Murdoch's News of the World hacks dead teenager's phone

[Dot Com]

Murdoch's appearance before Parliament on Tuesday should be very interesting.

I can't wait

 

[Chris]

Murdoch's appearance before Parliament on Tuesday should be very interesting.

I can't wait

Maybe they will arrest him following the hearing.

 

[California Girl]

They distort the truth, they lie, the cover up, they manipulate facts. If a conservative commentator came on and said "As a conservative, I believe this is wrong for the country and here's why" and presented FACTS, I'd have no problem with that. I'd even watch it - it would be interesting. But everyone seems to present their opinion as a fact - which is a problem for me.

They can't talk about how Obama has increased the national deficit more in 2 years than Bush did in his entire term, because he hasn't. The bailout bill, the $1 trillion bailout bill, was under Bush. They're also not presenting that taxes are, today, the lowest they've ever been... mostly due to Bush. Yet Fox always talks about how high taxes are under Obama... Obama hasn't raised taxes at all! In fact he cut them! Obama wants to raise taxes, but only on the richest people... not every single rich person owns a small business, so they can't keep talking about how tax increases will hurt jobs. Also, they talk small businesses being effected... S-Corps don't pay taxes, only shareholders do. And they pay taxes on net profit, not gross income. And if a businessman was making $1 million in net profit, which has be less than 5% of all businesses in the country, and he earned 100% of the income, a tax increase of 3% won't hinder his decision to create jobs... but if he creates jobs, he'll be losing even more profit because he has to pay someone! Creating jobs = less profit and until we have some clear direction from Washington, people like me won't be creating any full time jobs anytime soon.

So, in short, they do exactly what the rest of the media do. Why is it 'reprehensible' from them and not from, say, MSNBC?

Fox has not even been accused of wrong doing in the News International scandal - they aren't part of News International.

Actually, I watch the news a great deal and I really cannot count a single instance in which ABC, NBC or CBS has manipulated or out right made up a fake news story in order to further a political agenda. If you can please provide me documentation of when this occurred, I'd love to look at it.

I don't do spoon feeding.... mainly because when I do provide someone with decent information, they either don't know the source so don't accept it, or justify the coverage as being something that it clearly was not.

I form my opinion of the media from my own monitoring (which I do a lot for work anyway). Anyone is capable of doing likewise but it does require the ability to see past your own partisanship and view both sides with more than a touch of skepticism.

However, you only need to look at the way people accept one version of the truth blindly - on this very forum.... actually, in this very thread.... to understand how the media run to their own agenda.... with truth and facts coming quite far down their list of priorities.

 

[Dot Com]

Murdoch's appearance before Parliament on Tuesday should be very interesting.

I can't wait

Maybe they will arrest him following the hearing.

I like your moxie

 

[Dot Com]

I wonder if CG realizes that she's not "helping" the Tory (Colin or Cameron, take your pick ;-) w/ her made-up expertise?

 

[Polk]

I'm just glad Fox was able to get the real truth out there, fair and balanced you know, that the News of the World is the victim in this story.

 

[Chris]

I'm just glad Fox was able to get the real truth out there, fair and balanced you know, that the News of the World is the victim in this story.

Don't you know?

The rich and powerful are always the victims.

 

[California Girl]

I'm just glad Fox was able to get the real truth out there, fair and balanced you know, that the News of the World is the victim in this story.

I've just read the comments on some of the related stories on Fox News website. Interesting how some people can be so totally and completely wrong about what is actually happening.

For example:

nonhater2010 6 minutes ago in reply to urdisturbed
Eww. What kind of a person would do that kind of thing? And then they put in different messages and deleted others so the parents would think the poor girl was still alive.

Where the hell did this 'nonhater' get that idea from? Cuz it hasn't been reported in the UK media. See, that's the problem with this kind of thing.... people make shit up. Like the Guardian making shit up about The Sun hacking former PM Brown's phone. And people still believe that, even though the Guardian withdrew the accusation and apologized for it.

 

[Zona]

At the risk of repeating myself.... there is not one quote, that I can find, from the ex cop that names the NotW.... and, even if there is, NotW is not Fox News.

There is no fucking evidence, just a bunch of (left wing) media linking the cop to News Int. Now, I might also throw into the mix that that bastion of truth, the Guardian, has already been forced to apologize for lying about The Sun.

I thought the left were all for honest journalism. Apparently, that standard only applies to other media, not to theirs.

So what is the future of News of the World? How they doin? and why...

The NotW got shut down because their advertisers (rightly) cut and ran. The reason they cut and ran was because the accusations are so heinous that their own reputations would be damaged by being linked to the NotW. 10 journalists have been arrested, and are currently on bail. No one has been charged.... yet.

I'm not defending NotW (which was a shit tabloid anyways), nor am I defending News Inc, News Corp, or Murdoch.... I'm just pointing out that, currently, all we have are accusations and speculation. And one major speculation - which was presented as fact - has already been proved false.

This is not rocket science. It's rational thought.

Any word on the red head x cfo for Murdock? How is she doing right now and why?

 

[California Girl]

I wonder if CG realizes that she's not "helping" the Tory (Colin or Cameron, take your pick ;-) w/ her made-up expertise?

Now I'm bored with the left's lies about me so from now on, you lie, you get negged.

Forewarned is forearmed.

 

[California Girl]

So what is the future of News of the World? How they doin? and why...

The NotW got shut down because their advertisers (rightly) cut and ran. The reason they cut and ran was because the accusations are so heinous that their own reputations would be damaged by being linked to the NotW. 10 journalists have been arrested, and are currently on bail. No one has been charged.... yet.

I'm not defending NotW (which was a shit tabloid anyways), nor am I defending News Inc, News Corp, or Murdoch.... I'm just pointing out that, currently, all we have are accusations and speculation. And one major speculation - which was presented as fact - has already been proved false.

This is not rocket science. It's rational thought.

Any word on the red head x cfo for Murdock? How is she doing right now and why?

Why are you asking me? Fucking idiot.

 

[Zona]

Murdoch's appearance before Parliament on Tuesday should be very interesting.

Can someone ask Caligirl why murdock apologized and what did he aplogize for?

lol

 

[California Girl]

Just for the sheer craic of it, would anyone from the left care to summarize the facts surrounding News International, the Met, and British Politicians? You need not provide links, just say - in your own words - what is happening, to who, and why.

Anyone game?

 

[Zona]

The NotW got shut down because their advertisers (rightly) cut and ran. The reason they cut and ran was because the accusations are so heinous that their own reputations would be damaged by being linked to the NotW. 10 journalists have been arrested, and are currently on bail. No one has been charged.... yet.

I'm not defending NotW (which was a shit tabloid anyways), nor am I defending News Inc, News Corp, or Murdoch.... I'm just pointing out that, currently, all we have are accusations and speculation. And one major speculation - which was presented as fact - has already been proved false.

This is not rocket science. It's rational thought.

Any word on the red head x cfo for Murdock? How is she doing right now and why?

Why are you asking me? Fucking idiot.

Why are you so angry?
Ex-Murdoch aide Rebekah Brooks arrested in London - Yahoo! News

 

[Zona]

Damn some people will defend defend defend even though they look like fucking morons doing it.

Newspapers getting shut down. Owners apologizing for those acts. CFO's actually getting arrested, yet they still defend defend defend....NO MATTER WHAT.

You look like a fucking idiot here.

Bitch.

Oh and god bless.

 

[Polk]

I'm just glad Fox was able to get the real truth out there, fair and balanced you know, that the News of the World is the victim in this story.

I've just read the comments on some of the related stories on Fox News website. Interesting how some people can be so totally and completely wrong about what is actually happening.

For example:

nonhater2010 6 minutes ago in reply to urdisturbed
Eww. What kind of a person would do that kind of thing? And then they put in different messages and deleted others so the parents would think the poor girl was still alive.

Where the hell did this 'nonhater' get that idea from? Cuz it hasn't been reported in the UK media. See, that's the problem with this kind of thing.... people make shit up. Like the Guardian making shit up about The Sun hacking former PM Brown's phone. And people still believe that, even though the Guardian withdrew the accusation and apologized for it.

That person was somewhat misinformed, but the general idea is true. NotW did delete messages, which resulted in the voicemail not being full, which causes the parents and police to think the girl may still be alive.

 

[California Girl]

Murdoch's appearance before Parliament on Tuesday should be very interesting.

Can someone ask Caligirl why murdock apologized and what did he aplogize for?

lol

He apologized for 'major wrongdoing' by the News of the World.

I am not privy to his innermost thoughts, but, I would suspect that he apologized because journalists in his employ committed illegal and morally reprehensible acts.

See, no one had to ask me for you.... you are perfectly at liberty to address me yourself.... unless you're scared of me. Which would be understandable.

 

[California Girl]

Damn some people will defend defend defend even though they look like fucking morons doing it.

Newspapers getting shut down. Owners apologizing for those acts. CFO's actually getting arrested, yet they still defend defend defend....NO MATTER WHAT.

You look like a fucking idiot here.

Bitch.

Oh and god bless.

Who is defending who?

I only look like an idiot to a fucking idiot. Happily, you don't just look like one, you really are one.

 

[Andaluz]

Just for the sheer craic of it, would anyone from the left care to summarize the facts surrounding News International, the Met, and British Politicians? You need not provide links, just say - in your own words - what is happening, to who, and why.

Anyone game?

This seems a fairly straightforward ask.

The News of the World operated a ruthless editorial strategy of using private investigators (such as Glenn Mulcaire) to hack the phones of celebrities, politicians and people in the news. They did this in order to make such quasi- and occasionally completely illegal activities at one step removed from News Intl. direct employees, so giving them plausible deniablity. When that strategy blew up in their face with the conviction of Mulcaire and his in-house handler, Clive Goodman in 2003, the practice was denied by the upper management and the buck was passed down the line to the people eventually convicted. The systematic and regular use of phone tapping and email hacking was not discontinued however, despite claims by the erstwhile editors, Rebekah Brooks (née Wade) and Andy Coulson that this had happened.

What actually happened was that the tapping and hacking activities were brought back in-house. Through the dogged investigative work of the Guardian to reveal such abuses of press standards it has been revealed that in addition to PR-hungry actors and personalities, and the more newsworthy politicians, the NotW was also hacking and tapping victims and families of newsworthy crimes. With politicians and celebrities the issue could be obfuscated by referring to the publicity-mad culture of modern politics and entertainment. When the victims of crime began to be targeted such semantics could not be employed and the rest of the media began to reflect public outrage, where before there had been something of a consiracy of silence.

Now the Met and the politicians. As long ago as 2003 Rebekah Wade admitted that the NotW had paid serving police officers for information or confirmation of stories. It now appears that such payments ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds. Why it has taken until now for anyone in authority at the Met to view this as corruption is anyone's guess.

The close ties that News Intl. and successive governments have had culminated in Cameron appointing Andy Coulson as his media chief, this despite Coulson's former role as editor if the NotW and his subsequent implication the the hacking and tapping activities of the paper over what must be now more than 20 years. The Met's C-in-C also appointed another News Intl./NotW ex, Neil Wallis as his PR guru. That accounts for Sir Paul Stephenson's resignation.

How's that?

 

[California Girl]

Just for the sheer craic of it, would anyone from the left care to summarize the facts surrounding News International, the Met, and British Politicians? You need not provide links, just say - in your own words - what is happening, to who, and why.

Anyone game?

This seems a fairly straightforward ask.

The News of the World operated a ruthless editorial strategy of using private investigators (such as Glenn Mulcaire) to hack the phones of celebrities, politicians and people in the news. They did this in order to make such quasi- and occasionally completely illegal activities at one step removed from News Intl. direct employees, so giving them plausible deniablity. When that strategy blew up in their face with the conviction of Mulcaire and his in-house handler, Clive Goodman in 2003, the practice was denied by the upper management and the buck was passed down the line to the people eventually convicted. The systematic and regular use of phone tapping and email hacking was not discontinued however, despite claims by the erstwhile editors, Rebekah Brooks (née Wade) and Andy Coulson that this had happened.

What actually happened was that the tapping and hacking activities were brought back in-house. Through the dogged investigative work of the Guardian to reveal such abuses of press standards it has been revealed that in addition to PR-hungry actors and personalities, and the more newsworthy politicians, the NotW was also hacking and tapping victims and families of newsworthy crimes. With politicians and celebrities the issue could be obfuscated by referring to the publicity-mad culture of modern politics and entertainment. When the victims of crime began to be targeted such semantics could not be employed and the rest of the media began to reflect public outrage, where before there had been something of a consiracy of silence.

Now the Met and the politicians. As long ago as 2003 Rebekah Wade admitted that the NotW had paid serving police officers for information or confirmation of stories. It now appears that such payments ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds. Why it has taken until now for anyone in authority at the Met to view this as corruption is anyone's guess.

The close ties that News Intl. and successive governments have had culminated in Cameron appointing Andy Coulson as his media chief, this despite Coulson's former role as editor if the NotW and his subsequent implication the the hacking and tapping activities of the paper over what must be now more than 20 years. The Met's C-in-C also appointed another News Intl./NotW ex, Neil Wallis as his PR guru. That accounts for Sir Paul Stephenson's resignation.

How's that?

That's a very fair summary. Except I specified 'facts'. When it comes to cold, hard, facts, we really don't have many. Certainly, since Wade has admitted the payments to police officers, that's pretty solid. Certainly, on the face of it, it appears that hacking was a common practice at NotW.

But when it comes to real facts, we don't know as much as we think we know. Therein lies my point. People are accepting media speculation as fact, and it is not.

I have repeatedly said that I am quite happy to see Brook, Murdoch and anyone else who was involved in this answer for their actions - and, if crimes were committed (as certainly appears to be the case), that they face whatever legal consequences for those actions.

So, why is it that - because I don't accept media bullshit without question and some critical thought - I'm apparently 'defending' Murdoch. I have not written one word in defense of him... what I do is question where other people accept whatever the media tell them to accept. Unlike some, I will not allow others to form my opinions for me.