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:
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.
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.
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.
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