Rebekah Brooks and her husband, the horse-trainer Charlie Brooks, were arrested this morning as part of the biggest wave of arrests yet to come out of Operation Weeting, the police investigation into phone hacking in the U.K. press, and specifically into Rupert Murdoch’s former flagship tabloid, News of the World, which closed last summer amid accusations that the paper’s journos had hacked into the cellphone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler. Brooks is a former editor of that newspaper, as well as of The Sun, which has been battered of late by a parallel investigation into illegal payments to public officials.
Significantly, the arrests are not in relation to the illegal hacking of voicemails or payments to public officials, but to obstructing justice. On that front, there have been some potentially damaging allegations of late. Earlier this year, it was revealed that an IT worker deleted a controversial email from the account of James Murdoch, who stepped down as the head of News International this month, just 11 days before Operation Weeting began. And court documents released last month allege a so-called “email deletion policy” at News International, discussed by at least one unnamed senior executive, in which “hundreds of thousands of emails, on nine separate occasions, were destroyed,” according to the documents.
Conspiracy to pervert the course of justice carries more serious legal implications than phone hacking. Tom Watson, the M.P. leading the campaign against Murdoch in Parliament, responded to news of the email deletion policy last month by tweeting, “the game is up @rupertmurdoch.”
At this point I am having a hard time imagining that this does not jump the pond and come to roost at the doorstep of Fox News.
Anybody disagree?
Anyone with 1/2 a brain knows that both Rupert and James Murdoch are 100% aware and culpable for the crimes and hacking on both sides of the Atlantic.
ReplyDeleteThey only thing remaining is to be able to prove it in a court of law
I'm sure they are sweating patriot bullets there in big fat cat elite New York.
ReplyDeleteOT- I like that you have found a way to put the story and pictures of Sarah's hoax up every day since "Game Change". Hopefully you are seeing renewed traffic with this interest in exposing Sarah (and Todd) and having this story front and center for these visitors is a smart move on your part. Seeing a link to Shailey improves the chance that someone in the media will latch on (and Sarah, while you're busy screaming at the main stream media and playing Don Quixote of the right, most likely it will be your beloved FOX that wil do this).
ReplyDeleteAnd trolls, these people don't read the comment sections so spew all you want, the wheels will stay in motion. This movie continues to reach more and more people as it plays over and over all month on HBO and then goes to DVD where people like me will watch it on Netflix instantview. This movie has only just begun its run as it spreads through America as a cautionary tale in this election year. The timing was planned well.
Didn't Rupert send his son back to the states to work after he "quit " his job in the UK.
ReplyDeleteI think the only way to take Rupert down is to prove he was knowingly part of a criminal enterprise before he became a citizen of the U.S. then he could possibly be deported back to Australia. I'd like to see that.
I'll bet Newscorp has a cavernous dungeon in NY where all they do is hack phones, destroy emails and shred incriminating papers.
I'm hoping once Rush is flushed down the crapper that Fox news will be next.Fair and balanced my ass.
ReplyDeleteIs nobody else having a WTF moment with President Obama hosting David Cameron at this particular time ?
ReplyDeleteVisits like these are planned months in advance. I saw it on a WH schedule a month or so ago.
DeleteWell, I guess Rebekha won't be running to the PM's residence for a save. Or maybe you are right. They waited until Cameron was out of the country to give him some distance before they attack him back at home.
Do you know about the disgusting show Fox is airing Sunday night about the President? They say it's a documentary ( yeah right) that shows him as a socialist radical and so on. You can tell these people live in a very tiny bubble if they think the President is a radical. It's incredibly ridiculous and frankly a lie. How can a supposed " news organization" show incorrect propaganda like this. I hope Murdoch gets convicted and it's the end of Fox. Hearing Republican viewpoints is fine and good for our country. But all this lying and dangerous rhetoric isn't.
ReplyDeleteI despise Fox.
Just like the 'swiftboating documentary ' they ran against Kerry...
DeleteYes, but it certainly serves the purposes of changing the subject away from the News of The World scandal in England, doesn't it? Or was that the purpose from the get-go?
DeleteI, too, despise lies and hat – and it seems that those are the only things that the righties (and Fox) have in their tool kit.
I do believe that Murdoch's time in the sun may just about be over. Just like Nixon, it wasn't the break in, but the coverup that got him. If it can be shown that Murdoch green lighted the destruction of evidence, he's done for.
ReplyDeleteHow eager will Mrs. Brooks be to spend several years in prison, away from her husband, potentially away from her newborn child, who would also be away from Dad? How eager will the IT guys/gals be at the prospect of going away to prison for decades merely so the Murdochs and Brooks can run with the polo set?
I find it more than likely that Murdoch will die a disgraced and humiliated figure.
Don't hold your breath on that one, Gryphen. There is too much at stake, and the powers-that-be have already greased all the hands they needed.
ReplyDeleteIf that were really true then Murdoch would not have ever been touched by this. He has been and it ain't over yet. Murdoch has been served up GINORMOUS shit sandwiches in three countries, and each of the three countries more turds continue to be added.
DeleteMurdoch is fixin' to chow down on those sandwiches, whether he likes it or not. Notice, he has NOBODY defending him in this country outside of maybe Roger Ailes. If Murdoch's underlings are faced with doing hard jail time to save Murdoch's ass or walking by testifying against him, guaranteed, someone's going to give up Murdoch to save their own ass.
I just don't see how Murdoch won't be sucked down the drain in this scandal. He damn well gave the order to destroy evidence and someone is going to say so.
This is one of the things I've been waiting for in regards to the Murdock scandal. And it will involve international law as many of the emails that were deleted I'm sure involve issues that have crossed country borders.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for the dominoes to really start cascading!
Gryphen, I'd not be surprised if this was also the modus operandi of Murdoch's USA empire.
ReplyDeleteThough I'd be surprised if anything happened to Murdoch in the USA.
I wonder if any did happen to his USA empire, if it would lead to more delusional, no basis in fact, conspiracy theories on the part of the tea right.
Gawd knows, those people cannot think for themselves anyway. They'd easily buy into whatever the SuperPacs and the corporate pull of the US Chamber of Commerce, ALEC, and the hands pulling the strings of the tea party from above tell them to do or believe.
Though, like with older conservative white males into the tea taliban, the same people who listen to Fox and Rush are also a dying breed. I wouldn't mind if gawd called more of them home sooner than later.
It might jump the pond but it won't come to roost. Nothing happens to rich white crooks in this country, Gryphen.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Jon Stewart sums up how many of us feel:
ReplyDeleteFox News: Shut the F*ck Up!
James has been sent to the uS so he is out of the jurisdiction. The authorities will have to charge the old men, and why should anyone pity hm.seeing what he's done to others.
ReplyDeleteWhud aboud Alassssssska? Whud's our email deletion policy lately? "Zup to the repub in charge I guess...Can I get a transparency here? Oh, BTW, what does "pub policy" mean? Seems kinda vaccuous to me...
ReplyDelete's all vain glory, eh?
I admire the Brits for having a standard they expect the moguls to adhere to and the Brits willingness to apply that standard come what may. I wonder if their protein is as laced with female hormones as the diet in the US. Probably not.
ReplyDelete