"The News Corp Board Did Nothing Despite The Harm To News Corp Resulting From NAM and NDS Misconduct ..."
An investigative report states that The Rothschild Family, their partners and associates effectively finance, run and control the major security agencies and networks around the world, such as Israel's Mossad, Five Eyes consisting of the British (GCHQ/MI5/MI60, Canadian (CSE), New Zealand (NZSIS), Australian (ASIO) and USA (CIA)Security Agencies and Networks, and the Russian Security agencies and networks... being silent partners with Rupert Murdoch, News Corp, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Wikipedia etc., and many other mainstream media outlets around the worlds they make sure there are a lot of MI6, CIA etc. staff working as double agents for the media outlets, as well as being paid by these security agencies and networks to do their bidding within these mainstream media groups...
CMS Committee inquired about whether anyone who had testified in the prior committee proceeding had lied ... Both Murdochs (Rupert and James) claimed that they had no knowledge on that issue. James Murdoch also testified that he had he had no knowledge of the recent evidence (primarily the "Fox Neville" e-mail) that expanded the hacking scandal beyond one rogue reporter until the end of December 2010....
Shortly after James Murdoch testified, two former News International senior executives, Crone and Myer, challenged James Murdoch's testimony, claiming that they had told him years ago about an email that showed that the wrongdoing at News of the World was much more widespread than News Corp and their subsidiary News International acknowledged.
".. All powerful Red Lodge 33rd Degree Freemason Zionist Jew Rupert Murdoch and his Trillionaire silent partners 33rd Degree Red Lodge Freemason, Zionist Jew, Lord Jacob Rothschild and the Rothschild Partners, secretly arranged through Private Trust and their News Corp and its UK subsidiary News International managed to persuade the Freemason and Zionist Jewish controlled British Courts to seal of all court and investigation proceedings, thus using the British Government and the British Courts to help them hide evidence of News Corp's and its directors, senior management, staff, servants and otherwise illegal and wrongful misconduct from the shareholders and the general public scrutiny. News Corp and News International further insisted on an extensive confidentiality provision in the settlement agreement to legally prevent Gordon Taylor or his attorneys from publicly speaking about the matter. The amount of settlement of £700,000, far exceeded amounts that had been awarded by courts in similar lawsuits, thus confirming that a major purpose of this extremely high £700,000 settlement was the confidentially agreement, to keep the matter under wraps. In a letter to the UK House of Commons Culture, Media and Sports Committee, James Murdoch confirmed that confidentiality was an important factor in the astronomical £700,000 settlement amount:
"Previously I had understood that the £700,000 settlement amount was based on a likely judgement of the likely damages that could be awarded, and the likely costs and expenses associated with the litigation .... since I gave this response, I have been informed that confidentiality was a factor in determining the amount of the settlement payment...."
Please take the time to read more of this story below on this INLTV.co.uk webpage
A young Keith Rupert Murdoch backed by his silent partners, Lord Jacob Rothschild and the Rothschild Family who agreed to provide unlimited capital, to help Rupert Murdoch take control of the Australian Newspapers and then the world newspapers
Paul Carlucci, the chief executive of News America a fully owned subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, , was also quoted as having told Floorgraphics:
"If you ever get into any of our businesses, I will destroy you. I work for a man who wants it all, and doesn't understand anybody telling him he can't have it all."
Carlucci was referring to Rupert Murdoch, to whom Carlucci reported.
In 2005, Rupert Murdoch appointed Carlucci head of the New York Post, after Rupert Murdoch's son Lachlan designed from the position. Carlucci and Rupert Murdoch talk regulariy, so it is inconceivable that Rupert Murdoch would not have been aware about the illegal tactics being employed at NAM to thwart competition. At the very least, Rupert Murdoch and other News Corp Board Members knew about FBI's allegations, but failed to conduct any investigation of them.
A Fox Corp. shareholder sued Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch and several members of the Fox Corp. board of directors in Delaware on Tuesday afternoon, arguing that they violated their fiduciary duty to the company when they allowed Fox News to broadcast election conspiracy theories.
The derivative action — a kind of lawsuit brought by shareholders who believe they’ve been harmed by the corporation — was brought by a single plaintiff, Robert Schwarz.
“The Board’s decision to chase viewers by promoting the false stolen election claims has exposed the Company to public ridicule and negatively impacted the credibility of Fox News as a media organization that is supposed to accurately report newsworthy events. The Company is now the subject of two defamation cases, with combined damages claimed to exceed $4 billion,” the lawsuit alleges.
The suit builds on the trove of internal communications, documents and evidence made public in Dominion Voting Systems' sweeping $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News and Fox Corp., which has revealed that many at Fox News knew the rigged election claims were false even as they allowed their continued broadcast.
“FOX knew — from the Board on down — that Fox News was reporting false and dangerous misinformation about the 2020 Presidential election, but FOX was more concerned about short-term ratings and market share than the long-term damages of its failure to tell the truth,” the filing continues.
Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems have argued in their court filings that Fox executives elevated election conspiracy theories because they feared they were losing their audience after Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential election loss.
Fox News has denied that it defamed Dominion Voting Systems, arguing that its broadcasts and social media posts are protected by the First Amendment. Schwarz’s attorneys declined to comment in an email. Fox News and Fox Corp. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bloomberg Law reported recently that several firms are eying derivative action against Fox Corp. board members.
Jane C. Timm is a senior reporter for NBC News.
Lord Jacob Rothschild known to be one of the richest, most powerful and most influential men in the world
The Rothschild Family's Secret Power
Despite being Zionist Jews, The Rothschild Family in one of the biggest financial donors to the Vatican and the Catholic Pope.
The Rothschild Family has the political backing of the Roman Catholic Vatican Church, which helps The Rothschild Family get clearance for construction projects in Africa and anywhere else in the world.
A Special Secret INL NEWS Investigation Report indicates that the Roth Child Family together with the Vatican Church effectively own and control all the major Security Agencies in the world which include Mossad. Israel's Security Agency, Russia's Security Agency, the former KGB now known as the CSS. and the Fives Eyes Alliance.
The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia (ASIO), Canada (CSE), New Zealand (GCSB/NZSIS/DI) , the United Kingdom (GCHQ/MI6/MI5) , and the United States (CIA). These countries are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.
Informally, Five Eyes can also refer to the group of intelligence agencies of these countries.
The origins of the FVEY can be traced to informal secret meetings during World War II I between British and American code-breakers , which started before the US formally entered the war, followed by the Allies' 1941 Atlantic Charter that established their vision of the post-war world. Canadian academic Srdjan Vucetic argues the alliance emerged from Winston Churchill's Iron Speech in 1946, which warned of open conflict with the Soviet Bloc unless the English-speaking democracies learned to cooperate.
The Rothschild Family owns over 10 Boeing 747, and over 50 Private Jets. The fleet of planes owned by the Rothschild Family are worth over $39 billion Dollars. The Rothschild Family also owns over 200 luxury yachts and over 15 private islands.
Over 20% of the world's sea trade occur through ships owned by Lprd Jacob Rothschild. With the help of the Vatican Church and support from world leaders, Jacob Rothschild was able to continue his shipping business even during events like Covid 19, the Iraq War, the Ukraine War, etc.
Rothschild Family Net Worth in excess of $500 Trillion Dollars
The Rothschild Family are considered the Richest Family on earth by Forbes. It is a common belief based on research and pure logic that the Rothschild Family use their obscene wealth to secretly control the world economy and global events for over three centuries. Lord Jacob Rothschild has a net worth in excess of $5 Trillion USD Dollars. The Rothschild Family helped the British during the Second World War, by providing finance to purchase weapons. Through their Rothschild owned and controlled banks, The Rothschild Family indirectly control major banks and Big Pharma and other major companies around the world.
Chairman and CEO of News Corporation Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch is more powerful than the pope. In its inaugural list of the world's most powerful people, Forbes has the News Corp. chief at No. 7.
Media Billionaires Rupert & Lauchlan Murdoch, News Corp, REA Group Ltd, Owen Wilson, Masroor Siddiqui, Tamara Kayser Senior Barrister, Head Up Fraud Gang To Try and Destroy INL News Group Shareholder's Assets
Keith Rupert Murdoch is an Australian-born American business magnate, media proprietor, and investor. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international media outlets and companies
Rupert Murdoch is one of the wealthiest men in the world, amassing a fortune with his media empire at News Corp and the Fox Corporation.
Rupert Murdoch is known to have increased the circulation of his newspapers by focusing on sensational headlines which are printed in big letters
Born Keith Rupert Murdoch 11th March 1931
Citizenship Australia (until 1985) United States (from 1985)
Education Worcester College, Oxford (BA)
Spouses: Patricia Booker (m. 1956; div.1967)
Anna Maria
Anna Murdoch Mann 1967 A Scottish Born Journalist -
1999 Wendi Murdoch (Deng) 1999 - 2013
2013 Jerry Hall 2016 the previous wife of Mick Jagger- 2022
Ann Lesley Smith, a former San Francisco police chaplin, whose late husband was the country singer Chester Smith (who was also a television executive) told the Post that the union was "a gift from God". However the marriage was called off after two week
Murdoch, Rothschild invest in Israeli shale oil - The Jerusalem Post
Genie Energy
Rothschild said: “Rupert Murdoch’s extraordinary achievements speak for themselves, and we are very pleased he has agreed to be our partner. Gene Energy is making good technological progress to tap the world’s substantial oil-shale deposits, which could transform the future prospects of Israel, the Middle East and our allies around the world.”
The Australian Media Conspiracy is an extremely controversial book being published by the INL News and Australian Weekend News Publishing Group based on a 30 plus year in depth INL News and Australian Weekend News Publishing Group Investigation Report into how immoral, unjust, devious, clandestine, wrongful, and in many instances unlawful and illegal tactics and actions have been carried out by and/or for and on behalf of News Corp LLC, Keith Rupert Murdoch and his sons, Lachlan Murdoch and James Murdoch and the various directors and senior managers of News Corp LLC and its Australian controlled subsidiary publicly listed REA Group Limited ... which owns and controls the premium Australian Real Estate Advertising website
to make sure all of their print and web based media competitors are wiped out and destroyed ....
to protect their multi-billion dollar assets and income in their print and web based media and advertising businesses in Australia, which includes the multi-Australian multi-billion general classified and real estate advertising market, commonly known in Australian Media Circles as
'The Rivers of Gold'
The book The Australian Media Conspiracy and a film that is being made based on the book, shows how News Corp LLC, Keith Rupert Murdoch and his sons, Lachlan Murdoch and James Murdoch, their very silent behind the scenes Rothschild Partners, and the various directors and senior managers of News Corp LLC and its Australian controlled subsidiary publicly listed REA Group Limited have carried out and/or ordered to be carried out, immoral. clandestine, unjust, devious, wrongful and in many instances illegal and unlawful activities to destroy their print and web based media competitors
to protect their multi-billion dollar assets and income in their print and web based media and advertising businesses in Australia, which includes the multi-Australian multi-billion general classified and real estate advertising market, commonly known in Australian Media Circles as
'The Rivers of Gold'
The book The Australian Media Conspiracy and a film that is being made based on the book, shows how News Corp LLC, Keith Rupert Murdoch and his sons, Lachlan Murdoch and James Murdoch, their very silent behind the scenes Rothschild Partners, and the various directors and senior managers of News Corp LLC and its Australian controlled subsidiary publicly listed REA Group Limited have used their absolutely powerful influence and unlimited deep financial pockets to obtain help from corrupt police, corrupt political and government staff magistrates, judges, court clerks, lawyers and barristers in the legal fraternity, corrupt financiers and bankers, corrupt people in the media, corrupted private investigators, criminals, corrupted politicians, corrupted people in government departments and large business organisations, corrupted real estate agents, corrupted real estate valuers, including the head of Queensland Valuation Control Board and others to help them carry out immoral. clandestine, unjust, devious, wrongful and in many instances illegal and unlawful activities to destroy their print and web based media competitors
Murdoch papers open fire on BBC Why the Murdochs are wrong to blame BBC for media's woes
Mattoug" I'm sure this guy (Rupert Murdoch) has enough money, now go rest "
Mr Wijat and His WIJAT Team also speaking out for Truth Justice and the True American Way
Mr Wijat and ERF The Worm. "James, how about true social justice, genuine love and caring for your the people that share this earth with you, independent investigative journalism and the British culture, arts and life the BBC protects and maintains for the British people...how many more billions do you and your dad Rupert need to make...in your case the normal and acceptable profit motives to make a decent living to feed your family and have a decent life style have gone to the extreme and are turning into greed and extreme abuse of your power as the most powerful people the world with the most powerful media group iu the world that has the effectual power to appoint and dismiss governments and chance the way a whole nation thinks through what they read in your newspapers, and see on your TV channels and Internet websites.. me and EFR The Worm live in an organic farm, grow and own vegetables, have our own water from the rain and underground have our own electricity from the sun and wind power and still run an international media group, International News Limited, we have not need for money other than what it costs to run the websites and other bills we have to pay as all businesses have...maybe you should take the friendly advice of Mattoug stated in the Telegraph on the 29th August, 2009, when he says,
INLTV Uncensored News
INLTV is Easy To Find Hard To Leave
What The World Needs A Sense of Humus
ERF the Worm, Mr Wijat's Little Greenie Mate
Heading the World Needs "A Sense of Humus Campaign"
" I'm sure this guy (Rupert Murdoch) has enough money, now go rest "
"Why doesn't he just be straight with us and say he wants to charge for online content, after all this is what he's lining us up for. If the licence fee goes, so does free online BBC content, which is one of the main threats to News Corp. I'm sure this guy already has enough money, now go rest"...Telegraph... Mattoug 29th August, 2008
Rupert and James please read this little poem by Bert E, Pratt of Perth Western Australia from the 2001 Australian Weekend News http://www.inlnews.com/AustWeekendNews2001.html
Australian Weekend News Poem of the Month (2001) God and Money: God put us on this earth to make it a better place, All we have done is turn it into a rat race. We get up in the morning and drive our cars like mad, We pollute the air and kill the trees, which makes me very sad, No matter how much God gives us, We still want more and more, There does not seem to be a number that we will settle for, You ask people to help you, They look at you aghast, And walk quickly past, But when you go through the pearly gates, With your money in hand, God will gently take it off you, And whisper "everybody's equal in this land". Bert E. Pratt
Rothschild Family Net Worth in excess of $500 Trillion Dollars
The Rothschild Family are considered the Richest Family on earth by Forbes. It is a common belief based on research and pure logic that the Rothschild Family use their obscene wealth to secretly control the world economy and global events for over three centuries. Lord Jacob Rothschild has a net worth in excess of $5 Trillion USD Dollars. The Rothschild Family helped the British during the Second World War, by providing finance to purchase weapons. Through their Rothschild owned and controlled banks, The Rothschild Family indirectly control major banks and Big Pharma and other major companies around the world.
The Rothschild Family's Secret Power
Despite being Zionist Jews, The Rothschild Family in one of the biggest financial donors to the Vatican and the Catholic Pope.
The Rothschild Family has the political backing of the Roman Catholic Vatican Church, which helps The Rothschild Family get clearance for construction projects in Africa and anywhere else in the world.
The Rothschild Family has the support of most governments in Central Africa, which helps The Rothschild Family plunder trillions of dollars of natural resources like Diamonds, Gold, Lithium, and other valuable minerals. Even the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau has received a Private Jet as a gift from The Rothschild Family.
The Rothschild Family has been secretly sponsoring the Catholic Pope and Vatican for the past 200 years, thereby wielding significant control over world events and wars. During the Second World War, the Vatican Church helped The Rothschild Family to move assets from Italy and Greece, by facilitating a temporary cease-fire between the Germans and the British.
During the British War with Napolean, The Rothschild Family provided all the financial help to England. Once the war was over, The British seized France's gold reserves and paid back The Rothschild Family double the amount that The Rothschild Family had lent the British Government.
Quality Water One of the Most Scare Valuable Assets om Planet Earth
WATER IS NOW CONSIDERED WILL BE ONE OF THER MOST VALUABLE RESOURCES IN A FEW DECADES
Water is becoming a commodity equal to Oil and Gas. The Rothschild Family has started storing vast reserves of water at its various facilities across the world. It is estimated that as of today, the Rothschild Family have built a water reserve big enough to feed the entire United States for a whole week.
The Rothschild Family Private Jets
The Rothschild Family owns over 10 Boeing 747, and over 50 Private Jets. The fleet of planes owned by the Rothschild Family are worth over $39 billion Dollars. The Rothschild Family also owns over 200 luxury yachts and over 15 private islands.
Over 20% of the world's sea trade occur through ships owned by Lord Jacob Rothschild. With the help of the Vatican Church and support from world leaders, Jacob Rothschild was able to continue his shipping business even during events like Covid 19, the Iraq War, the Ukraine War, etc.
Estimated Summary of Rothschild Family Assets and Income
Annual Income: $690 Billion
Luxury Mansions 1800 plus
Land Owned 60,000 plus square miles
Private Jets 100 plus
Gold Reserves $50 plus billion
Luxury Yachts 60 plus
Passenger Ships 130 plus
Cargo Ships 400 plus
Oil Reserves 80 plus million barrels
Banks 52 plus
PHARMA COMPANIES 110 plus
Biotechnology Firms 19 plus
Animal Research Labs 75 plus
Rothschild Family Net Worth is in excess of $500 Trillion Dollars
The Rothschild Family are considered the Richest Family on earth by Forbes. It is a common belief based on research and pure logic that the Rothschild Family use their obscene wealth to secretly control the world economy and global events for over three centuries. Lord Jacob Rothschild has a net worth in excess of $5 Trillion USD Dollars. The Rothschild Family helped the British during the Second World War, by providing finance to purchase weapons. Through their Rothschild owned and controlled banks, The Rothschild Family indirectly control major banks and Big Pharma and other major companies around the world.
The Rothschild Family's Secret Power
Despite being Zionist Jews, The Rothschild Family in one of the biggest financial donors to the Vatican and the Catholic Pope.
The Rothschild Family has the political backing of the Roman Catholic Vatican Church, which helps The Rothschild Family get clearance for construction projects in Africa and anywhere else in the world.
The Rothschild Family has the support of most governments in Central Africa, which helps The Rothschild Family plunder trillions of dollars of natural resources like Diamonds, Gold, Lithium, and other valuable minerals. Even the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau has received a Private Jet as a gift from The Rothschild Family.
The Rothschild Family has been secretly sponsoring the Catholic Pope and Vatican for the past 200 years, thereby wielding significant control over world events and wars. During the Second World War, the Vatican Church helped The Rothschild Family to move assets from Italy and Greece, by facilitating a temporary cease-fire between the Germans and the British.
During the British War with Napolean, The Rothschild Family provided all the financial help to England. Once the war was over, The British seized France's gold reserves and paid back The Rothschild Family double the amount that The Rothschild Family had lent the British Government.
Quality Water One of the Most Scare Valuable Assets om Planet Earth
WATER IS NOW CONSIDERED WILL BE ONE OF THER MOST VALUABLE RESOURCES IN A FEW DECADES
Water is becoming a commodity equal to Oil and Gas. The Rothschild Family has started storing vast reserves of water at its various facilities across the world. It is estimated that as of today, the Rothschild Family have built a water reserve big enough to feed the entire United States for a whole week.
Covid 19
The Rothschild Family had investments in 70% of all Big Pharma companies and medical distributors across the world. The Rothschild Family has overseen the supply of over 2 Billion doses of Covid vaccines through its various subsidiaries, cashing in hundreds of trillions in revenues
Summary of The Rothschild Family Wealth includes:
French railroad network
The Economist Magazine
Rio Tinto Group
50 plus Banks
The Rothschild Family Business List includes:
The Rothschild Family owns investments in some of the biggest corporations in the world (mostly founded by Jewish Investors).
As per Forbes, through direct and indirect investments, The Rothschild Family owns significant states in the following companies:
1, Facebook
2. Google
3. Goldman Sachs
4. Oracle
5. Starbucks
6. Dell
7.Baskin Robbins
6. Procter & Gamble
9. AirBNB
10. Linkedin
11. Uber
12. Intel
Murdoch, Rothschild invest in Israeli shale oil - The Jerusalem Post
Negotiations with Rothschild and Murdoch began six months ago,
and Rothschild visited Israel during that time
. By Ameram Barak Published 22nd November 2010
Lord Jacob Rothschild and Rupert Murdoch have invested in an Israeli venture to produce oil from bituminous-bearing rock (shale) in the Elah Valley in the Judean Hills. Last week, they acquired 11 percent in equal shares of Genie Energy Corporation unit Genie Oil and Gas Inc. for a total of $11 million. Genie Energy, a subsidiary of IDT Corporation, is the parent company (89%) of Israel Energy Initiatives Ltd., which holds an exclusive shale-oil exploration and production license covering 238 square miles in the Adulam district, which is between Beit Shemesh and Beit Guvrin. The company believes its shale-oil cracking technology can free the world from dependence on Arab oil and turn Israel into an energy powerhouse able to produce 300 billion barrels of non-conventional oil at a cost of up to $40 per barrel.
Genie Energy comprises IDT Energy,which resells electricity and natural gas to customers in New York, and Genie Oil and Gas Inc. Genie Oil and Gas Inc., which received the $11m. investment, consists of American Shale Oil Corporation and the 89% stake in Israel Energy Initiatives.
Negotiations with Rothschild and Murdoch began six months ago, and Rothschild visited Israel during that time. Genie is involved in similar projects in Colorado and Mongolia.
IEI president Effie Eitam, a former national infrastructures minister, told Globes that IEI hopes to obtain a permit from the regional planning and building commission within days to carry out a pilot shale-oil project on a six-dunam site in the Elah Valley.
Local residents strongly oppose IEI’s venture. They fear possible environmental damage from the drilling. Residents claim that the drilling will harm the Adulam District’s vistas and nature, as well as its vineyards.
A prominent group of US banks and investment funds with substantial investments in News Corporation has issued a fresh legal complaint accusing the company of widespread corporate misconduct extending far beyond the phone-hacking excesses of News of the World.
The legal action, lodged in the Delaware courts, is led by Amalgamated Bank, a New York-based chartered bank that manages some $12bn on behalf of institutional investors and holds about 1 million shares of News Corporation common stock. Its lawsuit is aimed against the members of News Corp's board, including Rupert Murdoch himself, his sons James and Lachlan, and the media empire's chief operating officer, Chase Carey.
In the complaint, the shareholders accuse the board of allowing Murdoch to use News Corp as his "own personal fiefdom". In addition to the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World, the complaint focuses on the controversial business tactics of two News Corp subsidiaries in America, its advertising arm News America Marketing and a manufacturer of satellite TV smart cards called NDS Group Plc.
In legal documents, the shareholders allege that the two companies were accused by multiple parties of "stealing computer technology, hacking into business plans and computers and violating the law through a wide range of anti-competitive behaviour".
The complaint draws on several lawsuits and trial transcripts in which the News Corp subsidiaries were prosecuted by rival businesses for alleged misconduct. In the case of News America, the company reached settlements with three separate competitors amounting to $650m.
In one trial, involving an advertising company called Floorgraphics, evidence was presented to the jury that News America had broken into its rival's secure computer systems at least 11 times.
The chief executive of News America, Paul Carlucci, was also quoted as having told Floorgraphics: "If you ever get into any of our businesses, I will destroy you. I work for a man who wants it all, and doesn't understand anybody telling him he can't have it all."
The complaint says that as Carlucci and Murdoch talk regularly, "it is inconceivable that Murdoch would not have been aware about the illegal tactics being employed by NAM to thwart comptetition".
In the case of NDS, the shareholder complaint refers to lawsuits launched by rivals Vivendi and EchoStar, who accused the company, which News Corp acquired in 1992, of illegally extracting the code of its smart cards used to unscramble satellite TV signals and charge subscribers. In court documents, Amalgamated Bank says NDS posted the Vivendi code on the internet, allowing hackers to break into broadcasts for free and inflicting more than $1bn in damages on its competitor.
In a separate case, EchoStar accused NDS of illegally intercepting one of its satellite television broadcasts, and a court injunction was obtained preventing the News Corp subsidiary from "intercepting or receiving, anywhere in the US, EchoStar's satellite television signal without authorisation".
Jay Eisenhofer, a lawyer representing Amalgamated Bank and its other leading complainants, the New Orleans Employees' Retirement System and Central Laborers Pension Fund, said the details of the alleged misconduct at News America and NDS were significant as they suggested a wider culture of improper behaviour that went beyond the illegality at the now-defunct News of the World.
"These cases establish a pattern of misconduct that extends far beyond the UK subsidiary. It demonstrates a corporate culture that allows this sort of misconduct to take place over a very long period of time."
Eisenhofer pointed out that several members of the News America and NDS boards were also directors of News Corp.
The latest complaint from Amalgamated and its co-plaintiffs provides the most detailed and serious allegations yet against News Corp for alleged business improprieties carried out within the US. The company is already under investigation by the FBI, which is looking into suggestions that News of the World reporters tried to gain access to the phone records of 9/11 victims.
The justice department is also carrying out a wide-ranging inquiry in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal into News Corp's corporate behaviour to see whether any US laws were broken.
There was no immediate response from News Corp to the allegations.
Full Text of legal complaint by News Corp shareholders against Rupert Murdoch and other company directors over alleged corporate goverance failures Tuesday 13th September 2011 The Guardian Exhibit A In the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware In re NEWS CORPORATION SHAREHOLDER DERIVATIVE LITIGATION Consolidated C.A. No. 6283-VCN
Verified Second Amended Consolidated Shareholder Derivative and Class Action Complaint
Co-Lead Plaintiffs The Amalgamated Bank, as trustee for the LongView LargeCap 500 Index Fund, LongView LargeCap 500 Index VEBA Fund ("Amalgamated Bank") and Central Laborers Pension Fund ("Central Laborers") and plaintiff New Orleans Employees' Retirement System ("NOERS") ("Plaintiffs"), by and through their undersigned counsel, assert this action derivatively on behalf of News Corporation ("News Corp" or the Company) and directly on behalf of themselves and all simalarly situated public shareholders of News Corp against defendants Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch, Laughlan Murdoch, Chase Carey, David F. DeVoe, Joel Klein, Arthur M. Siskind, Roderick Eddington, Andrew S.B Knight, Thomas J. Perkins, Peter Barns Josi Maria Aznar, Natalie Bancroft, Kenneth E. Cowley, Viet Dinh, anf John L. Thornton ( the "Individual Defendants", "Defendants" of the "Board". Plaintiffs make the following allegations upon knowledge as to themselves and upon information and belief (including the investigation of counsel and review of publicly available information) as to all other matters and allege as follows: Summary Of The Action
1.The case arises because the Board News Corp disregarded its fiduciary duties by allowing the Company's founder, CEO, Chairman and Controlling Shareholder, Rupert Murdoch to use News Corp as his own personal fiefdon. The Board had not lifted a finger to engage in any oversight of Rupert Murdoch's Iron Hand Rule of News Corp, even when it was provided with clear and unmistakable warnings that NEWS CORP's business practices were not only unethical, but also illegal. Worse yet, the Board in bad faith allowed itstkf2to become an outright accomplice to Rupert Murdoch's self-interest breaches of duty, repeatedly approving transactions whose core purposes was to establish his control, and to siphon value away from News Corp and its shareholders for the benefit of Rupert Murdoch and his Family, and Rupert Murdoch's Friends.
2. The Board's utter failure to curb Rupert Murdoch's use of the Company's (News Corporation Limited's) money to pursue his own agenda reflects that Rupert Murdoch completely controls the majority of the Board of NEWS CORPORATION LLC, including the Audit Committee. '
The Directors - all Murdoch's Family
The Directors - all of Rupert Murdoch's Family Members, long-time friends, News Corp Executives, or people with expensive business relationships with Rupert Murdoch and his media empire - consistently place Rupert Murdoch's interests ahead of those of News Corp and its public shareholders. Due to the Board's unwillingness or inability to stand up to Rupert Murdoch News Corp's business and reputation, along with its shareholders, have suffered severe harm. This case seeks to hold the News Corp Board accountable for that harm, and ensure that in the future, value is created for the Public Shareholders, rather than only for Rupert Murdoch and his loyal family and his loyalists friends.
3. For years, highly improper (and at times illegal) conduct has been carried out throughout News Corp subsidiaries around the world without any knowledge or board oversight or restraint. By the late 1990's, the News Corp Board first received evidence that News Corp subsidiaries were systematically engaging in illegal violations of third party privacy, when two subsidiaries News America Marketing ("NAM") and NDS Group Plc ("NDS"), were accused by multiple parties of stealing computer technology, hacking into business plans and computers and violating the law through a wide range of anti-competitive behaviour. NAM attempted to drive its competition out of business, by among other things, illegally hacking a competitor's password-protracted website on eleven separate occasions over a seven month period. The News Corp Board did not remain oblivious to this misconduct, which required NAM to pay out more than $630 million in settlements to three competitors. Another NEWS Corp subsidiary, NDS, was accused of illegally extracting software codes from competitors smart cards and posting the information on the Internet. This allowed hackers to create counterfeit cards that could be used illegally to intercept satellite television protected by competitors' smart cards. Several NEWS Corp Board Members sat on the Board of NDS and NAM, so their knowledge of this malfeance is clear.
6. For his part, rather than take action against senior officers at News Corp's subsidiaries who allowed these illegal practices to flourish, Rupert Murdoch, promoted and protected them. Executives involved in these illegal activities included Rebecca Brooks ("Brooks"), a very close of Rupert Murdoch, and Andy Coulson ("Coulson"), a Rupert Murdoch political ally, and a very close friend of Rebecca Brooks. James Murdoch- Rupert Murdoch's son and a News Corp Board Member - was involved at a minimum, in News Corp's attempt to cover up these actions.
7. While certainly the most visible misdeed of the past several month's, the still unfolding phone-hacking scandal is just a continuation of the News Corp Board's malfeance. For years the News Corp Board condoned Rupert Murdoch's habitual use of News Corp to pursue his quest for power, control, and political gain, and to enrich himself and his family members, ar News Corp's and its public shareholders expense. For example, a few years ago the News Corp Board endorsed plans to repurchase News Corp shares from Rupert Murdoch's competitor John Malone, which protected Rupert Murdoch, but gave up what could have been a multi-million dollar profit on News Corp's investment in DirectTV. News Corp spent billions on Rupert Murdoch's vanity purchases of Dow Jones, only to write off billions less than two years later. Other examples of the News Corp Board doing what Rupert Murdoch wants, without regard to for what the shareholders need, abound.
8. The News Corp Board has also repeatedly allowed Rupert Murdoch to place his children and other family members in positions of power, and has caused News Corp to use its money to advance the selfish business interests of his Murdoch Family. Recently, Rupert Murdoch continued a long history of abuses by causing News Corp to purchase 100% of Slane Group Ltd, the television and film production company that was run and majority owned by Rupert Murdoch's daughter Elizebeth Murdoch. The $650 million dollar transaction was rubber stamped by News Corp's Board at Rupert Murdoch's urging. Aa a result of the transaction, Elizabeth Murdoch is now approximately $250 million dollar richer and, more importantly, from her father's perspective, back within the News Corp executive suite.
9. Rupert Murdoch publicly proclaimed that his purpose in causing News Corp to enter into the transaction was to bring Elizabeth back into the Family Business and to put Elizebeth on News Corp's already conflicted and dominated board. It is only by virtue of the Plaintiff's litigation that the News Corp Board finally recognised that it would not be "appropriate" to appoint Elizabeth Murdoch to the News Corp Board at this time.
10. The News Corp Board's failure to take action to prevent the illegal conduct systemic within the Company and its rubberstamp- like acquiescence to all of Murdoch' desires is indicative of the fact that Rupert Murdoch completely controls the majority of the News Corp Board of Directors. In fact, even though the News Corp Board's purported recent investigation into the hacking scandal demonstrates its complete its complete domination by Rupert Murdoch since the two directors involved in the "investigation" are a close personal advisor and employee of Rupert Murdoch, and a Murdoch Family friend.The committee process is also clearly a whitewash, considering that as early as July, 2011, News Corp Board member Thomas Perkins already told the world that the News Corp Board aa a whole had already prejudiced the issue stating that "the Board supports top management" and that "there's no reason to believe that top management were lying. That's my very strong belief". 11. The News Corp Board's prolonged and complete failure of oversight and acquiescence to Rupert Murdoch's wishes unquestionably has caused the Company (News Corp) significant financial and reputational harm. Indeed, News Corp suffers from the "Rupert Murdoch discount;" which is a multi-billion dollar overhang on the Company's value. The total cost of the pattern of misconduct is yet untold, but it is yet untold, but it is at least $10 billion plus dollars. 12. Through this Legal Action, the Plaintiffs seek to obtain redress for News Corp's public shareholders for the harm caused by the News Corp. Board failure of oversight and to put News Corp on a path towards becoming a law-compliant corporation that puts its public shareholders interests ahead of the whims of Rupert Murdoch and his cronies.
Jurisdiction
13. This Court has jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 10 Del. C. s.341
14. As directors of a Delaware corporation, the Individual Defendants have consented to the jurisdiction of this Court pursuant to this Court pursuant to 10 Del. C. S3114 15. This Court has jurisdiction over News Corp pursuant to 10 Del. C. s.3111.
The Parties 16. Co-Lead Plaintiff Amalgamated Bank ("Amalgamated") is a New York state chartered bank that manages approximately $12 billion dollars for institutional investors, including Taft-Hartley plans and public employee pension funds. Amalgamated has locations in New York, New Jersey, California, Nevada and Washington D.C. with its main office located in Manhattan. Amalgamated brings this action as Trustee for the LongView LargeCap 500 Index VEBA Fund, LongView Quantative LargeCap Fund, and LongView Quantative LargeCap VEBA Fund ( the "Funds"). Amalgamated, through the Funds, holds nearly One Million shares of News Corp common stock. 17. Co-Lead Plaintiff Central Laborers Pension Fund is an Illonois based Taft-Hartley pension fund that owns shares of News Corp and has been a shareholder at all times relevant to the claims asserted heerin. 18. Plaintiff the City of New Orleans Employees' Retirement System ("NOERS") is a retirement fund for the benefit of City of New Orleans public employees. NOERS is a shareholder of News Corp and has been a shareholder at all times relevant to the claims asserted herein. 18. Nominal Defendant News Corp is a Delaware corpoation with its principal executive offices located at 1211 Avenue of the Avenue, New York, New York.
19. News Corp is the world's biggest and most influential media company. It has operations in the following eight segments: (i) filmed entertainment, (ii) television, (iii) cable network programming, (iv) direct broadcast satelite, (v) integrated marketing services; (vi) newspapers and information services, (vii). book publishing, and (viii) other. Its properties include the Fox TV Networks, the Wall Street Journal, British Sky Broadcasting Group ("BSkyB") and the New York Post. It also owns 49% of NDS. Both BSkyB and NDS have managers and board members and board members who are related to Rupert Murdoch and/or are senior executives/Board members at News Corp. The Company is publicly listed on the NASDAW under the symbol "NWSA".
20. Defendant K. Rupert Murdoch ("Murdoch") has been Chief Executive Officer of the Company since 1979 and its Chairman since 1991. Although the Murdoch Family owns only 12% of the overall equity of the Company, the Murdoch Family, through the Murdoch Family Trust, beneficially owns almost 40% of News Corp's voting Class B common stock, and thus has effective control over Company matters.
21. Defendant James R. Murdoch ("James Murdoch") has been a director of the Company and the Chairman and Chief Executive, Europe and Asia, since 2007. He has also been the Executive Chairman of News International since 2007. As of March 30, 2011, James Murdoch became Deputy Chief Operating Officer, as well as Chairman and Chief, International. In addition, he previously served as an Executive Vice President of the Company, and served as a member of the Board from 2000 and 2004. James Murdoch was the Chief Executive Officer of BSkyB from 2003 to 2007. He has served as a Director of BSkyB since 2003.
22. Defendant Lachlan K. Murdoch ("Lachlan Murdoch") has been a director of the Company since 1996. He served as an advisor to the Company from 2005 to 2007, and served as its Deputy Chief Operating Officer from 2000 to 2003. Lachlan Murdoch served as a director of NDS from 2002 to 2005.
23. Defendant Chase Carey ("Carey") has been the President, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chairman of the News Corp Board since July 2009. Carey served the News Corp and affiliates in numerous roles beginning in 1988, including as Co-Chief Operating Officer from 1996 to 2002, as a consultant from 2002 to 2003, and as a Director from 1996 to 2007. Carey has served as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Sky Deutschland ACI, a German pay-television operator and affiliate of the company since July 2010. Carey served as a President and Chief Executive Officer of DirecTV from 2003 to 2009 and as a director of DirecTV from 2003 to 2010. Carey also served as a Director of BSkyB from 2003 to 2008.
24. Defendant David F. Devoe ("Devoe") has been a Director of News Corp and its Chief Financial Officer since 1990. Devoe has served as Senior Executive Vice President of News Corp since 1996. Devoe has been a Director of BSkyB since 1994 and a Director of NDS since 1996. Devoe has served as a Director of DirecTV from 2003 to 2008.
25. Defendant Joel Klien ("Klien") joined the Board of News Corp in January 2011and currently serves as Executive Officer of News Corp's education division.
26. Defendant Arthur M. Siskind ("Siskind") has been a Director of News Corp since 1991 and Senior Advisor to Rupert Murdoch since 2005. Siskind served as News Corp's Group General Counsel from 1991 to 2005, as Senior Executive Vice President from 1996 to 2005, and as Executive Vice President from 1991 to 1996. Siskind served as a Director of BSkyB since 1991 and as a Director of NDS from 1996 to 2009.
27. Defendant Sir Roderick Eddington ("Eddington") has been a Director of News Corp since 1999, serves as the Chairman of the Audit Committee and as a member of the Compensation Committee. Previously, Eddington served as a Director of News Limited, News Corp's principle subsidiary in Australia from 1998 to 2000, and as Chairman of Ansett Holdings Limited, and a Director of each of Ansett Australia Limited and Ansett Holdings Limited from 1997 to 2000. Until then News Corp owned 50% of Ansett Australia.
28. Defendant Andrew S.B. Knight ("Knight") has been a director of News Corp since 1991, and serves as a member of the Audit Committee that approved the Shine Transaction. Knight was the Chairman of News International, a subsidiary of News Corp from 1990 to 1995.
29. Defendant Thomas J. Perkins ("Perkins") has been a Director of News Corp since 1996 and served as a member of the Audit Committee that approved the Shine Transaction.
30. Defendant Peter L. Barnes has been a Director of News Corp since 2004 and is a member of the Audit Committee that approved the Shine Transaction.
31. Defendant Jose Maria Aznar ("Asnar") has been a Director of News Corp since 2006. Aznar served as the President of Spain from 1996 to 2004.
32. Defendant Natalie Bancroft ("Bancroft") has been a Director of News Corp since 2007. In connection with News Corp's acquisition of Dow Jones, Bancroft was appointed by Rupert Murdoch as a Director of News Corp pursuant to the terms and conditions of an agreement whereby the Bancroft Family whereby News Corp agreed to elect a member of the Bancroft Family or another mutually agreed upon individual to the Board of News Corp.
33. Kenneth E. Crowley ("Crowley") has been a Director of News Corp since 1979. Crowley served as a Senior Executive of News Limited, a subsidiary of News Corp from 1980 to 1997, including as its chairman and Chief Executive from 1980 to 1997.
34. Defendant Viet Dinh ("Dinh") has been a Director of News Corp since 2004, and has been a close friend of the Murdoch Family for many years.
35. Defendant John L. Thornton ("Thornton") has been a Director of News Corp since 2004.
Substantive Allegations
A. The Board of News Corp Does Nothing As Computer Hacking, And Other Illegal Conduct By Murdoch Proteges Coats News Corp Over €650 Million.
1. Hacking and Illegal Conduct at NAM
36. For more than a decade, News Corp subsidiaries have engaged in highly improper practices that have subjected News Corp to great financial and reputational damage. This misconduct was so pervasive that the News Corp Board must have either been aware of the wrongdoing or was deliberately indifferent to the Corporate Culture that encouraged this type of behaviour. In this regard the non corporate governance actions and indifference to this abhorrent illegal and wrongful Corporate Culture can be described as a serious example of the now well established legal term "Willful Blindness" by Directors of a Company to illegal and/or wrongful behaviour within and/or associated with a Company and/or a Group of Companies. For example, a series of lawsuits against two News Corp subsidiaries evidence a pattern of improper behaviour that was, at best consciously disregarded by the News Corp Board.
37. NAM is a News Corp subsidiary engaged in the business of providing marketing services for consumer product manufacturers. Defendants Rupert Murdoch, DeVoe, and Siskind each served as directors of NAM during the time the misconduct described below occurred.
38. In five lawsuits, three competitors alleged that NAM engaged in a variety of improper and often illegal anticompetitive conduct in an attempt to drive competitors out of business. The resulting settlements have cost News Corp more than €600 million dollars, and in the wake of the recent public attention given phone-hacking and email-hacking scandal, these most serious allegations of wrongful and illegal behaviour by people who were employed by News Corp and/or its subsidiaries, are receiving a large amount of public attention from law enforcement and regulatory investigators.
39. In 2004, FLOORgraphics ("FGI"), a competitor of NAM, filed a law suit alleging that NAM consistently tried to destroy FGI's business. Several days into the 2009 trial, NAM agreed to pay FGI more than $29 million dollars to purchase FGI a company with annual revenues og approximately $1,000,000 dollars - outright, thus mooting the Law Suit.
40.At trial, a founder of FGI testified that in July 1999, Paul Carlucci, NAM's CEO, told FGI: "If you ever get into our business, I will destroy you...I work for a man who wants it all, and doesn't understand anyone telling him he can't have it all." Carlucci was referring to Rupert Murdoch, to whom Carlucci reported. In 2005, Rupert Murdoch appointed Carlucci head of the New York Post, after Rupert Murdoch's son Lachlan designed from the position. Carlucci and Rupert Murdoch talk regularly, so it is inconceivable that Rupert Murdoch would not have been aware about the illegal tactics being employed at NAM to thwart competition. At the very least, Rupert Murdoch and other News Corp Board Members knew about FGI's allegations, but failed to conduct any investigation of them.
41.Robert Emmel, a former NAM account director, testified about how NAM implemented Carlucci's threat and succeeded in driving FGI's business to ruin by, among other things:
(1) putting out false press releases to prevent FGI from getting needed financing,
(2) misrepresenting FGI's compliance rate (the ratio of advertisements paid for by customers to advertisements actually placed),
(3) falsely telling customers that FGI was having difficulty in making payments to retailers, and
(4) mutilating and removing FGI signs from retailers.
42. After he became increasingly disenchanted with NAM in 2005, Emmel began to disclose confidential information to a series of government entities while still working for NAM, including the office of Senator Paul Sarbanes, the SEC, the New York Attorney General's Office, the office of Senator Charles Grassley, and the U.S. Senate's Finance and Judiciary Committees.
43. Among the most shocking allegations (and those receiving significant renewed public attention in the light of the UK Phone-hacking and Email-hacking Scandal) FGI learned in early 2004, that "on a least 11 occasions between October 2003 and January 2004, ...NAM breached FGI's secure computer system." FGI had evidence that someone working at NAM hacked into a password-protected website 5containing information intended for FGI and its customers. According to trial testimony, the password-protected website container FGI's proprietary advertisement inventory. In addition to past advertisements, there were advertisements contemplated for future use as well. A subsequent investigation by FGI uncovered evidence that someone at NAM had illegally accessed the FGI password-protected website. FGI sent a letter to DeVoe Jr, CFO of News Corp, but did not get any response.
44. FGI also reported the incident to the FIB, prompting investigations by the FBI, the Secret Services, and the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice. Recently, New Jersey Senator, Frank Lautenberg, requested the Attorney General and the Director of the FBI to look into these most serious allegations of wrongful and illegal behaviour by people who were employed by News Corp and its subsidiaries, anew, as part of the FBI's investigations into allegations of phone-hacking of September 11th victims by News Corp employees.
45. In 2006, Valassis Communications, another NAM competitor, filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in Michigan against NAM alleging conduct substantially similar to that alleged by FGI. Valassis alleged that NAM, which is involved in a number of related marketing businesses threatened customers of Valassis that if they contracted with Valassis for particular types of advertisements, NAM would impose severe economic penalties with respect to the other marketing services that NAM provides by significantly raising the price of other NAM services. According to Valassis' Complaint, this economic penalty was more than $1 million dollars, and in some cases as high as $5 million dollars.
46. NAM's conduct was no aberration, but rather came at Rupert Murdoch's directions. At the trial, Carlucci testified that he told NAM employees... "Last night Mr Rupert Murdoch was saying now you have to really go after Vassassis."... Debra Lucidi, a former director of business development for Sarah Lee, also testified that NAM ... "... threatened to charge a higher in-store price, if the company gives its FSI (Free Standing Insert, i.e. couponing) business to Valassis.
47.Following a trial in a case brought in Michigan State Court, a jury awarded Valassis $300,000 in damages. Thereafter, NAM settled with NAM for $500 million dollars and agreed with a ten year business arrangement with Valassis
48. Similarly, Imsignia Systems filed a lawsuit against NAM alleging the same type if wrongful and illegal behaviour by people who were employed by News Corp and their subsidiaries such as NAM. Insignia alleged that due to NAM's campaign of improper and illegal behaviour and tactics against Insigna, its share price was driven down from $11 a share in 2002, to less than 30 cents a share in 2005. NAM used the same types of tactics against Insignia that NAM had used in its attempts to drive FGI and Valassis out of business, including falsely telling customers that Insignia was unable to perform its contracts, removing Insignia's advertisements from retailers, and offering uneconomically large payments to retailers to exclude competitors.
49. Shortly after opening statements were delivered, NAM rather than face another jury, agreed to pay Insigna $125 million dollars to settle the case.
Hacking and Illegal Conduct at NDS
50. In 2002 and 2003, respectfully, Vivendi and EchoStar filed lawsuits against NDS, News Corp subsidiary that manufactured smart cards.
These small cards are inserted into boxes given to customers of satelite television providers and contain software code that allows for the unscrambling of satellite television signals. Protecting the code with the Smart Card is of paramount importance to satellite television providers, otherwise, individuals can enter the code on their own smart card and unscramble satellite television signals without paying the satellite television provider.
51. In March 2002, three subsidiaries of Vivendi (hereafter collectively referred to as "Vevendi") a French Media Conglomerate, initiated a lawsuit in the Northern District of California against NDS alleging that NDS backed its smart phone card and provided counterfeiters the opportunity to create cards for the decoding of secure broadcast signals. In 1998, NDS sent Vivendi's smart cards to a laboratory in Israel for the purpose of cracking the code on the smart cards. When the access-coding software was extracted from the smart card, it was sent to NDS's U.S offices with instructions that it be published on the Internet. Not only were the smart cards used with Vivendi's customers, but Vivendi also sold their smart card to other providers to use in their customer's equipment. Vivendi alleged that NDS's actions of illegally extracting the code to its smart cards and posting it on the Internet caused Vivendi more than $1 billion dollars in damages. News Corp was once again forced to buy its way out of legal trouble, and the case was dismissed as part of a deal in which News Corp purchased Telepin, a money losing Italian pay-TV platform, from Vivendi for €920 million Euros (approximately $907 million dollars).
52. In June 2003, EchoStar, three of its subsidiaries, and a joint venture in which Echo held a 50% stake (hereafter collectively referred to as "EchoStar") initiated a lawsuit against NDS in U.S. Court for the Central District Court of California. EchoStar owned the DISH Network, a satellite-based television broadcast. EchoStar purchased smart cards from its joint venture, NegraStar, for use in the DISH Network boxes provided to customers. In order to control the problem of counterfeit smart cards, EchoStar alleged that NDS made a conscious decision to hire and 'control' all of the moat well-known, or 'best' satellite pirates and hackers. Using these hackers, NDS could then control the piracy of its technology.
53. The jury found that NDS had engaged in illegal conduct by using one of the counterfeit smart cards that it had created from code extracted from a NegraStar smart card to illegally intercept an EchoStar satellite television broadcast as part of its testing process. Following up on its verdict, the court granted an injunction in favour of EchoStar preventing NDS from, among other things: "intercepting or receiving anywhere in the United States, or assisting anyone else in the United States in intercepting or receiving, EchoStar's satellite television signal without authorisation."
3. The News Corp Board Did Nothing Despite The Harm To News Corp Resulting From NAM and NDS Misconduct
54. The EchoStar and similar lawsuits were chronicled in News Corp's Annual Reports, which were signed by numerous member of the current News Corp Board.
The News Corp Board was therefore well aware of these most serious allegations of wrongful and Illegal Conduct set out in these various lawsuits and were well aware of the massive amounts of News Corp company cash that were required to discharge or settle these many various lawsuits issued against News Corp and or its various subsidiaries.
55. In addition, at the time that this misconduct was occurring and coming to public light at NDS and NAM, a number of members of the News Corp Board, including Defendants Siskind, DeVoe, Carey, and James Murdoch, were also directors of miscreant subsidiaries. Rupert Murdoch, Devoe, and Siskind were directors of both NAM and News around the time that anticompetitive practices that cost News hundreds of millions of dollars were rampant. The fact that so many directors common to both News Corp and these subsidiaries engaged in pervasive misconduct that ultimately caused News Corp significant financial and reputational harm, underscores the News Corp Directors deliberate indifference to the misconduct occurring at these News Corp subsidiaries.
56. In all events, the deeply rooted and deep seated pattern of News Corp stealing private and completely valuable information was by this point obvious and clear to the News Corp Board.
A. The News Corp Board's Failure To Oversea And Investigate Rupert Murdoch's Proteges At News International Has Harmed News Corp
57. The most recent and visible manifestation of the News Corp Board's pattern of indifference to misconduct at News Corp subsidiaries is a scandal involving bribery of police, phone hacking and other illegal newsgathering practices used by News of the World and other News Corp-owned newspapers over the past decade. Despite the significance of the misconduct and red flags that appeared as early as 2002, the News Corp Board, until very recently, has remained completely silent and passive on this issue - costing the News Corp billions of dollars in financial damage and an incalculable amount of reputational harm.
1. The Significance Of News International To News Corp's Operations And Revenue
58.News International Ltd is the U.K. newspaper-publishing subsidiary of News Corp. News International Ltd publishes its major titles through three subsidiaries: Times Newspaper Ltd, News Group Newspapers, and NI Free Newspapers Limited (thereafter, News Limited and its subsidiaries are collectively referred to as "News International"). News International's major titles include the Times, the Sunday Times, the Sun, and before its abrupt closure, News of the World.
59. The News International titles provide News Corp with prestige, cross promotional opportunities and vehicles for various public causes, among with a source of revenue. In fiscal year 2009, News Corp's newspaper arm reported profits of $466 million (more than 10% of News Corp 's adjusted operating income). For its quarterly profits reported in May 2010, News Corp recognised a 10% increase in advertising revenue for News International.
2. The Phone Hacking And Bribery Scandals
a. Widespread Phone Hacking Takes Place In News Corp's U.K. Subsidiaries
60. The News Corp Board's most recent failure to oversee the newsgathering practices carried out under the watch of Rupert Murdoch's close friends, confidents, and staunch supporters, Rebecca Brooks and Andy Coulson, both of whom served as the chief editors of News of the World, further reflects the News Corp Board's capitulation to the control and domination of Rupert Murdoch. Brooks alto served as chief editor for the Sun, another of News Corp's British tabloids, and until she was forced to resign in July 2011, was the CEO of News International. News International employees working under Brooks and Coulson systematically engaged in illegal wiretapping, phone hacking and bribery.
61. For example, in 2005, Prince William's phone had been hacked. The Prince's aides noticed that voicemails to which they had never listened were showing up as "saved" messages in William's inbox. At the same time, News of the World was running a series of articles that reported startlingly intimate details of the Prince's life. As a result of these revelations, News of the World reporter Clive Goodman and Glen Mulcare, a private investigator working with News of the World were arrested in 2006 and convicted in 2007.
62. During the trial, Goodman testified that he was not the only reporter at News of the World to engage in phone hacking. The prosecutor also disclosed the companies including News International and News Corp had paid numerous "research companies" to illicitly obtain information.
63. On March 2? 2007, Goodman sent a letter to a senior human resources executive of News International protesting his dismissal, and stated that phone hacking was 'widely discussed in the daily editorial conferences" until "explicit reference to it was banned by the editor." Goldman's letter also stated that other News of the World journalists in the same conduct and these actions were carried out "with full knowledge and support" of his superiors. Stuart Kuttner; then managing Editor, News of the World, and Les Hinton, then Executive Chairman of News International received copies of the letter.
64. Only four days after receiving the letter, Hinton testified before the House of Commons Media Committee that after conducting "a full rigorous inquiry" that News International had determined that no one other than Goodman and Mulcaire had engaged in phone hacking, and failed to mention Goldman's letter to the Committee. This supposedly "full" and "rigorous" inquiry was nothing of the sort, and the idea that hacking was limited to Goodman as a rogue employee has been proven absurd.
65. In July 2009, The Guardian reported that "27 different journalists from the News of the World and four from the "Star" made more than 1,000 requests to private investigators to secure wiretaps, phone records, or otherwise illegally obtained personal and confidential information. In fact these purchases were not secret within the News of the World office: "they were openly paid for by the accounts department with invoices that itemised illegal acts". Moreover, evidence seized in connection with the 2006 Goodman investigation revealed that: "several thousand public figures" were targets of News International's illegal newsgathering practices.
66. One former desk editor who worked under Coulson in 2006 described the pervasiveness of illegal behaviour at News International papers:
"The hacking was so routine that people didn't realise that they were doing anything wrong. They were just doing what was expected of them. People were obsessed in getting celebs' phone numbers. There were senior people who were really scared when the Mulcaire story came out. Everyone was surprised that Clive Goodman was the only one went down."
67.Yet another former reporter stated that Mulcaire performed illegal services in connection with almost every news story News of the World ran, from hacking into voicemail to accessing confidential data bases:
"The paper was paying Glenn Mulcaire £2,000 per week, and they wanted their money's worth. For just about every story, they rang Glenn. It wasn't just tapping. It was routine. This was just common place. We realised David Beckham laid 13 different 13 sim cards, and Glenn could track every one of them.
68. News of the world commissioned private investigators to hack into the phones of several child murder victims, as well as phones belonging to family members of both fallen soldiers and victims of a 2005 London terrorist attack. In March 2002, thirteen year-old Milly Dowler was kidnapped on her way home from school and later found murdered. While Dowler was missing, News of the World paid Mulcaire to hack into the child's (Milly Dowler's) voicemail. As the girl's friends and family filled her mailbox with messages, News of the World recorded every word. Once Milly Dowler's mailbox filled up and would no longer accept new messages, however the reporters hit a wall. Greedy for more material, the paper (News of the World/News International) deleted messages that had been left in the last few days after her disappearance, allowing newer massages to be recorded. The paper's illegal interference gave false hope to the girl's family, who then mistakenly believed that it was Milly Dowler who had deleted the voicemail messages herself. The newspaper's (The News of the World/News International's) conduct also created confusion for police, observed the investigation, and destroyed potentially valuable evidence.
69. Further, Brooks herself was directly involved in phone hacking. In July 2000, an eight year old, Sarah Payne, disappeared and was later found murdered.Rebecca Brooks, then-editor of News of the World, gave Sarah Payne's mother a cell phone, ostensibly to keep in touch with her supporters. The public later learned that the cellphone provided by Rebecca Brooks was listed among Mulcaire's notes, suggesting that the phone that Rebecca Brookes had provided to Mrs Payne had been hacked. Rupert Murdoch's close confidant and proyege, Rebecca Brooks, preyed on the mother's suffering in order to steal a story.
70. In addition, Ian Edmondson, whom Coulson appointed, served as a news editor for News of the World, until his suspension occurred in January 2011, due to evidence that he commissioned Mulcaire to hack into phones of actress Stenna Miller, het staff, and her friends. Significantly, this arrest provides future proof that the tabloid's (News of the World/News International's) "rougue reporter" defense was a complete fabrication because the news editor serves as the primary liason between the journalists and the editors.
71. In the U.S. the FBI is investigating allegations that voicemails of September 11 victims were hacked as well. In addition, actor Jude Law's voicemail may have been hacked by News of the World investigators after he arrived in New York on a trip. If true, these allegations would expose News Corp to significantly greater risk of enforcement and legal actions by U.S. criminal, regulatory, and legislative bodies.
72. The U.S. Investigation could prove perilous for News Corp and its board, as these investigations threaten News Corp's GCC liencess. Section 308(b) of the Communications Act requires broadcast licenses to be of "good character", and the FCC could use this section to revoke News Corp's broadcast licenses, depending of the outcome of the domestic inquires. Indeed U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller stated that the alleged hacking is "offensive and a serious breach of journalistic ethics." If News Corp lost its FCC licenses, it would devistate the value of some of News Corp's most profitable assets.
b. News Corp's Newspapers Bribed Police For Information And Engaged In Other Illegal Conduct In News Corp's Relentless Pursuit Of Tabloid Stories.
73. Although phone-hacking remains the most published of the misconduct that occurred in News International's Tabloids, these Tabloids routinely gathered fodder for its stories by using other illegal tactics, including bribing of police officers for confidential information, illegally gaining access to targets' computers, and "blagging", which is essentially a form of identity theft where an individual pretends to be whomever is the target of the newsgathering in an effort to get financial, medical, or similar personal information about a target.
74. In September 2002, the Guardian published a detailed of how journalists from a number of tabloids brought confidential i formation from a network of corrupt police officers through well known Red Lodge Freemason Jonathan Rees, a private investigator and ex-police officer.
Jonathan Rees was after years of investigation costing the London Police Met over £20 million pounds, was finally charged with the murder of his business partner Daniel Morgan, who was threatening to publicly corrupt and illegal investigate tactics and methods carried out by Jonathan Rees. However, it appears that Jonathan Rees' Freemason Brothers arranged for a Freemason Justice in the London High Court to find a technicality to completely dismiss the murder charge against Jonathan Rees before his actual murder charge trial started. It is well known, as set out in various publications including unchallenged books exposing how Freemasonry works from within, which include Martin Short's book "Inside the Brotherhood", Stephen Knight's book "The Brotherhood" and the series of books published by the Australian Weekend News Publishing Group titled "The Triumph of Truth (Who Is Watching The Watchers?)", that under the rules one joins Freemasonry, a Brother Freemason is obligated under fear of death by other Freemasons, as a result of "a Blood Oaths Freemasons have to swear to when joining Freemasonry", ... a Brother Freemason is obligated to help out another Brother Freemason... in any way he can.. even if it means a Judge, a Police Officer, a Politician, a Banker, etc... has to breach the Oath of His Office to help a Brother Freemason out of trouble.. even wrongfully ordering a serious murder charge to be completely dismissed without the Defendant such as Jonathan Rees standing trial before a Judge and Jury, to let the public see whether after a full open trial, the Jury finds Jonathan Rees inocent or Guilty of the murder of his then business partner Daniel Morgan.
75. In 2003, while Rebecca Brooks ran News of the World, the paper paid at least £100,000 pounds in cash bribes to between three and five Metropolitan Police Officers. At a Select Committee Hearing, Rebecca Brooks cavaliery admitted to "paying the police for information."
76. In April 2005, News of the World was named as one of the prime customers at the trial of private investigator, Steven Whitmore, who was employed by various tabloids to engage in illegal tactics to gain information for tabloid reporters. It is believed that he obtained this information through blagging, which has been illegal since 1994 under U.K.'s strict data privacy laws.
77. In December 2006, the Information Commissioner Office ("IOC"), an office created by Parliament as part of U.K. Data Protection Act Legislation, published a report entitled "What Price Privacy Now? The first six months progress in halting the unlawful trade in confidential information." This report detailed efforts by the U.K. Government to stop the illegal gathering of confidential personal information. The report found that twenty-three News of the World journalists were involved in 228transactions, as part of the criminal investigation of Whitmore and one of his colleagues.
78. While editor of the News of the World, Rebecca Brooks used Whitmore's services on at least two occasions. Specifically, Rebecca Brooks requested Whitmore to determine who a particular mobile phone number was registered to. Rebecca Brooks also used Whitmore for an electoral role search of a particular address.
79. In 2006, while Rebecca Brooks served editor of the Sun Tabloid, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown claimed that the Sun used blagging to discover that his infant son has cystic fibrosis, a fact that at the time was only known by Gordon Brown's Family and doctors. In addition, the Sunday Times is also suspected of using blagging to obtain Gordon Brown's confidential property and financial information for its stories.
80. Both Any Coulson and Rebecca Brooks both well knew about the rampant use of illegal news gathering tactics at News International's newspapers, because such practices were so widespread and ingrained. Indeed, Shawn Hoare, a former reporter who worked at News of the World for over ten years, often closely with Andy Coulson, stated, "Either (Coulson) was a dreadful editor or a liar. You can not run a newspaper and not know where things come from." At the News of the World phone hacking "was encouraged as long as you didn't get court. Coulson was well aware, that these particular practices of phone and email hacking, blinging and blagging, were going on and were widespread illegal practices within the News International Tabloids." Hoare played illegally hacked voicemails for Andy Coulson while the two worked together for the Sun Newspaper, which is owned by News International, a subsidiary of News Corp.
81. Likewise, Paul Mullan, a former features editor and then member of the News of the World's investigation team, stated that he personally commissioned private investigators to commit "several hundred acts which could well be regarded as unlawful, and that these illegal techniques were no secret at the paper, and that senior editors, including Coulson were all well aware of what was going on in this regard..."
82. Another veteran reporter who worked for Andy Coulson said that: "Any Coulson absolutely knew ... they all knew...it was a regular daily joke in daily conferences.. 'say no more'. Andy Coulson would ask questions in conferences. And he'd be told 'nudge... nudge.'..".
83. In addition into enquiries into phone-hacking and police bribery, U.K. officials opened up another investigation into alleged computer hacking and police bribery amid numerous reports that News International Tabloids engaged extensively in computer hacking as another illegal newsgathering technique. For example, a former British Army Intelligence Officer recently sued News International, claiming that in 2006 it had hired a computer expert to hack into his emails. In addition, several attorneys representing a number of phone-hacking victims stated that they saw evidence of potential computer hacking as well.
Rupert Murdoch And Other Top News Corp Executives Are Intimately Involved In The Operations Of News International And Other News Corp Subsidiaries
84. Due to News International's cash flow importance to News Corp and the UK Political Power and Influence to Rupert Murdoch and the Murdoch and Rothschild Families and their extremely powerful connections of
News Corp.. ..Rupert Murdoch and the Murdoch and Rothschild Families and their extremely powerful connections are heavily involved in many various ways...in the operations of News Corp's subsidiaries...and the International News Division receives attention at the News Corp Board level.. Rupert Murdoch, as an enraged boss, stays abreast of various news sources on a daily basis.. Rupert Murdoch's use of the various News Corp's news divisions as a vehicle for his personal social and political agendas shows that Rupert Murdoch is extremely heavily involved in their operations. Indeed, commentators have noted that Rupert Murdoch traditionally ruled News Corp "with an Iron Fist" and hand selected the various people that were most heavily involved in the backing scandals. For example, Roy Greensdale, a former Rupert Murdoch editor, who is now a professor of Journalism at City University, London, stated: "... you can see through the way the Sun and the News of the World operate...that Rupert Murdoch's word remains law....".
85. Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch also maintain a long and close personal relationship with Rebecca Brooks. In fact Media Circles recognise Rebecca Brooks for conquering the World of Tabloid Journalism with meteoric success and becoming Rupert Murdoch's U.K. Proxy.
86. Rupert Murdoch regards Rebecca Brooks "as a kind of favourite daughter... and he's very... very... very... attached to her...".
Rupert Murdoch promoted Rebecca Brooks swiftly through the newspaper's ranks. Brooks went from secretary to editor-in-chief at the News of the World in just 11years. Rupert Murdoch has moved Brooks to the top spot at the Sun, Britain's largest-selling newspaper. Two years ago Rupert Murdoch promoted Brooks to CEO of News International. Rupert Murdoch continued to support Brooks even as Brooks became more and more tanted by the phone and email hacking scandal. Indeed, the first time Brooks offered her resignation following the breaking of the phone and email hacking scandal, Rupert Murdoch rejected it. In addition when Rupert Murdoch was questioned by his priority when arriving in London to provide leadership in the wake of the outbreak of the scandal, Rupert Murdoch pointed to Brooks and said "This one ...." implying protecting Rebecca Brooks was Rupert Murdoch's paramount objective.
87. Rebecca Brooks' arrest over hacking and corruption allegations came two days after her resignation as CEO of News International on July 15th, 2011. In the immediately preceding days, Brooks appeared next to Rupert Murdoch as they tried do down play the company's (News International's) wire tapping and bribery.
88. Likewise Les Hinton, who spent 50 years working for Rupert Murdoch, is described by News Corp's insiders as Rupert Murdoch's "cosiglien." Les Hinton ran News International starting in 1995 until he left in 2007 to run Dow Jones & Co., and therefore was at the helm of when the phone hacking and police payments occurred. Hinton is now accused of giving misleading information to the UK Parliament in 2007 and 2009 by saying that no widespread inproprietories occurred within News International. When Les Hinton was forced to resign in the light of the scandal Rupert Murdoch stated that Les Hinton's resignation was a "matter of much sadness." Rupert Murdoch's close ties with Les Hinton makes it inconceivable that Hinton would not have informed Rupert Murdoch about the phone and email hacking and police bribery practices within News International at the time that they happened.
d. The News Corp Board Knew About But Disregarded Systematic Illegal Conduct At News Corp's British Newspapers
89. Over the last decade, as described above, senior employees at the News of the World and the Sun engaged in a massive scheme to intercept voicemail and other forms of electronic communications to obtain stories for these papers. The News Corp Board either knew or should have known about the information well before the revelations of the last few months. In this regard the News Corp Board was guilty of a well established legal term known as "willful blindness."
90. In this regard, News Corp's Board should have learned that reporters from News of the World used illegal means to gather news during Rebecca Brooks' tenue as chief editor of the News of the World from 2000 to 2003, given the Murdoch's close personal and professional relationship with Rebecca Brooks. In addition, the interrelation between News International and News Corp, particularly James Murdoch's leadership of News International and directorship of News Corp, kept New International's operations at the forefront of the News Corp Board's activities and oversight.
91. A specific red flag emerged in September 2003, when the Guardian published a detailed account of how journalists brought confidential information from Jonathan Rees. The News Corp Board received its next unambiguous red flag in April 2005, when the ICO specifically named News of the as one the primary customers of Whittamore (the private investigator being investigated by the ICO), and reflected 228 transactions involving 23 News of the World journalists.
92. News Corp's Board received (or should have received) another red flag in 2005 as a result of the investigation and trial from the events that ensued after Prince William's staff notified authorities that William's phone had been hacked. An initial police investigation into the newspaper's conduct resulted in January 2007 convictions of Goodman and Mulcaire. Andy Coulson, the papers editor, resigned in the midst of the Scandal .
93. Another red flag emerged on February 9, 2010, when a British Parliament committee issued a report that found it was "inconceivable" that the one reporter blamed by News Corp for the phone and email hacking and police bribery scandal, could be the only person at News Corp to have been involved. The Report chastised News Corp for failing to adequately investigate the scandal. "Despite clear evidence that others were involved, there was no further investigation of who those "others" might be and we are concerned at the readiness of all those involved... to leave Goodman as the sole scapegoat without carrying out a full investigation at the time. The newspaper's enquires were far from "full" or "rigorous", as we - and the Press Complaints Committee - had been assured."
94. James Murdoch's own statements in the wake of this scandal clearly demonstrate that News Corp's Board failed to exercise any oversight of News Corp's affairs, and, indeed, affirmatively sanctioned or, at the very least, very conveniently turned a blind eye to rampant illegality taking place at News Corp's newspapers. In a press release issued July 7th, 2011, James Murdoch said, .. "... The News of the World is in the business of holding others account. But it failed when it came to itself." James Murdoch further admitted that "News of the World and News International failed to get to the bottom of repeated wrongdoing that occurred without conscience or legitimate purpose." With respect to payment of gag money, James Murdoch said: "The Company (News Corp) paid out-of-court settlements approved by me. I now know that I did not have the complete picture when I did so. This was wrong and is a matter of serious regret."
95. Various additional red flags (discussed below) existed for the News Corp Board that strongly suggested that phone hacking and other illegal newsgathering practices and techniques were rampant at News International papers, including News of the World. The News Corp Board, however, did not want to investigate these red flags because, it is very clear from News Corp's track record, the News Corp Board blindly follows of Rupert Murdoch and Rupert Murdoch did not want this illegal newsgathering practices and techniques investigated.
3. The Cover Up
Rather than following-up on the red flags and seeking to uncover wrongdoing within News International, News Corp's executives, and in some cases News Corp Board Members, took affirmative steps to hide wrong-doing from investors and the general public at large. News Corp used its governmental contacts when necessary and bought silence when it had to in order to avoid disclosure of its wrongdoing.
a. News International Pays "Hush Money" To Purchase The Silence Of Hacking Victims
97. During the 2006 investigation of Goodman and Mulcaire, Scotland Yard seized copious computer records, audiotapes, handwritten notes, and other documentary evidence. Those records contained the names of 4,332 people whom the two men were interested in targeting. 2, 978 mobile phone numbers, thirty tapes appearing to contain voicemail messages, and ninety-one PIN codes used to access voicemail boxes.
98. Scotland Yard (despite the mountains of evidence at their fingertips) notified only five individuals (apart from the members of the Royal Household) that their voicemail messages may well have been intercepted. Two of those five people, Gordon Taylor, CEO of the Professional Footballers' Association, and Max Clifford, a powerful British Publicist, chose to sue News International.
99. In response to Taylor's Lawsuit, News International initially denied that the company was involved in hacking Taylor's phone and claimed that no records of any intercepted messages had been kept. But at the request of Taylor's lawyers, the court ordered the production of evidence seized by Scotland Yard in the Goodman inquiry and a subsequent Information Commission investigation. The documents revealed, among other things, an email from a News of the World reporter to News of the World's chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck sending transcripts of thirty-five voicemail messages intercepted by Mulcaire. This document became known as the "Fox Neville" email, and it took centre stage in the firestorm of public attention forced on News Corp and in particular James Murdoch.
100. The "Fox Neville" email contained transcripts of voicemails from the phone of a business associate of Gordon Taylor. Crone, the then-News of the World legal manager, Colin Myer, News of the World's then editor, recognizing that this email undermined the News International lie of a single rogue reporter involved in the phone hacking scandal, immediately brought this document to James Murdoch's attention and sought his approval of a substantial settlement with Gordon Taylor, in order to keep this document, and Gordon Taylor's other evidence under wraps.
101. Based on these revelations, in June 2008, News International sought to stop the lawsuit by offering Taylor £700,000 pounds in exchange for his silence. News International then quickly made a similar deal with Max Clifford, and one other individual, paying more than £1 million pounds in gag money in total.
102. Crone and Myer presented the settlement figure to James Murdoch along with their recommendation to approve it. On July 7th, 2011, admitted to personality approving these settlements. In response to the UK Parliament's request information, Myers and Crone confirmed their position in previously-submitted letters, namely that James Murdoch knew about the "Fox Neville email" when he approved the settlements, undermining his and News Corp Board's absurb obvìously false contention that phone hacking was limited limited to a single-rogue reporter.
.
".. All powerful Red Lodge 33rd Degree Freemason Zionist Jew Rupert Murdoch and his Trillionaire silent partners 33rd Degree Red Lodge Freemason, Zionist Jew, Lord Jacob Rothschild and the Rothschild Partners, secretly arranged through PrivateTrust and their News Corp and its UK subsidiary News International managed to persuade the Freemason and Zionist Jewish controlled British Courts to seal of all court and investigation proceedings, thus using the British Government and the British Courts to help them hide evidence of News Corp's and its directors, senior management, staff, servants and otherwise illegal and wrongful misconduct from the shareholders and the general public scrutiny. News Corp and News International further insisted on an extensive confidentiality provision in the settlement agreement to legally prevent Gordon Taylor or his attorneys from publicly speaking about the matter. The amount of settlement of £700,000, far exceeded amounts that had been awarded by courts in similar lawsuits, thus confirming that a major purpose of this extremely high £700,000 settlement was the confidentially agreement, to keep the matter under wraps. In a letter to the UK House of Commons Culture, Media and Sports Committee, James Murdoch confirmed that confidentiality was an important factor in the astronomical £700,000 settlement amount:
"Previously I had understood that the £700,000 settlement amount was based on a likely judgement of the likely damages that could be awarded, and the likely costs and expenses associated with the litigation .... since I gave this response, I have been informed that confidentiality was a factor in determining the amount of the settlement payment...."
103. All powerful Red Lodge 33rd Degree Freemason Zionist Jew Rupert Murdoch and his Trillionaire silent partners 33rd Degree Red Lodge Freemason, Zionist Jew, Lord Jacob Rothschild and the Rothschild Partners, secretly arranged through PrivateTrust and their News Corp and its UK subsidiary News International managed to persuade the Freemason and Zionist Jewish controlled British Courts to seal of all court and investigation proceedings, thus using the British Government and the British Courts to help them hide evidence of News Corp's and its directors, senior management, staff, servants and otherwise illegal and wrongful misconduct from the shareholders and the general public scrutiny. News Corp and News International further insisted on an extensive confidentiality provision in the settlement agreement to legally prevent Gordon Taylor or his attorneys from publicly speaking about the matter. The amount of settlement of £700,000, far exceeded amounts that had been awarded by courts in similar lawsuits, thus confirming that a major purpose of this extremely high £700,000 settlement was the confidentially agreement, to keep the matter under wraps. In a letter to the UK House of Commons Culture, Media and Sports Committee, James Murdoch confirmed that confidentiality was an important factor in the astronomical £700,000 settlement amount:
"Previously I had understood that the £700,000 settlement amount was based on a likely judgement of the likely dsmages that could be awarded, and the likely costs and expenses associated with the litigation .... since I gave this response, I have been informed that confidentiality was a factor in determining the amount of the settlement payment...."
104. News International even agreed to "pay-off" with promise of future employment, its disgraced former reporter live Goodman for his silence. In Goodman's March 2007 letter to Les Hinton and others at News International, he stated that Crone and Myer "promised on many occasions that I could come back to a job at the newspaper if I did not implicate the newspaper ofr any of its staff in any mitigation plea. I did not, and I expect the paper to honour its promise to me."
b. New International Seeks to Hid Incriminating Documents
The scandal further intensified in early 2011, when a "lost" hoard of emails sent by senior executives in Rupert Murdoch's newspaper empire at the height of the phone-hacking scandal were found - after News International claimed that they were lost in transfer to Mumbai, prompting further criminal investigations in Britain.
107. Moreover, according to an IT vendor, News International has requested email deletions none times in the past fifteen months. Police suspect that a large cache of email archives has been wrongfully deleted, dating back to 2005 (with the most recent suspected deletion having taken place in January 2011). News International executives also tried to hide the contents of a senior reporter's desk after he was arrested.
108. Not surprisingly, in its july 20, 2011 report, the UK House of Commons Select Committee condemned News International condemned News International's response to the phone-hacking allegations: "We deplace the response of News International to the original investigation into hacking. It is almost impossible to escape the conclusion ..... that they were deliberately trying to thwart a criminal investigation."
c. News Corp Takes A Half Hearted Investigation
109. Clear evidence of widespread use of illegal newsgathering techniques existed that warranted thorough investigation by News Corp and its Board. Nevertheless. News International pursued only a partial investigation with an extremely limited mandate. Rupert Murdoch and others at News Corp then distorted the scope of these extremely limited-mandate investigations to tell the world that they supported News Corp's one rogue reporter lie, even though the investigations intentionally were not designed to determine whether there was widespread misconduct at News of the World. Moreover, News Corp and its Board refused to undertake any investigations into the matter at all, until a firestorm erupted in July 2011.
110. When the Goodman and Mulcare arrests occurred in 2006, News of the World retained the law firm of BCl Burton Copeland. Although Crone told a Parliamentary Committee in July 2009 that the firm was "brought in to go over everything and find out what had gone on, and to liaise with police," the investigation was limited primarily to one investigation on News of the World's staff or the review of emails sent by executives or journalists. The details of Burton Copeland's methods and findings were not fully disclosed, and on July 22, 2011, Burton Copeland ceased advising News International about the phone-hacking scandal for an undisclosed reason.
111. In 2007, News International retained another British law firm, Harbottle & Lewis, in connection with a wrongful termination lawsuit brought by Goodman. Jon Chapman, head of News International's legal department, asked Harbottle & Lewis to review emails that the company recovered, but only provided the law firm with emails from six of the 200 employees at News of the World. In a letter response to the UK Parliament, Harbottle & Lewis noted the extremely limited nature of the review requested by News International. In fact, News International only paid Harbottle & Lewis £10,000 for its review, which belies the sworn testimony of Rupert and James Murdoch and others at News Corp and News International that this was (or was intended to be) a thorough investigation of wrongdoing at News of the World. Despite the incredibly narrow scope of the Harbottle & Lewis engagement, James Murdoch nevertheless told the UK Culture, Media and Sports Committee of the UK House of Commons that the law firm had given News International "a clean bill of health". The Harbottle firm subsequently made clear, through its own submission to the UK Parliament. that it would not endorse James Murdoch's characterization of the prior investigation.
Notably, both News International and Harbottle & Lewis reviewed an emaILfrom Goodman to Coulson in which Goodman requested £1,000 to pay a police officer in the royal protection unit for a copy of the Green Book directory, which contained private phone numbers for the Queen, other Royal Family members, and their associates. In another email, Andy Coulson said he did not want to go into detail about cash payments because those involved could "go to prison for this."
4. Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Rebecca Brooks Testify Before The U.K. Parliament's Culture, Media And Sports Committee Concerning Corporate Governance Issues And The Hacking Scandal
113. On July 12, 2011, the British Parliament summoned Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch, and Rebecca Brooks to appear before the UK Parliament's Culture, Media and Sports Committee ("the CMS Committee"). The Murdoch's initially refused to attend the hearing, but appeared on July 19. only after they received a formal summons. The hearing re-opened the inquiry that the CMS Committee held in 2009 regarding press standards, privacy, and libel, and also focused on evidence about the phone-hacking that occurred at the News of the World. With recent evidence emerging in the hacking scandal, the CMS Committee expressed that it was "clear that Parliament has been mislead" in the 2009 proceeding.
114. In this regard, the CMS Committee inquired about whether anyone who had testified in the prior committee proceeding had lied ...Both Murdochs (Rupert and James) claimed that they had no knowledge on that issue. James Murdoch also testified that he had he had no knowledge of the recent evidence (primarily the "Fox Neville" e-mail) that expanded the hacking scandal beyond one rogue reporter until the end of December 2010, when documents were produced in civil litigation brought by the actress, Sienna Miller, against News Corp and News International. James Murdoch further denied having had any information about the Milly Dowler case until "The Guardian reported on that story.
115. Shortly after James Murdoch testified, two former News International senior executives, Crone and Myer, challenged James Murdoch's testimony, claiming that they had told him years ago about an email that showed that the wrongdoing at News of the World was much more widespread than News Corp and their subsidiary News International acknowledged.
116. In a resumption of the hearing held on September 6th, 2011, Myer and Crone said it was "inconceivable" that James Murdoch was unaware in 2008 of the significance of the "For Neville" e-mail which proved beyond any reasonable doubt that hacking went well beyond a single rogue reporter at the Sunday newspaper. They testified that the meeting at which the "Fox Neville" was discussed resulted in James 3authorizing payments to settle on-going litigation. Crone noted: "Since he gave us the authority we were asking for, I would take it that for the first time James Murdoch realised News of the World was involved in phone and email hacking, and that involvement involved people going went far beyond Clive Goodman." Crone further testified that "There was evidence that illegal activity had passed through our office and that the News of the World was implicated. I would have explained the background to the litigation and the stance we had taken up and would have explained what this document meant.
117. Additional evidence of News Corp's and News International's lack of control emerged from the CMS Committee's questioning in July 2011, about the arrest of Clive Goodman and Glen Mulcaire. RUPERT Murdoch testified that speaking to Les Hinton was the only action he took to investigate the extent of the hacking. Notably Les Hinton's testimony before the CMS Committee in 2007 where he stated that News of the World had ... "carried out a full rigorous inquiry" into the use of phone hacking by the newspaper and was "absolutely convinced" that it was limited to "one rogue reporter". News Corp has now conceded that testimony is not true. Similarly, neither Rupert Murdoch nor anyone else made any effort to investigate News Corp's or News International's practices after Rebecca Brooks testified in 2003; and admitted that News of the World paid police for information.
118. Rupert Murdoch's testimony further demonstrated that News Corp prefers to largely rely upon the police- with which News International has had a cozy relationship - to find wrongdoing at News Corp and News International, rather than implementing its own investigation, and will only take action if forced to do so by government authorities. For example, when questioned why no one was fired in April 2011 after News Corp and News International admitted that News of the World has engaged in criminal interception of voicemails. Rupert Murdoch stated that it "was not our job to get in the course of justice. It was up to police to bring the charges and carry out the investigation." Likewise, when the CMS Committee inquired as to whether News Corp and News International would introduce another investigation if other forms of illicit surveillance like computer hacking were discovered. Rupert Murdoch testified: "That would be up to the police.... if they wanted us to do it, we would do it..." News Corp has not just failed ti reach the ideals of good governance, News Corp has openly rejected the basic norms.
119. During the July 18 hearing, Rupert Murdoch admitted that News Corp is a "family business", and he "would love to see his sons and daughters follow if they are interested".
5. News Corp's Board - Years After Red Flags First Appeared - Establishes A Committee Of Questionable Independence To Investigate
120. After the hacking scandal broke in July 2011, News International finally formed a Management and Standards Committee (the "M&S Committee") to handle the crisis. The M&S Committee was tainted with a lack of independence since its formation. In this regard, the M&S Commitee originally reported to Rebecca Brooks - the same editor who was in charge of News of the World when the hacking scandal involving Milly Dowler and police bribes occurred. In addition, Will Lewis, a News International general manager, Simon Greenberg, News International's director of communication, and Jeff Palker, News Corp's general counsel for Europe and Asia, were assigned to the M&S Committee.
121. On July 8th, 2011, recognizing the compromised nature of investigation, Rupert Murdoch announced that Rebecca Brooks would no longer manage the investigation. Instead of appointing an independent person, much less outside legal counsel as is customary, to lead the investigation, Rupert Murdoch stated that the M&S Committee would report to News Corp's executive vice president and director, Klein - Rupert Murdoch's most closest and most visable advisor during the hacking scandal. Klein in turn would work with ostensibly independent director Viet Dinh, who is himself an extremely close Murdoch Family friend.
122. Klein is a News Corp employee who earns more than $4.5 million a year. Klein's position at News Corp is personal assistant and advisor to Rupert Murdoch, and Rupert Murdoch Klien his job and appointed Klien to the News Corp Board. In fact Rupert Murdoch and Klien were very close friends lo before Klien became a News Corp employee and a director News Corp Director. When Klien was the New York City School Councilor, Klien and Rupert Murdoch began discussing educational issues over regular lunches and dinners with their wives. Rupert Murdoch also donated $1 million of his own money to Klien's advisory group. Education Reform Now. Eventually their friendship and political alliance turned into a multi million dollar job at News Corp, with an office just down the hall from Rupert Murdoch's office, and frequent trips on Rupert Murdoch's private jet. Klien, a personal friend of and assistant to Rupert Murdoch, who owes Rupert Murdoch his livelihood, can not be depended upon to exercise independent judgement related to the M&S Committee's investigation.
123. When the hacking 2publicly broke, Klien was the first to arrive in London to help Rupert Murdoch to handle the fallout, and moved into a temporary office twenty feet from Rupert Murdoch's office. Klien further weighed in on the drafts of a statement that Rupert Murdoch wrote to deliver to the U.K. Parliament, and sat directly behind Rupert Murdoch while Rupert Murdoch testified before the U.K. Parliament. In addition, when three of News of the World journalists were arrested in April on suspicion of hacking, some executives pushed for an investigation that would have the full backing of the News Corp Board and senior management. Rupert Murdoch however, opposed the idea outright, and Klien supported Rupert Murdoch's decision.
124. Dinh, who is the appointed person to keep the News Corp Board informed about all developments related to the hacking scandal investigation, also lacks independence. In this regard, Dinh suffers from a serious conflict of interest due to his close links to the Murdoch Family. Among other things, Dinh in the Godfather of Lachlan Murdoch's second child
Corporation says it has 'no intention' of charging – as Times and Sun owner News Corporation prepares to put up a paywalTara Conlanguardian.co.uk,
Tuesday 24 November 2009 Article history
A young Rupert Murdoch backed by his silent partners, Lord Jacob Rothschild and the Rothschild Family who agreed to provide unlimited capital, to help Rupert Murdoch take control of the Australian Newspapers and then the world newspapers
Lord Jacob Rothschild known to be one of the richest, most powerful and most influential men in the world
The BBC Trust chairman, Sir Michael Lyons. Photograph: Peter MacDiarmid
James Murdoch with a cartoon version of his father Keith Rupert Murdoch stating that the only way media maintains it's independence is by being profit driven, however as the cartoon version of Keith Rupert Murdoch depicts, that was presented on well known the Slate Website, Keith Rupert Murdoch if often being accused of not telling the truth about by his critics, about the past, present and the future promises when he takes over his next media vehicle, whether it be television, films. newspapers, Internet etc as he is often accused saying he will nit meddle and/or chance the fabric of a newspaper like when he took over the Times of London, and is well know to use his newspapers to achieve his and his allies political, social and business aims, as he is doing at present using them to attack the BBC and Gordon Browns and his Labour party in Britain, in an obvious attempt to make sure that David Cameron and his Tory Party win power in the 2010 British Election., as he has done in the past to help various political parties win UK elections. Keith Rupert Murdoch and his powerful News Corp media vehicles have in the past made sure that Maggie Thatcher won power and then supported Tony Blair to win power and keep hold of power until Tony Blair resigned as Prime Minister of Britain and handed over the reigns to Gordon Brown. Keith Rupert Murdoch ad his son James Murdoch have made it clear they have now turned on Gordon Brown and his Labour Party and supporting David Cameron and his Tory Party, because David Cameron and the Tory Party in the UK will make sure the Murdoch's get their way if David Cameron wins power, and either has the BBC dismantled and/or allowed the Murdochs and their News Corp to buy the BBC. The reason for all this is a simple business problem the Murdochs have. They have now realised that the £4 billion and growing yearly losses of News Corp losses will not turn back into a profit unless they can set up a pay wall and start charging for news content on the Internet. This is not possible while the BBC is in existence as a semi government organisation funded by mandatory licence fees, as it has made it clear the BBC will not be charging for news content on the Internet to its readers. So for the Murdochs and the powerful News Corp media group to financially survive in the long term they have to have the BBC dismantled or buy the BBC. Otherwise News Corp will simply eventually run out of capital making losses each year and end up in liquidation, because the reality is that hard copy newspapers are becoming a thing of the past because of the power of the Internet to provide unlimited news at the click of a mouse, from any where in the world, the home, the beach, a cafe, a bus stop and in Bin Laden's case a cave. The other reality is that young people and in growing numbers older people as well, are simply not buying and/or reading newspapers any more and there is a growing concern of the millions of trees that is needed to be cut down to make the paper each week, to print the millions of newspaper the Murdochs and their News Corp print each day around the world. It as become a world wide concern that the cutting of down of millions of tress each year to print the hundreds of million newspaper, is destroying the environment but increasing the green house gas effect, and contributing to global warming, destroying the natural habitat for the wild animals, birds, frogs, fish and other living things that keep nature in balance and as has been shown in places like Australia where 90% of the forests and trees have been cut down since English Settlement in the 1800's this has cause the salt it rise in the earth making the land completely unusable and barron.
The BBC has today said it has "no intention" of charging for online news, in a declaration that is unlikely to please James Murdoch and his father Rupert as they prepare to start charging for News Corporation content on the internet.
Sir Michael Lyons, the BBC Trust chairman, said the corporation has "no intention of diluting BBC commitment to universal access to free news online" as he outlined the areas director general Mark Thompson's ongoing strategic review will cover.
The BBC's internet news operations came under fire in August at the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival from James Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation in Europe and Asia, who accused the corporation of "throttling" the market and preventing its competitors from launching or expanding their own services online.
News International, the News Corp subsidiary that owns the company's British newspapers, including the Sun and the Times, is planning to start charging for its journalism online.
Lyons said today that the BBC Trust "recognises external concerns over scale and growth of BBC online operations". But he added: "Equally, it's an immensely popular service with audiences and an important tool for the economy."
Lyons said he wanted Thompson to ask what "licence fee payers really expect to get from their licence fee and what they might be surprised to see the BBC doing in the online world".
He indicated that some areas, such as the iPlayer and news online, are safe when he asked: "Beyond the core offer of news, sport, education, children's and the iPlayer, which parts of the online service are essential to the BBC's mission and which could be stopped?"
However, Lyons also questioned the future of content created for online that is not directly related to specific BBC programmes, asking, "where should the boundary be drawn" between this and "the online expression or extension of BBC programming"?
Lyons also said the BBC Trust has asked Thompson to look at how the corporation should "serve all audiences" with "fresh and new" programmes, not a "diet of the predictable and comfortable", while "nurturing home-grown talent... across the full range of genres".
Other questions include "does increased quality and distinctiveness come at a price?" and how can the BBC be "more open", both for "programme-makers and for audiences".
Another concern expressed by the trust is that "if it spreads itself too thinly the BBC may lose focus on the core mission to provide fresh, new, high-quality content".
The BBC is consulting its rivals about the strategic review, which was announced by Lyons in September, and Thompson is due to deliver his initial thoughts in the new year.
John McVay, the Pact chief executive, said: "Rather than making cuts in content, the BBC should look at its own fixed overheads and in-house capacity. Looking to make cuts online and on-air is not the compact the BBC has with the licence fee payer."
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Newspapers controlled by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch laid into the BBC this morning, seeking to place the blame for the death of government advisor David Kelly firmly at the feet of the corporation.
"BBC in crisis as Blair mood swings," splashed the Times, claiming it was the corporation, rather than a battered Labour government, that was "fighting to save its credibility."
The paper alleged the BBC may even have "sexed-up" its own coverage. "It is now the BBC that appears to have deliberately deceived viewers, listeners, its board of governors and parliament about the origins of this extraordinary battle with the government."
"You Rat," was the splash headline in the Sun, which rounded on Andrew Gilligan, claiming that he was branding Dr Kelly "a liar" in a bid to save his job.
Newspapers controlled by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch laid into the BBC this morning, seeking to place the blame for the death of government advisor David Kelly firmly at the feet of the corporation.
"BBC in crisis as Blair mood swings," splashed the Times, claiming it was the corporation, rather than a battered Labour government, that was "fighting to save its credibility."
The paper alleged the BBC may even have "sexed-up" its own coverage. "It is now the BBC that appears to have deliberately deceived viewers, listeners, its board of governors and parliament about the origins of this extraordinary battle with the government."
"You Rat," was the splash headline in the Sun, which rounded on Andrew Gilligan, claiming that he was branding Dr Kelly "a liar" in a bid to save his job.
In later pages it broadened its attack. "How can we ever trust the BBC again?" asks the Sun's leader. "Its behaviour over the Dr David Kelly tragedy has been disgraceful."
"At every turn the BBC has displayed a total lack of judgement, bad faith, hypocrisy and low standards - all motivated by an absurd desire to prove it was bigger than No 10."
"Heads must roll at the BBC," it said. "There are two tragedies to emerge from the "sexed-up" dossier shambles," wrote political editor Trevor Kavanagh on page 6. "First is the death of decent David Kelly... [the second] the death of the BBC's priceless reputation for integrity."
"Mr Sambrook cannot stay," Kavanagh went on to say, referring to the BBC's director of news, who mounted a robust defence of both Gilligan and the story. "But the biggest BBC scalp may be its mild-mannered chairman Gavyn Davies."
But it was not just the Murdoch-controlled Sun and Times that lambasted the BBC's role in Dr Kelly's tragic death.
The Financial Times was equally critical. A "reeling" BBC faces "the largest damage limitation exercise, arguably of its 76-year history," it said. In comparison, Tony Blair had "weathered the immediate crisis" after an "air of panic" gripped Downing Street on Friday.
The Telegraph bizarrely compared the tragic events to an episode of Inspector Morse. "Rarely in a Morse mystery are the guilty people natural criminals or low-lifers: they are people with a standing in the decent society whose order has been so violated . They have something to hide," the paper said in its leader column.
First on the list is Alastair Campbell, second the BBC. In a separate comment, novelist Robert Harris asks "who will rid of us of the over-mighty Campbell?" saying the No 10 advisor "exercises an extraordinary psychological dominance over the prime minister." However Mr Harris says the existence of Mr Campbell's political diaries, said to run to over 1 million words, prevents Mr Blair from sacking his trusted media aide.
If you have not seen "Hotel Rwanda," this might be a good time to check it out: http://www.mgm.com/ua/hotelrwanda/intro.html
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Scathing: James Murdoch said the scale of the BBC's activities is 'chilling'
BBC's expansion drive is 'chilling' says James Murdoch
By PAUL REVOIR
Last updated at 5:18 PM on 29th August 2009 James Murdoch last night launched a vicious attack on the BBC, claiming the scale of its activities is 'chilling'.He branded the licence fee a 'regressive tax' that penalised the poor and said the corporation's dominance of the market was 'Orwellian' and stifled broadcasting.Mr Murdoch, the heir apparent to his father Rupert's global media empire, was scathing about the way the BBC has encroached into commercial areas.Giving the keynote MacTaggart speech at the Edinburgh TV festival, he singled out the way Radio 2 had chased younger listeners to the detriment of the rest of the market and hit out at the 'nationalisation' of the Lonely Planet travel guides bought by the BBC.He also criticised the broadcaster's governing body, the BBC Trust, branding its record 'abysmal' for allowing the corporation to grow unchecked.Mr Murdoch, 36, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation in Europe and Asia, said a radical overhaul was needed to secure the independence of journalism rather than let news provision become dominated by the BBC.He said: 'The land grab is spearheaded by the BBC. The scale and scope of its current and future ambitions is chilling.'Rather than concentrating on areas where the market is not delivering, the BBC seeks to compete head on for audiences with commercial providers to try and shore up support - or more accurately dampen opposition - to a compulsory licence fee.'He criticised Radio 2 for ignoring its remit and pursuing younger listeners who were already 'well served' by commercial stations. Mr Murdoch said: 'Performers like Jonathan Ross were recruited on salaries no commercial competitor could afford and audiences for Radio 2 have grown steadily as a result. 'He described the BBC's decision to buy Lonely Planet as 'a particularly egregious example of the expansion of the state'.His speech last night to a hall packed with the UK's top broadcasting executives comes 20 years after his father's famous MacTaggart address. Rupert Murdoch's predictions have been described as an 'uncannily accurate manifesto' for the digital era.
He predicted that TV sets of the future would be 'linked by fibre optic cable to a global cornucopia of programming and nearly infinite libraries of data, education and entertainment. All with full interactivity .'In response to James Murdoch's speech, the chairman of the BBC Trust Sir Michael Lyons said that British broadcasting is admired around the world. But, he admitted, 'there are current problems and they need to be addressed'.'Our starting point is what is in the interests of the public, and the BBC agrees with James Murdoch's analysis that we need to trust them,' he said. 'And the public tell us that they, in turn, trust the BBC and value the wide range of services we provide. 'He added: 'As to the BBC Trust, let me underline that it is here to strengthen the BBC for the benefit of licence fee payers, not to emasculate it on behalf of commercial interests.'
BBC executive Jana Bennett was also under fire from the Conservative Party after saying it would be wrong for the BBC to publish the salaries of its top talent. Enlarge
The BBC needs taming and a radical overhaul of regulation is crucial to securing the future of UK broadcasting, says James Murdoch, the chief executive and chairman of News Corporation.
Amanda Andrews Published: 8:34PM BST 28 Aug 2009
In his MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival yesterday, Mr Murdoch went short of calling for the abolition of the BBC licence fee, although he asked for the corporation's remit and governance to be drastically changed and brought back to basics. "The land grab is spear-headed by the BBC. The scale and scope of its current activities and future ambitions is chilling," he said. He also highlighted the BBC Trust's "abysmal record", citing the example of the "overt recklessness" of the trust's failure to question why BBC Worldwide was allowed to acquire a majority stake in the Lonely Planet travel guides. In its defence, the chairman of the BBC Trust, Sir Michael Lyons, last night highlighted its remit "to strengthen the BBC for the benefit of licence fee payers, not to emasculate it on behalf of its commercial interests". Mr Murdoch added that a "radical reorientation" of regulation is necessary to secure "dynamism and innovation" in the UK broadcasting sector. Regulators, he said, are intervening too much, which is leading to a fall in innovation and creativity. The answer, he said, is for regulators to intervene only on evidence of "actual and serious harm" and in the interest of consumers, "not merely because a regulator armed with a set of prejudices and a spreadsheet believes that a bit of tinkering here and there could make the world a better place". He added that too much regulation of broadcasters is responsible for Google's ability to gain a higher percentage of advertising spend in the UK than anywhere else in the world. Mr Murdoch believes communication regulator Ofcom's "repeated assertion of its bias against intervention" is becoming "impossible to believe". He argued that the UK broadcasting sector is wrongly governed by "creationism" – the belief in a process managed by a single omniscient authority – and it needs to be more "evolutionary". Creationism serves to create "unaccountable institutions", mentioning the BBC Trust, Channel 4 and Ofcom. Topical, he says, being the 150th anniversary of Darwin's On The Origin of Species. "The creationist approach is similar to the industrial planning which went out of fashion in other sectors in the 1970s," he said, adding that this approach only serves to penalise the poor with "regressive taxes and policies – like the licence fee and digital switchover". There was some clear self-interest in Mr Murdoch's speech. The comments follow repeated criticism of UK broadcasting regulation by BSkyB, the satellite broadcaster that Mr Murdoch chairs. Proposals from Ofcom that BSkyB could be forced to share premium content with rivals were unsurprisingly disputed by BSkyB. The broadcaster slammed UK regulators for effectively discouraging innovation by taking such an approach. "You don't need to scratch the surface to see that opportunities for media businesses are limited, investment and innovation are constrained and creativity is reduced," he said, adding: "A radical reorientation of the regulatory approach is necessary if dynamism and innovation is going to be central to the UK media industry." Mr Murdoch said the decline in advertising is making the situation for UK broadcasters difficult enough, with the heavily-controlled UK industry as dreary as "the Addams family" and over-regulated UK media groups worse off than those in other countries in which News International operates. "Thanks to Darwin we understand that the evolution of a successful species is an unmanaged process," he added, suggesting that continuing with the creationist approach will damage UK broadcasters.
SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2011
Read the Story below UK PRIME MINISTER David Cameron; MURDER; MURDOCH
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Jonathan Rees, who has links to David Cameron.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron hired Andy Coulson as his media adviser.
Cameron knew that, as editor of Rupert Murdoch's News of the World, Coulson employed Jonathan Rees. (Jonathan Rees.)
Rees stood trial for the murder of Daniel Morgan.
Police believe Morgan was murdered because he discovered his business partner Jonathan Rees was using their company to launder money from drug trafficking. , Daniel Morgan
Morgan
In the UK, in 1987, Daniel Morgan was murdered "because he was about to expose a drugs conspiracy linked to police corruption."
One of the people who has been accused of murdering Morgan is Jonathan Rees.
Rees , a private investigator, has links to powerful police officers and to Rupert Murdoch's News of the World.
A Scotland Yard officer has said that police corruption during the initial investigation in 1987 was a key reason that no one had ever been convicted of Morgan's murder.
The prosecution case 'was significantly weakened' when a judge excluded the evidence of a Mr Gary Eaton.
Sally Ann Wood, the ex-girlfriend of one of the suspects, James Cook, allegedly claimed to have seen 30 murders, some involving some of the suspects.
Morgan was murdered in the car park of a pub in South-East London. An axe was left embedded in his face.
Police believe Morgan was murdered because he discovered his business partner Jonathan Rees was using their company to launder money from drug trafficking.
Rees was said to have obtained information from corrupt police officers about operations.
Daniel Morgan's brother Alistair claims that Daniel was murdered because he was about to expose police corruption.
An agency run by Rees conducted ‘confidential inquiries’ on behalf of the News of the World and newspapers in the Mirror Group in the late 1990s.
London (CNN) -- British Prime Minister David Cameron was quizzed Thursday about his links to former top Murdoch executive Rebekah Brooks and his decision to hire former News of the World editor Andy Coulson. Cameron himself set up the inquiry into media ethics in response to phone hacking at the News of the World, the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid that shut down over illegal eavesdropping. He has faced questions about his judgment as the scandal has unfolded, amid suggestions that his government was too closely connected to Murdoch's media empire. Questioned about his ties to Brooks, who was also previously editor of the Sun and the News of the World, Cameron said their friendship had developed over several years, particularly after she married his friend and neighbor, Charlie Brooks. Former PM Gordon Brown testifies Protester disrupts Blair testimony Inside the UK phone hacking scandal David Cameron hacking scandal link? A text sent by Rebekah Brooks to Cameron on the eve of a major speech by him to the Conservative party annual conference appeared to show a close relationship. "I am so rooting for you tomorrow, not just as a personal friend but because professionally we are in this together," she wrote. Cameron said he understood "we are in this together" to refer to the Sun's support for the Conservative party. The Sun -- the UK's most popular newspaper, with a daily circulation of 7 million -- switched allegiance from Labour to the Conservatives in 2009, a week before Brooks sent the text. Cameron also had meetings with James Murdoch, the son of Rupert Murdoch and a senior News Corp. executive. His government's handling of News Corp.'s bid to take full control of British satellite broadcaster BSkyB has come under scrutiny in recent onths, following the revelation of apparent back-channel communications between the company and an aide to Jeremy Hunt, the Cabinet minister who oversees British broadcasting. News Corp. eventually dropped the bid amid the furor over the phone hacking scandal. Questioned about the appropriateness of appointing Hunt -- who had previously openly supported the BSkyB bid -- to adjudicate it, Cameron said it had seemed the best solution at the time to a political problem. The move had been approved by lawyers and civil servants, he said, and Hunt had acted properly at every point in the process. The prime minister earlier said relations between politicians and the media were "too close and unhealthy" but rejected the idea that he had made promises about government policies, for example on media regulation, in return for newspapers' support. "There was no overt deal for support, there was no covert deal, there were no nods or winks," he said. He acknowledged trying to win over different media organizations to back his party, but insisted he was "not trading policies for that support. And when you look at the details of this, it is complete nonsense." He rejected as a cooked-up "conspiracy theory" a suggestion by his predecessor as prime minister, Gordon Brown, that a deal had been struck between the Conservatives and News International, a British arm of News Corp. Cameron said the inquiry was doing the job it was meant to in trying to "get to the bottom of the media-political relationship and put it on a firmer footing." Asked how the relationship could work better, Cameron said more distance, formality and respect were called for on both sides. A new regulatory system is needed for the press because the current self-regulation process "is not working," he said. The rules should work to protect ordinary people, some of whom have been terribly mistreated by the press, rather than being drawn up to make the media or politicians happy, he added. He said the pain of the Dowler family had been "trebled" by the hacking of voice mail messages of their missing teenage daughter, Milly, who turned out to have been murdered. The News of the World was shuttered amid public anger about the scandal. Earlier in the day, Cameron defended his decision to appoint former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as director of communications for the Conservative Party and then in Downing Street, saying he was the best person for the job. Coulson resigned from the Downing Street role last year when police began a new phone hacking investigation, saying it had become a distraction. He quit the News of the World after two employees were jailed over phone hacking in 2007 but denies knowing of wrongdoing while he was in charge. Coulson was this month arrested and charged with perjury over court testimony about phone hacking, according to Britain's Press Association news agency. Asked about the hiring process, Cameron said Coulson had given him and others assurances that he knew nothing of the phone hacking while he was editor. Cameron said he knew that Coulson's appointment would be "controversial" but that the party felt his experience as a tabloid editor meant he was tough enough for the high-pressure role. He thought Coulson had done "the honorable thing" in resigning when the wrongdoing by his staff was uncovered, Cameron told the inquiry, and was willing to give him a second chance. Asked if he regretted the appointment, Cameron acknowledged it had come back to haunt both him and Coulson. But, he said, "You don't make decisions with 20/20 hindsight. "I made the decision I made," he said. "I don't try to run away from it, I just try to explain why I made it." While in the role, Coulson performed well and behaved entirely properly, he added. Cameron testified all day at the Leveson Inquiry, a wide-ranging investigation into media ethics and behavior currently examining the relationship between the media and politicians. In April, Cameron told politicians in the House of Commons: "I think we all, on both sides of this house, did a bit too much cozying up to Mr. Murdoch." The prime minister's testimony comes a day after Brooks appeared in court in connection with a separate police investigation into hacking. She, her husband and four other people are charged with trying to obstruct the investigation. Three people were arrested Thursday morning on suspicion of making inappropriate payments to police and public officials, the Metropolitan Police said. The probe into alleged bribery was set up alongside the police investigation into phone hacking. Brown and another former prime minister, John Major, testified at Leveson Inquiry this week. Brown lashed out Monday at Murdoch, his son and his British newspapers, raising the stakes in a highly charged and public battle between the two men. The conflict could affect whether Murdoch keeps control of the British part of his media empire. The former British leader flatly denied the most sensational claim that Murdoch made when he testified at the media ethics inquiry this year: that Brown had "declared war" on Murdoch's company when The Sun endorsed the Conservative party rather than Brown's Labour party in 2009. "This conversation never took place. I am shocked and surprised" that Murdoch said it had when he was grilled at the inquiry in April, Brown said Monday. "There was no such conversation." Brown repeatedly insisted that there was "no evidence" of the phone call, basing his assertion on phone records from his office when he was prime minister. The media tycoon said in April that Brown had phoned him and threatened him when the Sun newspaper pulled its support for Labour and switched to the Conservatives. "He said, 'Well, your company has made -- declared war on my government, and we have no alternative but to declare war on your vcompany.' And I said, 'I'm sorry about that Gordon, thank you for calling.' End of subject," the News Corp. chairman testified. After Brown essentially accused Murdoch of lying under oath, News Corp. said its chairman stood by his testimony. If British media regulators feel Murdoch is not a "fit and proper person" to hold a British broadcasting license, he could theoretically be stripped of control of BSkyB, a lucrative part of his worldwide operations. Murdoch's British operations are under scrutiny after revelations of widespread phone hacking by people working for his newspapers. Police and lawmakers are conducting separate inquiries into the scandal, separately from the Leveson Inquiry. At her eight-minute hearing Wednesday, Brooks, the former top executive of Murdoch's British newspaper group, spoke only to confirm her address and was ordered to appear in Southwark Crown Court on June 22. She is charged with obstructing a police investigation into phone hacking and bribery. Her husband, Charlie, and four current or former News International employees also face charges and appeared with her, becoming the first defendants to appear in court in connection with the wide-ranging police investigation sparked by allegations of illegal eavesdropping. The defendants, who include Brooks' former personal assistant, driver and bodyguard, were ordered not to communicate with each other directly, except for Brooks and her husband. Cheryl Carter, the personal assistant, was also instructed to surrender her passport. The six were charged last month with perverting the course of justice. They are accused of plotting to remove seven boxes of documents from News International offices and hide computers and documents from police. When she was charged in May, Brooks blasted British prosecutors, calling the case "an expensive sideshow." She said she is "baffled" and angered by the decision to charge "those closest to me." "One day, the details of this case will emerge, and people will see today as nothing more than an expensive sideshow -- a waste of public money as a result of an unjust and weak decision," she told reporters outside her lawyer's office. Charlie Brooks said that his wife is the victim of a "witch hunt" and that the charges against him and others are "an attempt to use me and others as scapegoats, the effect of which is to ratchet up the pressure on my wife." Cameron established the Leveson Inquiry amid British public anger at the News of the World about the hacking of Milly Dowler's voice messages. Her case came on top of apologies from the tabloid for the hacking of the phones of celebrities and politicians, and proved to be the lastnstraw for the paper, which was shut down in July. The inquiry is intended to explore media ethics in Britain more widely, alongside police investigations into phone hacking, e-mail hacking and police bribery by people working for Murdoch's British newspapers.
Lord Mandelson's attack shines spotlight on Tory leader's links with media mogul
David Cameron has been accused of making a "contract" with Britain's biggest media company to trade political support before an election for government favours afterwards if the Tories win. The accusation was levelled yesterday by the Business Secretary Peter Mandelson, who is increasingly the public face of Gordon Brown's government. Ministers are angry at the campaign that The Sun has run against the Prime Minister all this week over the spelling mistakes in na letter Mr Brown sent to the mother of a young soldier killed in Afghanistan. They suspect that the Conservative Party has been tailoring its policies on media regulation and the BBC to suit the commercial interests of News International, which owns The Sun, and that the paper's aggressive support for the Tories is a pay-off that could spread to other parts of the mass media.# Examples of the apparent tie-in between what News International's boss, James Murdoch, wants, and what David Cameron is ready to promise include the recent decision by the Conservatives to abandon the idea of "top slicing" the BBC licence fee. It had been proposed that part of the money paid to the BBC would be siphoned off to help regional television companies meet the threat from the internet. But this would also have helped them compete more effectively against Sky News, which is part of the Murdoch media empire. When the policy was abandoned in September, Jeremy Hunt, the shadow# Culture Secretary, said that it was because enacting it might make the commercial television companies "focus not on attracting viewers but on attracting subsidies". There was no gain for the BBC in the climbdown, because David Cameron had already said that the Tories will freeze the licence fee. What it will mean is that the BBC's income will be capped, without the regional television companies seeing any government help, which will strengthen the market position of Britain's only satellite television company, Sky. "This was done for News International," a Tory insider said yesterday. "Murdoch wants Sky to go head to head with the BBC. He doesn't want the independent companies strengthened." In April 2008, James Murdoch complained bitterly about the media regulator Ofcom in his first major speech after taking over as chief executive of News Corporation in Europe and Asia. The following year, David Cameron announced that a Conservative government would cut Ofcom down to size. Last summer James Murdoch attacked the "abysmal record" of the BBC Trust – the body created by Labour to over see the BBC – in a lecture he gave at the Edinburgh Festival, singling out its "total failure" to stop the BBC buying the Lonely Planet travel guides, a takeover that Murdoch denounced as an "egregious" invasion of private enterprise by the state. Less than two months later, Jeremy Hunt promised that the Tories would abolish the Trust. In the same lecture, Murdoch complained that BBC performers like Jonathan Ross are being paid salaries that "no commercial competitor can afford". He had barely uttered the words before Ed Vaizey, a shadow media minister, promised that a Tory government would compel the BBC to publish the salaries of its top performers. Lord Mandelson alleged yesterday that the Conservatives and News International had "effectively formed a contract, over the head, incidentally, of the newspaper's editor and their readers, in which they are sort of bound to one another". Speaking to the BBC's Today programme, he added: "What The Sun can do for the Conservatives during the election is one part of the contract and, presumably, what the Conservatives can do for News International if they are elected is the other side of the bargain. But there is a wider question. When The Sun creates the news in this way, this is then followed up by Sky News, which then puts pressure on the BBC to follow suit." This was "absolutely, categorically" denied yesterday by The Sun's political editor, Tom Newton Dunn, who accused Lord Mandelson of talking "preposterous nonsense". The Sun, which supported Labour through three general elections under Tony Blair's leadership, announced that it was jumping ship on the day that Gordon Brown delivered his annual speech to the Labour Party conference in September. Its onslaught on Gordon Brown for the mistakes made in a handwritten letter to Jacqui Janes is the most aggressive attack that the newspaper has directed at any Labour Party leader since Neil Kinnock stood down after losing the 1992 general election, a defeat for which The Sun claimed victory with the slogan "It was The Sun wot won it". But there were signs yesterday that the attack may have rebounded on The Sun. Mr Brown, who is blind in one eye, has admitted that his handwriting is bad and has apologised to Mrs Janes, whose 20-year-old son, Jamie, was killed by a makeshift bomb in Afghanistan last month. A poll yesterday for the website PoliticsHome, whose main shareholder# is the Conservative Party deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft, found that 65 per cent of those polled thought that The Sun's attack was "inappropriate" compared with 23 per cent who thought it was "legitimate". The closeness of the new Tory-Sun axis is shown up by the revelation, from an inside source, that David Cameron personally consulted the editor of The Sun, Dominic Mohan, in three separate conversations before he abandoned his "cast-iron" promise to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, now that all 27 members states of the EU have ratified it. Mr Cameron was understandably wary of how The Sun might react to the abandonment of that promise. The paper has campaigned for years against what it sees as the growth of an EU superstate. It was in an open letter to readers of The Sun that Cameron first made his guarantee, two years ago. His announcement that a referendum is off the agenda was subjected to a scathing attack in the Daily Mail, but in The Sun it was givenkid-glove treatment under the headline "Cameron's crusade for UK rights". The person behind this aggressively pro-Tory policy is James Murdoch, not his father, Rupert, who created The Sun virtually from scratch in the 1970s. Rupert Murdoch claimed in an interview with Sky News Australia that he "regretted" his son's decision to turn against Gordon Brown, "who is a friend of mine", but defended it on the grounds that Brown has been a "disappointment". Yesterday, The Times, another Murdoch newspaper, announced that its veteran political editor, Phil Webster, is leaving the Commons, where he has been based for decades. Mr Webster is very well thought of by New Labour. His replacement, Roland Watson, was a friend of David Cameron's at Eton but has no political ties with the Tories. Tom Newton Dunn, newly appointed as The Sun's political editor, is another Old Etonian. His father, Bill, used to be a Tory MEP, but defected to the Liberal Democrats in 2000.
David Cameron's five secret meetings with Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday night disclosed that he had met the Prime Minister on at least five more occasions than David Cameron has previously admitted.