| Welcome to Solidarity Scotland. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Upon signing up, please email the administrator if you are a member of Solidarity Scotland with your membership details. This will enable you to access the party members only section of the site. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Rupert Murdoch; Media corruption. | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 3 2010, 09:19 PM (1,557 Views) | |
| George Dutton | Sep 3 2010, 09:19 PM Post #1 |
|
"In 1969 Rupert Murdoch purchased The Sun newspaper in 1969. He turned it into a trashy tabloid and it was not long before it had become the best-selling daily newspaper in Britain. Later that year he purchased the News of the World, Britain’s largest selling newspaper. The two newspapers advocated extreme right-wing policies over the next ten years and played an important role in the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979. He continued to support Thatcher in her decision to create mass unemployment by reducing spending on the public sector. This policy also undermined the power of the trade-unions. This enabled the Tories to pass anti-trade union legislation that helped Murdoch win his fight with the print unions. In 1981 Murdoch purchased The Times and the Sunday Times. He also created News Corporation that controlled all his media interests. This includes film and television companies such as Sky and Fox and a large number of newspapers and magazines in the United States and various other countries. It has been claimed that he is the most important political influence in the western world. In the late 1990s it became clear that the British public had turned against the right-wing Tory government. In the 1997 general election, the Murdoch press supported the Labour Party. This would have come as no surprise to those that had watched Murdoch’s behaviour in Australia. He had supported their Labour Party in the past. However, when they gained power with his support, they turned into a right-wing authoritarian government. The same thing happened in Britain. After he won the 1997 election, Tony Blair abandoned his left-wing agenda and showed himself to be a Thatcherite. According to Lance Price, who worked for the Labour government, Blair would always consult Murdoch before introducing any new policy. Murdoch was also a great supporter of the illegal invasion of Iraq. Every one of his 179 newspapers also supported this policy. He claimed at the time that the invasion would result in lower oil prices and an increase in stock market shares. His newspapers also played an important role in persuading the public that Iraq had WMD. When Blair became unpopular with the British public he joined the plot to get Gordon Brown made the new prime minister without an election. Brown had been under the control of Murdoch for many years. However, after six months it became clear that Brown would lose the next election and so Murdoch’s newspaper’s began to support David Cameron. Murdoch seemed untouchable. All leading politicians were too frightened to take him on. They knew he would use the whole of his media empire against them if they did that. Then something happened yesterday that might give us the opportunity to remove this terrible influence on British life. The story begins in 2006 when members of the royal household complained that they believed that their mobile phones had been hacked into. The anti-terror police investigated the case as they feared it might be connected to a Muslim terrorist group. A few months later, Clive Goodman, a journalist working for the News of the World, and Glenn Mulcaire, a private detective, were arrested. Mulcaire confessed to hacking into the royal family’s mobile phones to listen to their voice-mail and that he had been paid to do this by Goodman. In January 2007, Goodman was sentenced to four months in prison and Mulcaire got six months. Andy Coulson resigned as editor of the News of the World. He claimed that he knew nothing about this phone hacking. Anyone with any experience of newspapers knew that Coulson was lying. No editor would ever publish a potential libellous story without knowing the source of the story. Goodman was portrayed as a rogue reporter. Les Hinton, the chairman of News International, appeared before a parliamentary committee and told MPs he had carried out a full investigation into the case and he was convinced that Goodman had been acting alone. The Press Complaints Commission also claimed they could find no evidence that Coulson knew anything about these illegal activities. Although he was strangely not interviewed by the PCC. On July 9, 2007, David Cameron appointed Andy Coulson as Conservative Party Director of Communications on a salary of £450,000 a year. Why? Maybe because he is the man who knows all the secrets of the politicians. The police supported this view that Coulson did not know anything by not bringing anymore prosecutions against News of the World reporters. However, we now know that the police did have a great deal of information about large-scale phone-hacking by Murdoch’s journalists. For example, Glenn Mulcaire had been paid £2,000 a month as a retainer fee for News Corporation. Evidence suggests he had been working for 37 different journalists. Mulcaire’s work had resulted in several scoops including those against the socialist politician, Tommy Sheridan, David Beckham (Rebecca Loos) and Sven-Goran Eriksson (Faria Alam). Why did the police not follow up cases against these 37 journalists? How much did Murdoch pay to the police to stop these prosecutions? The problem is that some policemen earn extra money by selling information to the press and other interested parties. One of them tipped off Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballer’s Association, that his phone had been hacked by Glenn Mulcaire. He therefore decided to sue News Corporation. In September, 2007, News Corporation paid Taylor and two of his football contacts, over a £1 million in a case that was held in secret. The people involved promised not to reveal details of the case. The High Court then joined in the conspiracy by sealing the evidence obtained from the police. Someone, we don’t know who, tipped off Nick Davies, a reporter, about what had happened and the story appeared in yesterday’s Guardian. Rupert Murdoch immediately announced he knew nothing about this £1 million payout. This surely can be proved to be a lie. The Guardian also provided a list of some of the people whose phones were hacked by Mulcaire. This included several cabinet ministers, including John Prescott, the former deputy prime-minister. This obviously has implications for national security. However, Prescott insists he was never told by the police that attempts had been made to hack his phone. The most amazing response was from the police. Assistant Commissioner John Yates, quickly issued a statement that the police were unwilling to reopen the investigation into the case. Yates was of course the man who led the investigation into the corruption of Tony Blair and decided that he should not be prosecuted for any offences. I wonder how much money he was paid to reach this conclusion? How much was he paid for yesterday’s statement. Other than the Guardian and the BBC, the rest of the media are doing what they can to ignore this story. One former editor of the Sun claimed yesterday that the whole story is a “socialist conspiracy”. The reason that even non-Murdoch papers are ignoring the story, is that they have also relied on illegal phone-hacking to get their stories and are worried where all this will lead. How many journalists will end up in prison for these offences? That is why it is important that we use the internet to expose this story"... There`s more, MUCH more... http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=14556 |
![]() |
|
| George Dutton | Sep 4 2010, 12:56 AM Post #2 |
|
The Guardian has an article late last night ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/02/phone-hacking-police-inquiry "News of the World faces fresh phone hacking charge"... http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/02/news-of-the-world-phone-hacking "Pressure mounts on No 10 spin doctor after former News of the World colleague speaks out"... http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/03/andy-coulson-phone-hacking |
![]() |
|
| George Dutton | Sep 4 2010, 12:06 PM Post #3 |
|
"Downing Street's head of communications is safe in his job despite phone hacking claims relating to his tenure as News of the World editor, a senior government source has told the BBC." "Mr Coulson denies he was aware of phone hacking while he was at the newspaper. Former News of the World employee Sean Hoare, one of the sources for the New York Times' allegations, told the BBC that phone tapping was "endemic" within the industry and he had been personally "requested" to do so by his then editor, Mr Coulson. "He was well aware that the practice exists," he told Radio 4's PM programme. But the newspaper said the claims by Mr Hoare should be treated with "extreme scepticism". However, former News of the World sport reporter Matt Driscoll told the BBC he thought it was "unconceivable" that Mr Coulson would have been unaware of phone hacking practices when he was at the paper because "he would be a part of all the big stories that were being made by the paper"... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11186077 |
![]() |
|
| George Dutton | Sep 4 2010, 10:47 PM Post #4 |
|
"Top Tory Andy Coulson cited for Tommy Sheridan perjury hearing"... http://tinyurl.com/5ohlv9 Murdoch has most of the Political/Legal establishments in his back pocket. Indeed, the powers that be, exalt and reward the criminality of the Murdoch empire. Murdoch is the number one threat to the democracy of many nations around the world...He can make things happen. That is how powerful he is. None of the main political parties will try and stop him. They are ALL too afraid of the influence and power he wields. A national campaign should be started up, to put almighty pressure on the main parties, to break up the Murdoch empire and the evil influence it has on our democracy. It may I fear be too late?. The Tory party will defend the Murdoch empire to the end, they never were strong on democracy!. We may soon find that out...BIG TIME. The accelerating global financial crisis, collapse, will get MUCH worse in the coming months and they KNOW it...They need the Murdoch empire when things get out of hand. They won`t want the most recognised, leading socialist in Scotland getting votes and gaining power, that`s not in their interests. Not the first time this has happened, Germany 1920s/30s comes to mind...Time will tell...God help us all. |
![]() |
|
| George Dutton | Sep 5 2010, 12:59 AM Post #5 |
|
"The Tory party will defend the Murdoch empire to the end, they never were strong on democracy!."... http://tinyurl.com/38qxfex |
![]() |
|
| George Dutton | Sep 5 2010, 09:31 AM Post #6 |
|
"How Murdoch had a hotline to the PM in the run-up to Iraq war" "In 2003, Mr Blair phoned the owner of The Times and The Sun on 11 and 13 March, and on 19 March, the day before Britain and the United States invaded Iraq. The war was strongly supported by Murdoch-owned newspapers around the world. The day after two of the calls, The Sun launched vitriolic attacks on the French President Jacques Chirac. The Government quoted him as saying he would "never" support military action against Saddam Hussein, a claim hotly disputed by France"... http://tinyurl.com/yqnjf6 |
![]() |
|
| George Dutton | Sep 5 2010, 11:00 AM Post #7 |
|
Harold Pinter March 1989... "We've assumed that we live in a free country for so long that it's very hard for us to subject that concept to any real or fundamental scrutiny. An entire range of encroachments on fundamental freedoms is taking place now in this country. It's quite a range, far-reaching and quite pernicious." "This didn't happen in Czechoslovakia. It happened here." "Because language is discredited and because spirit and moral intelligence are fatally undermined, the government possesses carte blanche to do what it likes. Its officers can bug, break in, tap, burgle, lie, slander, bully and terrorize with impunity. Disclosure of these things will land the discloser in prison, while the government servant remains above the law, accountable neither to the citizens of this country nor to its representatives in Parliament. (The security services have of course always been above the law but this is now being given sanctity in law, so to speak). The laws are brutal and cynical. None of them has to do with democratic aspirations. All of them have to do with intensification and consolidation of state power. Unless we face that reality fairly and squarely, this free country is in grave danger of being strangled to death."... http://www.haroldpinter.org/politics/politics_freedom.shtml |
![]() |
|
| George Dutton | Sep 5 2010, 12:36 PM Post #8 |
|
"John Edgar Hoover" "His critics have accused him of exceeding the jurisdiction of the FBI.[1] He used the FBI to harass political dissenters and activists, to amass secret files on political leaders,[2] and to collect evidence using illegal methods.[3] It is because of Hoover's long and controversial reign that FBI directors are now limited to 10-year terms.[4]"... http://uk.ask.com/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover In view of the further allegations of phone tapping, on top of the already proven case, it would be very interesting to find out if blackmail of certain key witnesses in the Sheridan case has taken place?. It is an imperative to now find out the true extent of what EXACTLY has taken place. It should also be pointed out, that it would seem not only has the Murdoch empire been indulging in criminal practices, other members of the media have also allegedly been using/employing certain private individuals to phone tap people. Was any information pass on to others?. This too has to be found out, the implications are also an imperative?. I can`t see this case against Sheridan going very far in light of the mounting evidence of criminal practices being perpetrated by the Murdoch empire?. It should now be plain that any guilty verdict in this case would be inherently unsafe, to say the least. |
![]() |
|
| George Dutton | Sep 6 2010, 10:22 PM Post #9 |
|
6th Sept 2010. "It might be worth summarising this story so far." "August 2005: Private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, is secretly paid by the News of the World, a newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch, to hack into the phone messages of Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association. November 2005: The News of the World royal editor, Clive Goodman, commissions Glen Mulcaire to hack into the phone messages of staff at St. James’s Palace. Stories appear in Murdoch newspapers about Prince William that the royal family conclude that must have come from intercepting their telephone calls. December 2005: The Royal Family communicate their suspicions to Scotland Yard. Andy Hayman leads the investigation into the possibility of the staff at St. James’s Palace and members of the royal family having their phone messages hacked. Hayman, the Metropolitan Police Service's Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations, a role which placed him in overall charge of counter-terrorism operations. It seems that this suggests that initially, the police thought the phone hacking was being carried out by terrorists. April 2006: Hayman discovers that the hacking of the royal telephones was being done by the News of the World. August 2006: Hayman and his officers come to the conclusion that the News of the World has been hacking the phones of a large number of people. A memo dated 8th August stated that the “investigation was likely to reveal a vast array of offending behaviour”. However, it was decided to “focus on a discrete area of offending relating to JLP and HA.” This is a reference to Jamie Lee Pinkerton (JLP) and Helen Asprey (HA), two members of the royal staff. October 2006: The Metropolitan Police Service raid the offices of the News of the World and arrest Clive Goodman. However, the search-warrant is restricted to Goodman’s desk. This enabled others working at the newspaper to destroy incriminating information. One journalist in the building at the time, described seeing two senior members of staff removing “black bin bags full of paperwork from their office desks”. The police also arrest Glenn Mulcaire. They also have search-warrants for the homes of Goodman and Mulcaire. According to the Guardian this included the mobile phone numbers of 2,978 people as well as 30 audiotapes of voicemail messages and 91 secret PINs for accessing voicemail for the minority of people who change their factory-set PIN. The police recorded at the time that “a vast number of unique voicemail numbers belonging to high-profile individuals (politicians, celebrities) have been identified as being accessed without authority.” November 2006: Goodman and Mulcaire admit conspiracy to intercept calls “without lawful authority”. Andy Coulson, the editor of the News of the World, denies knowing about the telephone hacking. At the time, several former editors go on record as saying this is unbelievable as the News of the World would not have published these stories without knowing where the information had come from. January 2007: Goodman sentenced to four months in prison. Mulcaire gets six months. Andy Coulson, the editor of the News of the World, resigns, still claiming he knew nothing about the phone hacking. July 2007: Andy Coulson is appointed by David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, as his Director of Communications. Over the next few months members of Metropolitan Police Service began leaking information of the phone hacking to the victims. This included Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, Max Clifford, a press agent for several stars and football agent, Sky Andrew, whose clients include Sol Campbell and Jermain Defoe. December 2007: Andy Hayman is forced to resign from the Metropolitan Police following allegations about expense claims and alleged improper conduct with a female member of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and a female Sergeant. He was also heavily criticised by the IPCC over the mistaken shooting dead of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Underground station on 22 July 2005. January 2008: Andy Hayman is employed by Rupert Murdoch’s News International, as a columnist. The very organisation that he failed to investigate properly in 2006. In other words, this is his payoff for not arresting Andy Coulson and other senior figures at the News of the World. In July 2009 News Corporation paid Gordon Taylor and two other men, over £1 million over the hacking into mobile phones. This was followed by another £1 million to Max Clifford. These cases were settled out of court and so no details have been revealed about who was behind this hacking. There is an estimated 20 other cases pending. Hopefully, some of these people will insist that the evidence is presented in court. In September 2010 the New York Times claims it has interviewed several journalists who worked for the New York Times who claim that Andy Coulson knew all about the phone hacking. However, only one of these witnesses, Sean Hoare, is named. A smear campaign is launched against Hoare who is described as someone who was sacked for drink and drug problems." http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=14556 I would also like to know the following... As it has been said.."allegedly been using/employing certain private individuals to phone tap people."...How were these people paid?. What method of payment was used?, cash?, was tax paid, etc?. An Inland Revenue investigation should be instigated, methinks. Update... 5 August 2011 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/05/hacking-police-fees-investigated-tax Edited by George Dutton, Aug 6 2011, 10:13 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| George Dutton | Sep 6 2010, 11:31 PM Post #10 |
|
"Murdoch’s News of the World wiretapped many Aim now is to destroy the BBC"... http://tinyurl.com/37o95ka |
![]() |
|
| George Dutton | Sep 7 2010, 10:19 AM Post #11 |
|
7th Sept 2010 "The strangest aspect of this case was why did David Cameron employ Andy Coulson as his Director of Communications, only six months after he was forced to resign because of the strong suspicion that he had ordered journalists to hack the phones of politicians. This straight away illustrated that Cameron was willing to engage in dirty tricks in order to win the next election. Could it be that Cameron had no choice in the matter? Is Cameron being blackmailed by Coulson? I suspect that the private detectives employed by Coulson were not only getting information for the News of the World but was also getting the dirt on Labour MPs for Conservative Party headquarters. If that is the case, can you imagine what impact this would have on the public if this information came out in court."... http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=14556 It should be remembered... "On July 9, 2007, David Cameron appointed Andy Coulson as Conservative Party Director of Communications on a salary of £450,000 a year. Why? Maybe because he is the man who knows all the secrets of the politicians." A thought: Given the extraordinary lengths that the Murdoch empire goes too, is it possible that the use of satellite images, both military and civilian comes into play in all of this?. To gain access to the military satellite images and the tracking of people's movements 24/7 would be indeed be a powerful tool to any would be despot. This would indicate collusion of people in the highest echelons of the U.S. government and military. |
![]() |
|
| George Dutton | Sep 7 2010, 06:32 PM Post #12 |
|
7 September 2010 "Police expected to quiz Coulson over phone-hack claims" "The former Labour minister Chris Bryant, who believes his messages might have been hacked, said Mr Yates was "extremely evasive" before the select committee and the police had not "gone far enough"."... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11212904 |
![]() |
|
| George Dutton | Sep 7 2010, 06:55 PM Post #13 |
|
7th Sept 2010 "John Yates, the assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, announced today that he intends to interview Sean Hoare and Andy Coulson. I would also suggest he also interviews Andy Hayman, who carried out the original investigation, about his relationship with Rupert Murdoch’s News International. He also needs to interview the following News of the World journalists: Ross Hall (transcribed illegally-hacked phone messages); Neville Thurlbeck (News of the World chief reporter who appears on compromising emails and memos); Sharon Marshall (News of the World reporter who told the New York Times that she witnessed phone hacking whilst working for the newspaper) and Matt Driscoll (News of the World journalist who claimed he was shown private phone records belonging to Rio Ferdinand by a senior editor)."... http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=14556 |
![]() |
|
| George Dutton | Sep 7 2010, 07:27 PM Post #14 |
|
NY Times article, 8 pages long... http://tinyurl.com/3268yl5 |
![]() |
|
| George Dutton | Sep 8 2010, 10:31 PM Post #15 |
|
8 September 2010 "Phone hacking was rife at News of the World, claims new witness"... http://tinyurl.com/34l3uwh "Key witness will testify on News of the World phone hacking"... http://tinyurl.com/2cgrcgp "Coulson - and Murdoch - feel the heat as phone-hacking story gains traction"... http://tinyurl.com/32vj7wg "Phone-hacking row: MPs to hold emergency debate"... http://tinyurl.com/2vvq5tz |
![]() |
|
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · UK Current Affairs · Next Topic » |
| Track Topic · E-mail Topic |
7:55 PM Jul 11
|
Hosted for free by ZetaBoards · Privacy Policy







7:55 PM Jul 11