Rupert Murdoch and the News Corp. Meltdown Have Become an American Problem & Black Eye on Journalism Everywhere

Rupert Murdoch and his flunkies are a disgrace to the journalism profession and I am glad the FBI and the Justice Department have launched investigations stemming from the recent hacking scandal that has engulfed his empire. If this mess occurred in Great Britain, there's a really good chance it also occurred in the U.S. It's time to expose News Corp. and its entities for the fraud that they are. News Corp. has become synonymous with propaganda and lies being spewed from the mouths of misguided and substandard on-air personalities such as Sean Hannity, Gretchen Carlson, Steve Doocy, Greta Van Susteren, Eric Bolling and others.

I came across an interesting article by Tim Rutten in the Los Angeles Times. He sums it up nicely -- Rupert Murdoch is an American problem. What he has done to journalism is an enormous crime and no public relations mouthpiece or campaign can change the course of this mess.

The ongoing meltdown of News Corp. mogul Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper empire is providing us with a reeducation on what can happen when those restraints are routinely ignored. Each day's revelations leave us with a clearer picture of Murdoch newspapers that routinely violated the privacy of Britons, from the sovereign and prime minister to the grieving families of murder victims and war widows. In the process, journalists and others employed by Murdoch's papers allegedly bribed police officers and officials, intimidated investigators assigned to probe reporters' misconduct and paid off some of those who cooperated with lucrative consulting and writing contracts.

Eager for the highly partisan Murdoch papers' support, and fearful of the retribution that seemed to follow anything the company's editors or executives construed as opposition to News Corp.'s interests, Britain's Parliament and political establishment cowered while unprincipled journalists attenuated freedom of the press into grotesque malevolence and corrupt officials made public accountability a dead letter. It was a mutually beneficial little arrangement for as long as it lasted, but like any relationship built on fear, it was bound to come apart — with a vengeance.

It would be outrageous if we now stood idly by and ignored credible allegations that an American company used our territory as a haven from which to subvert the laws and democratic processes of our closest cultural and political ally, as Murdoch’s firm allegedly has. Read more

Yes, Tim Rutten said it best, Rupert Murdoch, whose company trades on the New York Stock Exchange, is an American problem. I might add, in more ways than one.