Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Last Days of Rupert Murdoch


Earlier this week a Parliamentary committee found that that media mogul superstar Rupert Murdoch was “not a fit person” to be in charge of the mega news corporation that he is.  The report found that Murdoch was not exercising CEO level responsibility when dealing with the phone hacking scandal. 

As a refresher for those who didn’t follow the News of the World Phone Hacking Scandal, what happened was that the British Tabloid Paper News of The World had some of its reporters hacking the voice messages of MPs, celebrities and even families of dead soldiers.  When it finally got out that the News of the World had hacked the messages, they covered it up in part by paying people of.  This led to cases against the Tabloid Paper and a select committee finding the heads of News of The World guilty of “collective amnesia.”

News of The World shut down, but Rupert Murdoch continues as chairman of News Corporation which owns Fox as well as the Wall Street Journal.  So could this be the end of Rupert Murdoch’s career in news?  It seems unlikely to that things will change; Murdoch is a very powerful figure head in the News media world and his son James Murdoch is also involved in the business. 
Most are in agreement that News of The World was in the wrong for their invasions of privacy, the inquiry being conducted into Murdoch is aiming to find out just how much did he know as well as probe to look for answers into corporate responsibility and accountability.  

3 comments:

Dustan Li said...

Like Will said, Murdoch is a very powerful man and I don't foresee him leaving his post any time soon. As for Fox News, they are already somewhat of an unlikely news source. I doubt that the Wall Street Journal, being one of the top, if not the top, newspapers in the country, would somehow let this issue mess with their ability to do their work. When you are as high as Murdoch, you don't really do much managing; you have people to do that for you and you are more of a figurehead.

Rebecca Hu said...

Although Rupert Murdoch certainly is an integral part of the international news industry and shouldn't be completely kicked out of the News Corporation due to this scandal, I think a punishment of some sort should definitely be imposed. As one of the most powerful mass media corporations in the world, News Corporation wields a considerable amount of influence among the global journalistic circle. Thus, its actions of phone hacking through News International serves as a model that will negatively impact the ethics of future news reporting and reflects poorly on both News Corporation and the news industry as a whole. As the head of the News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch should take responsibility and oversee all the actions of its employees, especially those that breach the contract of privacy awarded to them by celebrities, politicians, and other public figures. Despite his experience in leading the news industry, Murdoch's recent decisions have strayed him from the proper path of news reporting - and he and his subordinates should be punished accordingly.

Jennifer Nguyen said...

In all honesty, I doubt Murdoch will step down as CEO unless someone can prove he was in someway connected to the phone hacking scandals. As stated previously, Murdoch is an extremely powerful figurehead in the media industry. This power would make it seem very unlikely that he would be forced down from his seat as CEO. The only real foreseeable reason I could possibly think of for him either being forced down or voluntarily removed would be if Murdoch wanted to a)retire b)found to have been associated with the scandal or c)die. I know people want Murdoch to face some discipline for not knowing about it or for allowing it to happen, but it seems unlikely this will occur. Maybe if further investigation will occur, something can be done about Murdoch's roll as CEO.