{"id":10388,"date":"2013-08-17T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2013-08-17T18:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=10388"},"modified":"2013-08-17T11:00:17","modified_gmt":"2013-08-17T18:00:17","slug":"rupert-murdoch-fears-that-briberyhacking-investigation-could-kill-the-corporation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=10388","title":{"rendered":"Rupert Murdoch Fears That Bribery\/Hacking Investigation Could “Kill The Corporation”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RupertThe Independent is reporting<\/a> that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is under investigation as a “corporate suspect”<\/em> over the charges that the company engaged in unlawful activities including bribery and hacking the phones, email, and computers of hundreds of politicians, celebrities and private citizens, including a missing schoolgirl who later turned up dead. The inquiry could have significant consequences for News Corp around the world including here in the U.S.<\/p>\n

“The Independent has learnt the Metropolitan Police has opened an \u201cactive investigation\u201d into the corporate liabilities of the UK newspaper group \u2013 recently rebranded News UK \u2013 which could have serious implications for the ability of its parent company News Corp to operate in the United States.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That is not merely the opinion of the investigators and\/or reporters. News Corp responded to the inquiry with an apocalyptic warning suggesting that thousands of innocents would suffer if the company were held responsible for its criminal behavior.<\/p>\n

“A News Corp analysis of the effects of a corporate charge, produced in New York, said the consequences could ‘kill the corporation and 46,000 jobs would be in jeopardy’.<\/p>\n

“Lawyers for the media behemoth have pleaded with the Met[tropolitan Police] and the Crown Prosecution Service not to prosecute the company as it would not be in the ‘public interest’ to put thousands of jobs at risk.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This attempt to turn employees into human shields notwithstanding, it would be unconscionable for the legal authorities to dismiss crimes because of potential adverse business results asserted by the criminal. That’s kind of like a bank president found guilty of embezzlement asking that his charges be dropped because the bad publicity might hurt the bank.<\/p>\n

What’s more, there need not be a single job placed in jeopardy if the corporate offenders were brought to justice, removed from the company, and a properly instituted board of directors (e.g. one not beholden to the Murdoch regime) reformed the management and operations of the enterprise.<\/p>\n

News Corp is, and has been, a criminal organization for many years. They are unapologetic about their abuse of the law and the public trust. It is encouraging that the British legal system is pursuing these charges, although in the past they have caved in to pressure from powerful business interests and retreated from doing the right thing. Time will tell if they have the integrity and fortitude to follow through on this matter.<\/p>\n

As an addendum, the Independent’s article included an interesting explanation of the U.K.’s legal procedures regarding corporate suspects:<\/p>\n

The Crown Prosecution Service can treat a company as a \u201clegal person\u201d who is \u201ccapable of being prosecuted\u201d.<\/p>\n

Any organisation at the centre of a criminal investigation \u201cshould not be treated differently from an individual because of its artificial personality\u201d, according to the CPS.<\/p>\n

The latest guidelines state: \u201cA thorough enforcement of the criminal law against corporate offenders, where appropriate, will have a deterrent effect, protect the public and support ethical business practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cProsecuting corporations, where appropriate, will capture the full range of criminality involved and thus lead to increased public confidence in the criminal justice system.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The U.S. would do well to emulate this, particularly in the wake of the abhorrent Supreme Court decisions defining corporations as persons, but not providing any of the legal accountability to which actual persons are subjected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Independent is reporting that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is under investigation as a “corporate suspect” over the charges that the company engaged in unlawful activities including bribery and hacking the phones, email, and computers of hundreds of politicians, celebrities and private citizens, including a missing schoolgirl who later turned up dead. The inquiry could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"#RupertMurdoch Fears That Bribery\/Hacking Investigation Could \"Kill The Corporation\"\r\n#FoxNews #NewsCorp","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,13],"tags":[33,32,30],"class_list":["post-10388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-scandalous","tag-fox-news","tag-news-corp","tag-rupert-murdoch"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-2Hy","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9884,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=9884","url_meta":{"origin":10388,"position":0},"title":"Rupert Murdoch Seeking Billion Dollar Payoff To Avoid Criminal Prosecution In Hacking Scandal","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/11\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In what may be the biggest scandal in the history of journalism, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation was caught hacking into the phones, emails, and computers of thousands of people, including private citizens, royals, celebrities, politicians, and even a kidnapped schoolgirl who was later found dead. It's a story that got\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4854,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=4854","url_meta":{"origin":10388,"position":1},"title":"Shoes Are Falling: News Corp Scandal Keeps Getting Worse","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/11\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Anyone waiting for the next shoe to drop in the News Corp hacking affair would be wise to seek cover. It's about to hail footwear. 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He insisted that News Corp had handled the crisis \"extremely well in every way possible,\" making just \"minor mistakes.\" Minor mistakes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4832,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=4832","url_meta":{"origin":10388,"position":3},"title":"News Of The Whirled: What’s Rupert Murdoch Up To Now?","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/8\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The hacking scandal that has embroiled Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is one of the most stunning ever recorded. The News of the World is not some backwater rag with a handful of readers. It is one of the largest circulation Sunday papers in the UK. Well, it was. As of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Media"","block_context":{"text":"Big Media","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6267,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=6267","url_meta":{"origin":10388,"position":4},"title":"Rupert Murdoch Proposes Legislation To Outlaw Fox News","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/23\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The chairman and CEO of News Corp, Rupert Murdoch, has been busily Tweeting his support for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). His point invariably refers to nefarious characters who are trying to steal his intellectual property. And not one for understatement, Murdoch has labeled his opponents as terrorists. 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