at the News of the World, has laid into the paper's former features executive Paul McMullan for his dubious defence of phone hacking on last night's Newsnight.

"The slimebag last worked for the paper 11 years ago, yet is happy to say "we do this" every night on live telly like he still works here."

Collins also said: "The worst thing is, he's nothing to do with us. hasn't worked here for 11 years, apparently was a walking joke when he did.

"How is a crumpled idiot who makes a tit of himself on Newsnight "as much of a journalist" as I am?"

Oh dear Rup', looks like you've got that God fella on your case as well - or at least the ones writing his cheques...

More on the Church of England's condemnation of the phone hacking scandal and its threat to disinvest in News Corp due to the company's failure to uphold ethical and governance standards.

Professor Richard Burridge, deputy chairman of the church's Ethical Investment Advisory Group, said the threat of disinvestment could have an impact in spite of the relatively small amount of shares - £3.7m - it holds in News Corp.

" If we don't get a satisfactory answer then disinvestment comes on to the horizon, but you can't go straight to the nuclear option, you have to engage first.

I would love to think that Rupert Murdoch lies in bed at night quaking in fear of the Church of England but I fear that may not be the case.

Certainly disinvestment is our ultimate sanction if engagement does not work. We have written a letter and we have not had a reply yet."

The Rev Canon Jonathan Alderton-Ford, a vicar in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and a General Synod member, added that senior figures in the church were embarrassed by its holdings in News Corp.

"I can certainly say that clergy and lay people that know about it are of a mind that we should divest ourselves of this investment or we should be pressing through our ownership for change in the leadership at News Corp"

I'd worry this whole scandal might be a bit much for 80-odd year old Murdoch...but then I don't think we've destroyed all his horcruxe's yet so he's probably safe for now

I like how they brought up the example of journalists potentially catching a criminal... that's the police's job.