In a stunning blow to News International and to the discomfiture of the Tories, the House of Commons Commons Culture, Media and Sport select committee finds Rupert Murdoch ‘not a fit person’ to run a huge international company. It indicts son James for showing “wilful ignorance” of the extent of phone hacking during 2009 and 2010. The Committee splits 6-4, with Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs joining hands to overcome hard-boiled Conservative opposition to the censure of the Murdochs:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/may/01/rupert-murdoch-not-fit-phone-hacking
Video: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2012/may/01/rupert-murdoch-select-committee-video
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17898029
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17915053
http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2012/04/26/jenny-diski/murdochs-everyday-business/
Key conclusions:
’229. [Page 70 of Committee Report] On the basis of the facts and evidence before the Committee, we conclude that, if at all relevant times Rupert Murdoch did not take steps to become fully informed about phone-hacking, he turned a blind eye and exhibited wilful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications. This culture, we consider, permeated from the top throughout the organisation and speaks volumes about the lack of effective corporate governance at News Corporation and News International. We conclude, therefore, that Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company…
‘[Conclusions and next steps, Page 84, Ibid.,] Corporately, the News of the World and News International misled the Committee about the true nature and extent of the internal investigations they professed to have carried out in relation to phone hacking; by making statements they would have known were not fully truthful; and by failing to disclose documents which would have helped expose the truth. Their instinct throughout, until it was too late, was to cover up rather than seek out wrongdoing and discipline the perpetrators, as they also professed they would do after the criminal convictions. In failing to investigate properly, and by ignoring evidence of widespread wrongdoing, News International and its parent News Corporation exhibited wilful blindness, for which the companies’ directors—including Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch— should ultimately be prepared to take responsibility.’