Omg!

[maly]

England seems to be stuck in the plot of a Dan Brown novel!

Media moguls,phone hacking scandels involving everyone even the Royals and victims of crime.

National papers forced to close,top brass police falling on their own swords,

mysterious deaths of key witnesses and scandel at the head of the political system!

And its not yet over.

Who knows where all this is going?

Mal.

[Bettypooh]

England seems to be stuck in the plot of a Dan Brown novel!

Media moguls,phone hacking scandels involving everyone even the Royals and victims of crime.

National papers forced to close,top brass police falling on their own swords,

mysterious deaths of key witnesses and scandel at the head of the political system!

And its not yet over.

Who knows where all this is going?

Mal.

Seen on a bumper sticker:

"Where are we going, and what is this handbasket for?"

Bettypooh

[maly]

Seen on a bumper sticker:

"Where are we going, and what is this handbasket for?"

Bettypooh

Lol. Exactly!

Mal.

[diaperpt]

It's a handbasket big enough for the US as well...perhaps not identical stories, but I'm ready to step off into my own reality! This one isn't fun.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

Seen on a bumper sticker:

"Where are we going, and what is this handbasket for?"

Bettypooh

Nice!!

What is the big deal about politicians' phones being hacked?? They have done enough of that to our lives, it is about time the favor was returned. You know what they say about payback.

It is about time it was done here. They act like our lords and masters, Many of them are so crooked they could sleep comfortably on a mobious strip. When Pate Stark D CA openly says. and I heard the sound clip "We can do whatever we want". He should be in fear of his life and so should the one, who, when asked, at a "town hall" meeting, about the constitutionality of a law he supported said "That doesn't matter" (I heard the sound clip). We fought wars against just such tyrants

I applaud Mrudoch for once.

[AutieAB]

What is the big deal about politicians' phones being hacked?? They have done enough of that to our lives, it is about time the favor was returned. You know what they say about payback.

<snip>

I applaud Mrudoch for once.

Realise that this story has been rumbling on for at least 3 or 4 years. Nobody really cared when it was just politicians and movie stars. It was news but it wasn't the talk of the nation. In the past few weeks, it's also come out that:

• They hacked into the voicemail of a missing 13yo girl who was later found murdered. They deleted some messages from her voicemail which led police to think she may still be alive.

• They hacked into the voicemail of relatives of dead soldiers.

• They hacked into the voicemail of victims of the London tube bombings in 2005.

• They may have attempted to hack into the voicemail of victims of the 9/11 attacks.

And NOW, the public cares. So I don't applaud Murdoch (or his underlings).

Wiki Link

[babyfett]

The problem with hacking a politician is it could compromise national security.

[belinda_sue_fox]

The problem with hacking a politician is it could compromise national security.

Damn right!! They will be stealing the plans for the death star if we are not careful.

[LuvsGurl]

Damn right!! They will be stealing the plans for the death star if we are not careful.

Damn those Rebels. We must vote more emergency powers to the Chancellor immediately, he is our only hope!

[Bettypooh]

Damn those Rebels. We must vote more emergency powers to the Chancellor immediately, he is our only hope!

I thought Obi Wan Kenobie was our only hope Other than not taking an active enough interest in his companies, I see Murdoch as just another chump who knows how to make money and little else- and cares about things accordingly I think he did right with what he did, only that it didn't go far enough to place the heads of the guiltiest on the chopping block as he made his apologies To be sure Murdoch isn't penitent about the events, only that he's out a lot of money over them Much the same with the Politicos and Cops who all need some prison time in general population to think it over with We can't undo harm done, but we can learn (and teach) why it's wrong so it can be avoided in the future It ain't over yet so let's see what happens when it's done.

Bettypooh

[Diapered Jason]

Murdoch is only sorry he got caught. He is playing the role of the ever so manipulative, yet narcissistic Eric Cartman.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

Realise that this story has been rumbling on for at least 3 or 4 years. Nobody really cared when it was just politicians and movie stars. It was news but it wasn't the talk of the nation. In the past few weeks, it's also come out that:

• They hacked into the voicemail of a missing 13yo girl who was later found murdered. They deleted some messages from her voicemail which led police to think she may still be alive.
• They hacked into the voicemail of relatives of dead soldiers.
• They hacked into the voicemail of victims of the London tube bombings in 2005.
• Note Well:
• They may have attempted to hack into the voicemail of victims of the 9/11 attacks.

And NOW, the public cares. So I don't applaud Murdoch (or his underlings).

From what I just learned, That "may have" is a "did". The minute it no longer was done to the high-hnaded pols, then it deserves to be slapped down real hard, particularly with regard to the 13 year old girl. Prior to about 4:00 PM EDT US this just seemed to be about Parliament from what I was getting

Thank you fro the straight scoop

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

The problem with hacking a politician is it could compromise national security.

The more I see of politicians, the more I think they are the biggest threat to national security

[Bettypooh]

The more I see of politicians, the more I think they are the biggest threat to national security

The more I see politicians, the more I think they are the biggest threat to our nation- period (and the more nauseous I get too). If we could get rid of all those worthless beggars I think the rest of us could figure things out a whole lot better, and have a far better world

Bettypooh

[Zander]

I work with a large number of Americans and see a fair amount of US news coverage each week. Clearly the bulk of the US media has generally portrayed this (until recently) as "this happened, and its just another scandal" kind of news story - CNN, MSNBC, Bloomberg to name but a few. Obviously Murdoch owned/ran businesses e.g. (The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, Fox Broadcasting - i.e. Fox News etc.) have wanted to downplay the whole issue and have in some cases blatantly avoided and failed to report it with any real prominence.

The disconnect in US/UK understanding is pretty rare actually. Ever since it first started becoming a major story (after The Guardian - a UK newspaper - managed to finally start nailing down those responsible and getting real evidence), in the UK this has been taken very seriously and has been having wall-to-wall coverage on most news outlets. This has happened recently in the US, but only because they've now cottoned onto the fact its, actually, a major story.

There are 6 big reasons behind this:

1. This is not just about 'phone hacking' - its about a bunch of very dodgy and in many cases down-right illegal and totally unethical practices believed to be employed systematically by those involved in the gutter press. E.g.

   2. Illegally hacking into, listening to and in some cases deleting peoples voice mails for thousands of people.

   3. Illegally "Pinging" users mobiles cell-phones (this effectively turns the victims phone into a lojack, telling the attacker their location - in a city this is precise down to a few tens of square meters if not less).

   4. Bribing police officers

[*]Our current prime minister employed a man called Andy Coulson after the story was broken a while back. This man was employed as the PM's communications director - at the very heart of our government. Its been widely reported that Andy Coulson may have been one of the most corrupt cretins at the centre of all this, maybe even directing people to hack into phones and so on for a long time. This was widely suspected before the PM hired him. Andy Coulson has recently been arrested.

[*]The police had mostly refused to properly investigate these alleged crimes until very recently, and (as I recall) also chose not to tell people who had been hacked into when they first found out who was affected.

[*]Murdoch owned media businesses are seen (rightfully or not) to be far too powerful in their influence over UK politics and the unwashed masses. He was also planning to take over a major broadcaster here in the UK.

[*]In the UK we don't have a proper privacy law (the best we have is the European Convention on Human Rights - Article 8) and the gutter press media has widely ignored it and abused the concept of a "free press" to twist "in the public interest" to mean "of interest to some in the public". This has led to the mess of "super-injunctions" which may have, in some cases, been granted when many think they should not have been.

[*]Phone hacking is blatantly illegal and any of the bastards involved in it (or turning a blind eye) should get a hefty prison sentence for it. There is a phrase in the UK "an Englishman's home is his castle" - the very nature of how this phone hacking has worked is deemed to be somewhat like someone sneaking into your (locked) home, looking through all your possessions, taking copies/photos of your most personal things and then publishing all dirty details. The first the victims find out about this is when their private lives are splashed across the front page of some vile 'news'paper.

You can read about the major people involved on the BBC news site's article 'Phone hacking: The main players'

Who knows where all this is going?

Hopefully with any of those who took a bribe, hacked into someone's phone or conspired to allow such practices (either via their complicity or gross negligence) in prison.

[sarah_ab]

I agree the US news is not portraying this the same as other world news. I have the BBC app and the associate press ap on my phone and the coverage is pretty different.

[Wetdl]

Its not that we in the US don't care. Its just hearing that Murdoch is completely without ethics, and thinks he is entitled to commit acts which would be criminal if done by a "lesser being" than himself.

We did just get to hear the tape of his discussion with the then President Richard Nixon, about creating a biased propaganda network for political purposes. Gee guess he abandoned that dream, probably couldn't find any backers who could afford such an endeavor.

[ldatsea]

sorry but blaming Rupert Murdock for this is like blaming the president for the fort hood shootings.just becuase he is the ultimate boss does not mean HE did it.... he just owns the paper he does not oversee day to day operations....

lets wait for the facts, people are so quick to judge without facts. people are jumping on this Solely becasue he is a super rich person who owns allot of media elements.... and they dont agree with his politics..

I am not saying anything is right or wrong and am not on any side but i know people will call me a fox news lover just becuase i am not willing to Blame the Rich republican... for something people did while working for a company he "owns"....

but fact will bare out...

(some people refuse to see facts tho_)

[AutieAB]

As Truman often said: The buck stops here.

Anyway, he's not just the owner, he's the chairman and CEO of News Corp. His son James is the deputy COO of News Corp and chairman and CEO of News Corp International. Rebekah Brooks is the former CEO of News International (News Corp's UK division) so between the three of them, they are responsible for the day to day operations of the companies. What's the point in having senior management and boards of directors if they're not considered ultimately accountable?

[Bettypooh]

I heard the phrase "Intentional Blindness" mentioned last night on TV- I think it was the BBC News That phrase kind of sums it up well I think. Thing is that while this may not have been illegal it is certainly immoral Far too many times I've seen someone in things well over their head, not knowing what those underneath them were doing Those who truly cared did eventually find out and correct the bad situation, so you can't blame someone new to the picture for this, but you can and should blame anyone who had time to find out but didn't care enough to do that The corporate mindset here in the US is that as long as you get away with something, it is not wrong There must be some responsibility attached to the person at the top who cares only for profits and IMHO there shopuld be no priofits allowed to people like Murdoch from being intentionally blind to the known and ongoing problems In the old days when honor was the all-important factor, a ship's Captain well understood this principle and he refused to let anyone else take the blame or credit for what happened on his ship Like Truman, he understood that he had the last word and that he was supposed to exercise it wisely or suffer for not doing so. Just my thoughts on this today, YMMV

Bettypooh

[Bettypooh]

I heard the phrase "Intentional Blindness" mentioned last night on TV- I think it was the BBC News That phrase kind of sums it up well I think. Thing is that while this may not have been illegal it is certainly immoral Far too many times I've seen someone in things well over their head, not knowing what those underneath them were doing Those who truly cared did eventually find out and correct the bad situation, so you can't blame someone new to the picture for this, but you can and should blame anyone who had time to find out but didn't care enough to do that The corporate mindset here in the US is that as long as you get away with something, it is not wrong There must be some responsibility attached to the person at the top who cares only for profits and IMHO there shopuld be no priofits allowed to people like Murdoch from being intentionally blind to the known and ongoing problems In the old days when honor was the all-important factor, a ship's Captain well understood this principle and he refused to let anyone else take the blame or credit for what happened on his ship Like Truman, he understood that he had the last word and that he was supposed to exercise it wisely or suffer for not doing so. Just my thoughts on this today, YMMV

Bettypooh

[ldatsea]

http://news.yahoo.com/phone-hacking-charges-spread-other-british-tabloids-130555224.html

so its NOT just news corp .. go figure

These latest revelations put into context Cameron's call for a broader investigation into the media that includes not only Murdoch papers but also the BBC and social media.

[Diapered Jason]

sorry but blaming Rupert Murdock for this is like blaming the president for the fort hood shootings.just becuase he is the ultimate boss does not mean HE did it.... he just owns the paper he does not oversee day to day operations....

This unethical and criminal behavior has been going on in the Murdoch Media empire for a long time. To plead ignorance on Murdoch's part, whether it be intentional blindness or willful ignorance, would convince the share holders of his company to have a vote of no confidence. I do not think that is the case though. His history speaks volumes about his leadership as having a more hands-on management style. I am very suspicious of him, but my feeling is he will be relatively untouched from these events.

[AutieAB]

And anyway, I don't think you'll find many Brits (or people who know about the various newspapers that exist there) who think that the Daily Mail, The Mirror, The Express (all tabloids that Murdoch doesn't own) aren't involved in gutter-skimming, legally and morally questionable practices as well. Everybody knows that the low-brow press in the UK indulge in awful practices to get their scoops. The reason everybody is so PO'd with Murdoch and the NoTW right now is because in this case, the wrongdoings aren't here-say, they can be documented and proven.