It was a bizarre day in the UK yesterday. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch appeared before the UK Parliament to answer questions about what they knew about the phone hacking scandal that's sweeping Britain. Murdoch was asked if he was informed on the hacking scandal when it became known within NewsCorp - to which Murdoch responded, "No."
He was then asked if he's called for a complete investigation yet in all NewsCorp media holdings to make sure similar illegal hacking isn't widespread throughout the company - Murdoch again answered, "No." And when asked if he felt responsible for the scandal as CEO - Murdoch said, "No." So as the CEO of NewsCorp it appears that Murdoch was largely out of the loop and didn't care to root out the problem moving forward.
About the only difference between Rupert Murdoch and Sylvio Berlusconi - two men who built media empires so powerful that politicians had to come kiss their feet in order to get elected - is that Murdoch isn't interested in running for political office. How long will it be before Americans realize that the control of the British political system Murdoch seized is very similar to the power he has in America with his ownership of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, Fox News, and TV stations all around the country?
The fact is that no Republican politician in America can rise to national office against the disapproval of Murdoch and his attack dogs like Sean Hannity. That's not democracy, that corporatocracy.
No single man or company should be allowed to have that much media power.
-Thom
(What do you think should happen to the empire? Tell us here.)
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