By Michael Collins

"Cameron continues to insist that the inquiry is the best forum to evaluate Hunt’s actions. This signals the beginning of the end for Cameron. He’s proposing a solution for the Hunt investigation that is outside the rules of Parliament, in a forum that has rejected him. Upon closer examination, existing evidence will lead to even stronger condemnation of Hunt’s behaviour. Any new materials produced by the inquiry will bury him.

Queens Counsel Robert Jay unearthed a devastating piece of evidence that will surely create calls for the resignation of both culture secretary Jeremy Hunt and Prime Minister David Cameron.

In afternoon testimony at the Leveson Inquiry today (5/24), Jay confronted News Corp lobbyist Frederic Michel with an email rendition of a Hunt to Cameron memo of November 19, 2010 (see testimony/full memo at end of article). Hunt is clearly cheerleading for the News Corp acquisition of immensely profitable pay TV network BSkyB. News Corp owned 39% of the network and wanted to purchase the remaining 61%. This acquisition was absolutely critical to News Corp profitability and as a sign that Rupert and James Murdoch actually knew what they were doing.

One month after he got the biased memo, Cameron appointed Hunt as the government minister in charge of approving the bid. Hunt portrayed his role as "quasi-judicial" and claimed he was an objective judge. The bid was opposed by an alliance of news organizations.

Now we know, without any doubt and from Hunt's own words that he was biased in favor of approving the News Corp bid before he even got the authority to judge.

We also know that PM Cameron knew Hunt's bias and appointed him anyway.

By Michael Collins

Criminal charges against Rupert Murdoch insider and favorite Rebekah Brooks may be a prelude to looming charges arising out of Brooaks' testimony before the Leveson Inquiry last week.

Crown Prosecution Services charged Brooks, her husband, and four others with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice on Tuesday May 15. The alleged conspiracy took place between July 6 and July 19, 2011.

Brooks and the co-conspirators concealed and removed materials sought by police in their investigation of phone hacking by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation subsidiary, News International, according to prosecutors. Brooks resigned as chief executive officer of the subsidiary on July 15, 2011. (Image: SnowViolent)

Brooks' current legal troubles should not obscure the significance of her testimony before the Leveson Inquiry last week. During her several hours on the witness stand, she was confronted with an explosive email that, if true, implicates Conservative Party Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt in a conspiracy to pervert the British regulatory process in favor of News Corporation's bid to acquire the ten-million-subscriber pay TV company BSkyB. News Corp owns 39% of the company. It sought the remaining 61%.

Alan Cowell & John F. Burns | London | May 15

NYT - Once among the most powerful figures in the British media, Rebekah Brooks, the former head of Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper empire and a close friend of Prime Minister David Cameron, faced charges on Tuesday that she, her husband and four others conspired to pervert the course of justice in the hacking scandal that has burrowed into public life here.

It was the first time that charges have been formulated since the police reopened inquiries into the affair in January 2011. The accusations brought the scandal to a watershed between criminal investigations, which have resulted in around 50 people being arrested and then set free on bail, and the prospect of trial before robed High Court judges.

From Australia's free thinking media voice, Independent Australia Net. They enhanced and published my latest article on Murdoch - Rupert Watch - the Kiss of Death. Several outstanding videos were added by the editors that show the dangers of dealing with Murdoch (as Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt found out today via Murdoch fav Rebekah Brooks).

The kiss of Rupert Murdoch
By Michael Collins

Posted by admin in International, Media on 10 May, 2012 12:01 am

As British Prime Minister David Cameron will soon find out, says Michael Collins, doing business with Rupert Murdoch can often be the kiss of death.

By Michael Collins

The first crack in Rupert Murdoch's political facade in Australia occurred Friday, May 4. The Australian Media and Communications Authority (ACMA) announced it was looking closely at the House of Commons committee report that declared Murdoch unfit to run an international business. ACMA licenses and regulates television broadcasting, digital communication, and radio frequency allocation.

Rupert Murdoch controls 70% of the newspaper market in Australia. He has major interests in the Foxtel pay TV network. And his political influence in Australia is even greater than in Great Britain and the United States.

The Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) is reviewing the British parliamentary committee report which described News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch as 'not fit' to lead an international company.

The explosive findings also suggested that former chief executive James Murdoch was wilfully ignorant of the extent of the practice of phone hacking at the now-defunct News of the World. News Corporation released a statement on Tuesday accepting the report, while rejecting some of its "unjustified and highly partisan" commentary. Murdoch report: ACMA and US Senate enter the fray, May 4

This is the first sign of any potential challenge to Murdoch's authority in his former homeland. Despite a heavily documented expose of alleged pay TV hacking and piracy published by the Australian Financial Review, Australian competition regulators gave approval for a Foxtel (Murdoch controls it) acquisition of a competitor (AUSTAR) that it is alleged Murdoch's firm hacked.

By Michael Collins

May Day! How remarkable (even though Rupert Murdoch was denounced by a committee of the House of Commons, not the entire body). Murdoch is "not a fit person" to run "a major international company," we were told in a report released by the Commons' committee investigating phone hacking on May 1. He may not be unbalanced, as Murdoch recently characterized former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, but he's certainly not fit. (Image)

Here's some of what this means:

1) There's no way Murdoch will survive the regulatory investigation on his ownership of media in Great Britain.. One of Ofcom's charters (the regulatory body) is to determine if Murdoch is a "fit and proper" person to own BSkyB and other British media properties.
2) When it looks like Murdoch has to divest the 39% News Corp interest in the highly profitable BSkyB pay TV network, institutional shareholders will Kirk out! The Sky enterprise amounted to 20% plus of News Corp's 2011 profits. Oops!
3) Murdoch won't go gentle into the dark night. He will become increasingly irrational as seen in his sting operation against his once loyal servant David Cameron. It is fair to assume that he's got more dirt on public officials than J. Edgar ever had … and he'll start using it.
4) Murdoch will retain the continued loyalty of the News Corp board (see members listed below). After the release of the condemnation by the Commons committee, Murdoch's board released a statement expressing "full confidence in Rupert Murdoch's fitness and support for his continuing to lead News Corporation into the future as its Chairman and CEO."
5) Murdoch may get the bums rush out of News Corp as a result of an institutional investor like the Christian Brothers Investment Services which has said it would ask the SEC to change the voting rights of shareholders (Murdoch has outsized representation in voting shares).

By Michael Collins

When things don't work out, doing business with Murdoch can be the kiss of death.

No matter how hard you try, how loyal you are, if something goes wrong, you can be sure it will be your fault.

Reporting has failed to lay the proper foundation for understanding Rupert Murdoch's remarkable testimony before the Leveson Inquiry in London and his behavior of late.

Rupert Murdoch is a nihilist.

Murdoch’s television outlets in the United States stoked the fires for the 2003 invasion of Iraq based on outrageous misrepresentations like the idea that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The war cost tens of thousands of dead and seriously injured U.S. soldiers, several hundred thousand dead Iraqi civilians, and $3 trillion. (Image: acb)

Last summer, Murdoch went full throttle to support Republicans in the U.S. Congress as they fabricated a debt ceiling crisis that seriously damaged the credit rating of the United States of America.

Murdoch’s support of the Tea Party created an utterly irrational voice in U.S. politics that prevents even the most modest necessary reforms. Created by right wing lobbyists, this pseudo party blocks every vital project, from reviving the economy to an effective, coordinated response to the crisis created by climate change.

In the nations occupied by his multinational media empire Murdoch takes the path of maximum damage to the public and governance.

Jane Merrick, Matt Chorley , Brian Brady | London | April 29

The Independent -
Culture Secretary faces immediate resignation if found guilty over dealings with Murdoch
Jeremy Hunt today stands accused of misleading Parliament over his dealings with the Murdoch empire, an offence which would trigger the Culture Secretary's immediate resignation.

As the Prime Minister battled to save his minister, an Independent on Sunday investigation has established that Mr Hunt appears to have misled the Commons on three occasions in his handling of News Corp's takeover bid of BSkyB.

Dominic Rushe and Jill Treanor | New York and London | April 26

The Guardian -
Advisers to News Corporation shareholders say they are "deeply troubled" by the performances of Rupert and James Murdoch at the Leveson inquiry into media ethics.

US shareholders are said to be worried that the Murdochs' testimony this week has raised new questions about the management of the company and posed potential threats to other areas of its media empire.

Michael Pryce-Jones, senior policy analyst with Change To Win (CtW), a US advisory group that works with pension funds with over $200bn in assets, said the Murdochs' testimony raised two immediate concerns for shareholders: the future of the firm's control of broadcaster BSkyB and the ethics of top management.

"The big question is what does this mean for BSkyB," he said. "Sky is one of their best assets."
===============
Also see: Murdoch watch - apocalypse when? and Murdoch watch - signaling the end

(How gratifying! An independent Australian web site republished my story on Murdoch and BSkyB. The original was published on the 22nd but this was perfect tming given the revelations today at the Leveson hearings about Murdoch influence over the Cameron government actions on BSkyB.)

The Sky falling on the fox
independentaustralia.net, April 24

Rupert Murdoch’s grip on News Corporation hinges on whether British regulators decide he is a fit and proper person to own cable giant BSkyB. Michael Collins reports.

Rupert Murdoch’s reign over the $33 billion News Corporation hinges on events surrounding the company’s ownership share of Britain’s dominant pay TV network, BSkyB (Sky). As Business Insider said, “it’s the only asset that really matters” in the News Corp collection of media properties.

Link: http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/business/media-2/the-sky-falling-on-the-fox/

By Michael Collins

Rupert Murdoch's reign over the $33 billion News Corporation hinges on events surrounding the company's ownership share of Britain's dominant pay TV network, BSkyB (Sky). As Business Insider said, "it's the only asset that really matters" in the News Corp collection of media properties.

As a result of Murdoch scandals, News Corp lost the chance to buy 100% of Sky's shares. More troubling for the media monarch, the company may lose the 39% interest it already holds if British regulators determine that Murdoch is not a fit and proper owner. This would fuel the major News Corp shareholder suits in Delaware and New York that seek to remove Murdoch as board chairman and vastly diminish his power and that of his family and cronies.

Sky reaches 25 million viewers in 10 million homes. Revenues are growing at 10% a year with adjusted operating profit growth averaging around 16% of revenues (see 2009 through 2011). Revenues from 2012 through 2016 should top $70 billion total with adjusted operating profits around $11 billion. What happens with Sky really matters.

By Michael Collins

Is Murdoch getting ready to trade his kingdom for a horse? Supposedly, News Corp did a compliance review on the voting rights of foreign shareholders. The company discovered that it was way out of line for the amount of foreign shareholder voting rights, thus imperiling its bid to renew the licenses for it's domestic television properties (based on the Communications Act of 1934).

"News Corp, which has spent most of the last year battling the fallout from the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, inadvertently allowed foreign investors to hold 36pc of Class B voting stock – well past the 25pc limit enshrined in American 1934 Communications Act.

"In order to fix the problem, on Wednesday it suspended 50pc of the Class B voting rights of its investors outside the US, effectively halving the power of certain foreign investors." The Telegraph, April 18 & Financial Times, April 18

This includes Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Saudi investor, who will have his 7% share cut in half for voting. Talal is a big Murdoch supporter.

Two points. This is a sign of weakness. They knew or should have known this was the case but now they're acting. News Corp probably got a tip from some "friendly" in government and preemptively corrected the problem. One commentator asked, When was the last time they reviewed voting rights, 1936?

The prompts the second point, which consists of questions? Was News Corp out of compliance on foreign voting shares when it last renewed it's domestic broadcasting license? Will anyone in authority investigate? If they determine that the licenses were renewed with News Corp violating the 1934 Communications Act, will anything be done about it?

Neil Chenowath | Melourne | April 15

Australian Financial Review -
British lawyer Mark Lewis is investigating claims by a client that News Corporation’s controversial security company, NDS Limited, was involved in a dirty tricks campaign in Britain to undermine a competitor’s technology.

“The allegations made against them are uncannily similar to what’s been alleged in Australia,” Mr Lewis said in an interview with ABC Lateline host Emma Alberici.

“The practice seems very, very similar.”

Mr Lewis has been the leading British lawyer pursuing cases against News International for telephone hacking by its News of the World newspaper.

By Michael Collins

Rupert Murdoch is in big trouble. It is not a perfect storm but we're getting there.

British attorney Mark Lewis is in New York to take legal action in behalf of clients who may have had their phones hacked in the United States.

More significantly, News Corp withdrew its bid to buy the remaining 61% of BSkyB, the highly profitable British cable TV franchise (£1.1 billion 2011, News Corp owns 39% now). (Murdoch images: left, right)

Last week, James Murdoch stepped down as chairman of BSkyB after surviving a challenge to his position just weeks ago. (Thanks for the heads up Tina)

By Michael Collins

There was something tawdry and disgusting about the phone hacking by Rupert Murdoch's News of the World. The News Corporation owned tabloid hacked the phone mails of several thousand citizens of Great Britain. Victims included celebrities, politicians, and even a murdered eleven year old kidnap victim.

But that wasn't enough to generate type of criminal investigation of News Corporation that would topple Rupert Murdoch and his clan from the throne of the $30 billion News Corporation.

The current revelations of cable television hacking, laid out in detail by Australia's Financial Review and the BBC, provide a more concrete connection between outright criminality and the Murdoch run media giant. This alleged criminal behavior involves hackers on the payroll of a former Murdoch controlled Israel based company, NDS, and the demise of cable television competitors in Great Britain, the United States, and Australia due to that activity.

These allegations are reinvigorating the institutional shareholders revolt that may be the end of the Murdoch clan's control of News Corporation.

Ross Kerber and Aruna Viswanatha | Boston | April 2

Reuters -
News Corp faces a call to appoint an independent board chairman on concerns Rupert Murdoch's media company needs to pursue more reforms to deal with its phone-hacking scandal and other issues.

The proxy proposal, filed by Christian Brothers Investment Services, is likely to fan an ongoing controversy over governance at the company.

Although unlikely to get a majority of votes, the nonbinding resolution filed last month could put pressure on the board to remove Murdoch, currently News Corp's chief executive, from his other role as chairman of the company, the sponsor said.

With current arrangements, the company is "stepping into the scandal with a flawed corporate governance structure," Julie Tanner, who oversees socially responsible investing at Christian Brothers in New York, said in a telephone interview.

Murdoch, Sons Draw Substantial Negative Vote, ABC News, October 25, 2011

Arthur Bright | Mar 31

CSM - Three major reports this week detail an alleged satellite TV hacking scandal by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp that reportedly cost its rivals tens of millions of dollars.

A series of investigative reports by journalists around the globe have put Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation at the center of a new hacking scandal. If proven true, the allegations could be far more devastating than the scandal that brought an end to the News of the World newspaper last year, since this one strikes at the financial heart of Mr. Murdoch's empire: News Corp's valuable television holdings.

The Australian Financial Review wrote in a March 28 report that News Corp cost its TV rivals tens of millions of dollars by "promoting" hackers' efforts to give customers unauthorized, cheaper access to its rivals' broadcasting. The AFR, Australia's biggest financial newspaper, writes that "the piracy cost the Australian pay TV companies up to $50 million a year and helped cripple the finances of Austar," a rival satellite TV company.

The AFR's March 28 report, which was based on a four-year investigation, was published just two days after a similar report by BBC News program Panorama. The BBC report said that according to a British hacker, a former News Corp subsidiary leaked information about how to hack into the software of rival satellite TV provider ONdigital, devastating ONdigital's business in Britain. And the Independent reported earlier this week on similar accusations by an Italian hacker regarding Nagra France, another satellite TV provider operating in Italy.

News Corp have denied allegations of wrongdoing, and indicated that it was preparing a legal challenge against the AFR and other news outlets reporting on the TV hacking. Mr. Murdoch dismissed the reports as "lies and libels" on Twitter. links at site

By Michael Collins

Ray Adams is a name you will hear more frequently as the latest and perhaps most fatal Murdoch - News Corp. scandal emerges.

When Murdoch was setting up his BSKYB cable network in England, he had some serious competition. ITV had a digital service called ITV Digital. The British broadcaster was prepared to go head to head with Murdoch's network. As the services rolled out, ITV Digital became subject to furious hacker attacks. The hackers broke the ITV encryption code and distributed it widely allowing so many people to get free ITV service, the venture failed, largely due to the piracy of its service, and Murdoch had a clean road to mega profits with BSKYB.

The BBC's Panorama television show broke a story (not yet available in the United States) accusing a Murdoch owned firm, NDS, of hiring hackers to break the ITV code, thus sabotaging the Murdoch competitor. The rest is history and huge profits. BSKYB is the dominant British cable network. It's spreading throughout Europe.

Tonight, BBC1's "Panorama" invesitigative journalism show will air allegations that NewsCorp used hackers to undermine the business of its chief TV rival in Britain.

The allegations stem from apparently incriminating emails the programme-makers have obtained, and on-screen descriptions for the first time from two of the people said to be involved, a German hacker and the operator of a pirate website secretly controlled by a Murdoch company.

The witnesses allege a software company NDS, owned by News Corp, cracked the smart card codes of rival company ONdigital. ONdigital, owned by the ITV companies Granada and Carlton, eventually went under amid a welter of counterfeiting by pirates, leaving the immensely lucrative pay-TV field clear for Sky.

...The potentially seismic nature of these pay-TV allegations was underlined over the weekend, when News Corp's lawyers, Allen & Overy, sought to derail the programme in advance by sending round denials and legal threats to other media organisations. They said any forthcoming BBC allegations that NDS "has been involved in illegal activities designed to cause the collapse of a business rival" would be false and libellous, and demanded they not be repeated.

This isn't the first time newsCorp have been accused of such activities, both here in the US and abroad, as the Financial Times recounted last September.

If substantiated by an expected investigation by the governmental watchdog Ofcom, the allegations could finish NewsCorp in the UK. The company is still reeling from the ongoing disclosure of its phone-hacking of celebrities and politicians.

The UK's Independent reports:

Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and her husband Charlie are among the six people arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice today.

Brooks is a close personal friend of Rupert Murdoch's, while her husband is a friend of British PM David Cameron. Mark Hanna, the head of security at New International's British newspaper arm, has also been held according to Reuters. The arrests come in the wake of evidence given at the Levison Enquiry.

News International CEO plus conspiracy to pervert the course of justice equals FCTA violation. Go get 'em, DoJ!

Cassandra Vinograd | London | Feb 29

AP - James Murdoch, the executive at the epicenter of the phone hacking scandal at his father's British newspapers, is stepping down as executive chairman of News Corp.'s U.K. newspaper arm, the company announced Wednesday.

News Corp. said James, the youngest son of 80-year-old media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has relinquished his position at News International to concentrate his efforts on television. He will still remain deputy chief operating officer of News Corp., he said.

The one-time heir apparent to his father, James Murdoch, 39, has been embroiled in controversy amid speculation over his role in Britain's expanding phone-hacking scandal.

may the dominoes continue to fall

I've been giving some thought overnight to the Murdoch "NotW" scandal which has now spread to his flagship UK paper The Sun, and the recent revelations of Rebekah Brooks cozying up to Scotland Yard, which included getting advance warning of the original police investigation into phone hacking.

So it turns out that The Sun was in violation of not only the law but journalistic ethics. Apparently it purchased stories, full stop, from the cops and other authorities.

(Updated below the fold)

Metropolitan police deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers just made a US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prosecution of NewsCorp a true "slam dunk", in sworn testimony to the UK's Levison Enquiry.

She told the inquiry that the payments did not amount to the 'odd drink or meal' but ran into thousands of pounds, with one individual receiving £80,000 over several years and a journalist receiving £150,000 to pay sources.

DAC Akers added disclosures obtained via payments led to 'gossip stories' that were not 'remotely in the public interest'.

Detectives on Operation Elveden are investigating possible offences of corruption, misconduct in public office and conspiracy.

A number of Sun employees and police officers, a member of the Ministry of Defence and a member of the armed forces have already been arrested.

'It [the investigation] suggests payments were being made to public officials in all areas of public life,' Ms Akers told the inquiry.

'There also appears to have been a culture at The Sun of illegal payments and systems created to facilitate those payments.'

Ms Akers continued that journalists were 'well aware' that 'what they were doing was unlawful'.

There have been reports that the FBI were investigating NewsCorp for a possible FCTA violation over the British phone-hacking scandal. Well, now they have their star witness - let's see if the DoJ have the cojones to follow through.

The Wall Street Journal suggests that big banks should be broken up. Citing the inadequacy of the Volcker Rule in the Dodd-Frank bill now wending its way through Congress, the Journal states any real reform should include "a Congressional plan either for allowing large banks to fail or for breaking them up."

Horrors! Nationalizing banks? The Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal?

More astounding: Jamie Dimon, the head of JP Morgan Chase Bank and an proud 1%er (he once claimed to feel safer in Lebanon than amongst the Occupy Wall Street members) is for raising his own taxes: