Can Murdoch be reined in?
AN OUTSIDERS VIEW |
Ken Fuller |
In the past, this column has warned of the activities of Rupert Murdoch’s media behemoth, NewsCorp, suggesting that any constitutional amendment allowing foreign ownership of the Philippine media would be very bad news. Recent developments in the United Kingdom, where the NewsCorp subsidiary is called News International, cause this outsider to reissue that warning.
One of the newspapers owned by News International is (or was) the so-called News of the World, acquired by Murdoch in 1969. I say “so-called” because it was more popularly known as “Screws of the World,” due to its often prurient content. One of the biggest controversies to hit this rag in recent years came when it was revealed that Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator it employed, had hacked into the phones of aides to Princes William and Harry. For this offense, Mulcaire and the paper’s royal affairs editor were jailed in 2006.
Since then, the controversy has grown and grown, with a lengthening list of celebrities and politicians revealed as targets. Such was the heat felt by Murdoch, that he closed the paper, last Sunday’s edition being its last..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110712com5.html
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