July 17, 2011

"Rebekah Brooks has been arrested..."

"... by police investigating allegations of phone hacking by the News of the World and allegations that police officers were bribed to leak sensitive information."
... Brooks, 43, resigned on Friday as News International's chief executive. She is a former News of the World editor and was close to Rupert Murdoch and the prime minister, David Cameron.

117 comments:

The Crack Emcee said...

I have a sneaking suspicion this is going to blow up - on the Left. I'm not sure why, except they're too giddy. This is corruption, and that tells me they're involved, somehow.

Also, the way TNOW has become News Corp. is telling:

They're already over-reaching.

Give it time. This may not play out the way they want, at all,...

garage mahal said...

I have a sneaking suspicion this is going to blow up - on the Left

The left is arresting News Corp employees?

Hehe. Pass that popcorn

paul a'barge said...

Link?

Hagar said...

Can anyone make a Dr. Seuss poem about not liking this new interface?

The Crack Emcee said...

See what I mean?

Garage is happy and, of course, incapable of thinking a few moves ahead.

Enjoy the popcorn, G, you may end up choking on it.

AmPowerBlog said...

What's up with the comments? I liked the old comments system just fine. That was "Old Blogger." Still waiting for Althou.se, so just keep some continuity until then, please.

Phil 314 said...

Could they really have gathered enough evidence for arrest in such a short time?

The Crack Emcee said...

The truth - wherever it lies - will win out.

garage mahal said...

What are the chances they find this scandal has jumped the pond? If so, that presumably would be very bad for Fox News. I just hope it's not true.

Hagar said...

The British press practices are a lot more freewheeling than ours; the guy on Fox Newswatch last night was not that wrong when he referred to The Guardian as a tabloid. By our standards, it is.
This hacking stuff has been beyond the pale in some instances, but still looks more like grounds for civil suits for damages than real crimes. Which is probably why the cops have sat on the information for years. Makes them somewhat complicit in sleaze, but not necessarily all that sinister.

That this blows up now, just as Murdoch was about to launch a takeover bid for BSkyB, makes me wonder if that has more to do with the uproar over there than any genuine moral outrage.
Over here, I think the "Journolist" crowd see an opportuntity to pile on and perhaps shale Fox News and the WSJ away from Murdoch, or at least weaken them. Since, such as they are, Fox and the WSJ are about the only "legacy media" opposition press we have in this counrty, I think it will be a very bad thing if the left were to succeed in this.

Anonymous said...

I'll give anyone a dollar if they can tell me what charge she was arrested on.

I defy you to do so.

Good thing that the U.S. Congress can make no law abridging the freedom of the press in the United States ... including a wiretapping law.

Anonymous said...

"What are the chances they find this scandal has jumped the pond? If so, that presumably would be very bad for Fox News."

We have a First Amendment here, Garage, to protect us from the likes of you fucking fascists.

So, I'm quite sure Fox News isn't the least bit worried about the Democrat Party's keyboard warriors.

garage mahal said...

I'll give anyone a dollar if they can tell me what charge she was arrested on.

I defy you to do so


"She was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to Section1(1) Criminal Law Act 1977 and on suspicion of corruption allegations contrary to Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906."

Rick Caird said...

Notice, Garage, there are no charges, only suspicions. Hence, you don't win the dollar as you have not met the criterion.

Bartender Cabbie said...

When all else fails she could try for a career in Chatsworth. Films featuring "older" ladies are in vogue now.

edutcher said...

Agree with Crack. Arresting her is going to backfire for them, although Albion doesn't have the press protections we have.

I think Insta's take on this whole matter was interesting - viewing the Establishment Media reaction in this country as an attempt to prep the election year battlespace against Fox News.

And, yes, the Lefties do fear them that much, Alpha notwithstanding.

Titus said...

If this was about the New York Times (which should be arrested) or even BBC I would be interested.

Otherwise, this is a local story and has no place here or anywhere.

This is ridiculous.

Hacking into murdered young children's voicemails and families who died in Afghanistan is such a non story.

News media do this thing all the time.

Why has David Cameron, of all people, even been supporting the lame stream media in their efforts.

And Murdoch even apologized which is total bullshit.

Now back to tits please.

Total non story.

Titus said...

If Maureen Dowd gets arrested I will care, really care. Because she should be arrested. Along with Frank Rich.

The Crack Emcee said...

edutcher,

Agree with Crack. Arresting her is going to backfire for them, although Albion doesn't have the press protections we have.

Any time a rock is turned over, you don't know what you're going to find. The problem for the Left in such a case is, they live down there - they are "the underground" - as opposed to those trying to live in "the light."

Down below, there is no loyalty, ethics, morality - nothing to keep anyone from sinking whatever scheme is being investigated. I could be wrong, seeing how it's in England and all, but I think (conservatives notwithstanding) this has got the Left's fingerprints all over it - it's the kind of dirty game they specialize in. Somebody could drop a key bit of info that swings this whole thing into areas the Left won't appreciate.

And, I think, it's very likely to happen.

somefeller said...

I could be wrong, seeing how it's in England and all, but I think (conservatives notwithstanding) this has got the Left's fingerprints all over it - it's the kind of dirty game they specialize in.

Unless evidence comes out that The Guardian or other left-leaning UK papers were also involved in this sort of phone-hacking, I don't think this is likely to backfire. Plus, the Labour Party didn't hire someone linked to the phone-hacking scandal to work on their party's communications, the Tories did. (Which is too bad because I like David Cameron's Tories.) I know it's fashionable among some elements of the commenters here to blame the Left for everything from bad weather to the heartbreak of psoriasis, but I don't think that's likely to work out in this circumstance.

Automatic_Wing said...

This is certainly a lot more important than the federal government funnelling arms to Mexican drug gangs. I'm on the edge of my seat.

Hagar said...

I do not know if this is still so in Britain, but I suspect it is; arresting and charging these people will also shut them up until their cases have been tried and a verdict pronounced, by which time it is hoped that the media will have long ago gone on to other things and will no longer be interested in asking further questions about this case.

Hagar said...

and the new interface sucks - bigtime.

garage mahal said...

Any time a rock is turned over, you don't know what you're going to find. The problem for the Left in such a case is, they live down there - they are "the underground" - as opposed to those trying to live in "the light."

In such a case like this, "the left" has nothing to do with Murdoch's henchmen hacking phones of dead 13 yr old girls and 9/11 victims.

Anonymous said...

I have it on very good authority that she is completely hairless.

Peter

edutcher said...

The Crack Emcee said...

edutcher,

Agree with Crack. Arresting her is going to backfire for them, although Albion doesn't have the press protections we have.

Any time a rock is turned over, you don't know what you're going to find. The problem for the Left in such a case is, they live down there - they are "the underground" - as opposed to those trying to live in "the light."

Down below, there is no loyalty, ethics, morality - nothing to keep anyone from sinking whatever scheme is being investigated. I could be wrong, seeing how it's in England and all, but I think (conservatives notwithstanding) this has got the Left's fingerprints all over it - it's the kind of dirty game they specialize in. Somebody could drop a key bit of info that swings this whole thing into areas the Left won't appreciate.

And, I think, it's very likely to happen.


Don't know I can agree this is a false flag. Murdoch has a very aggressive reputation in the Anglosphere and it's very possible somebody trying to make their way up the corporate ladder just went too far.

That said, I don't think it will be hard to find all the Lefties pointing self-righteous fingers will be found to have done as much or worse. That's how I think it will blow up.

Bruce Rheinstein said...

"If Maureen Dowd gets arrested I will care, really care. Because she should be arrested. Along with Frank Rich."

Hack journalism isn't a crime. Hacking into other people's phone calls is.

Murdoch's paper also made a crucial error. They embarrassed both the police and the ruling party.

shana said...

Garage, it has yet to be proven that journalists writing for any other paper other than News of the World have hacked anyone's phones; indeed, the Guardian has already had to apologize for smearing the Sun.
And what do you think anyone is going to "get" out of Fox News? Do you think someone can declare Sean Hannity guilty of phone hacking because Glenn Mulcaire at one time worked for the same umbrella company in another country at another paper? That's like declaring the opinion editor of the International Herald Tribune a plagiarist because Jayson Blair did the same thing. Possible, I suppose, but laughably far-fetched.
The tragedy of all this is that 200 innocent people who committed no crime lost their jobs. Maybe you feel good about that, Garage.
Hagar, yes, once someone has been arrested in Britain, the media can no longer report on them because it may prejudice the jury.

Paul said...

As you roll a stone so shall it be rolled back to you.

shana said...

Somefeller, Labour leader Ed Milliband has indeed hired a staffer from News International and who himself has been accused of dirty deeds.
Plus Tony Blair and Rebekah Brooks were very cozy. Labour's hands aren't any cleaner in this whole affair, I'm afraid.

rcocean said...

Boring.

roesch-voltaire said...

Crack in case you had not noticed folks are often arrested on suspicion of a crime before before a possible court case. And if non-Murdoch newspapers are guilty of these same crimes, the folks responsible should resign or be arrested-- this is hardly backfiring on the left, but justice. This has Murdoch's finger prints, emails, tapped calls all over it-- that is the reality now live with it.

garage mahal said...

Maybe Soros could buy News Corp?

Bruce Rheinstein said...

"This has Murdoch's finger prints, emails, tapped calls all over it-- that is the reality now live with it."

Do you have special knowledge not available to the general public, or just throwing reckless speculation into the mix?

Paco Wové said...

"Murdoch's finger prints, emails, tapped calls all over it"

Murdoch's? Personally? He himself promoted this policy?

shana said...

roesch-voltaire said:
This has Murdoch's finger prints, emails, tapped calls all over it
How do you know that?

Alex said...

Crack - no matter how you try to spin this, it's BAD BAD BAD for Fox News. They are going down, that's why garage is feeling gleeful today.

Alex said...

Conservatives scared shitless that Fox News will be shut down. LOL!

Bruce Rheinstein said...

"it's BAD BAD BAD for Fox News. They are going down,"

Ah, someone else with special information not available to the general public.

me said...

Did the NY Slimes get caught trying to dig into the adoption records for John Roberts kids during his confirmation hearings?

shana said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
garage mahal said...

Allegedly Jude Law's phone was hacked while visiting in the U.S. which would certainly open News Corp to prosecution in America.

Alex said...

garage's dream is to see Murdoch, Limbaugh and Ryan all frog-marched at the same time.

Bruce Rheinstein said...

"Allegedly Jude Law's phone was hacked while visiting in the U.S. which would certainly open News Corp to prosecution in America."

It's an Inspector Dan Rather caper!

Phil 314 said...

Maybe Soros could buy News Corp?

No, but the volume from "Media Matters" will certainly be turned up.

The Crack Emcee said...

I don't have a lot of time - going out of town - but, very quickly, I think you guys misread me:

There are more people on "The Left" than those in the newspaper business (The Guardian, etc.) Anyone can be involved, and I'm willing to wait and see who is.

This has nothing to do with FOX News, wishful thinking aside. The fact the left is already screaming about the Murdoch empire - and not just NOTW shows how desperate they are - and how much damage Murdoch does to them.

Finally, I have to admit to being a bit baffled by the whole thing:

What's the point of hacking dead 13 year olds and 9-11 victims?

On the flip side:

A lot of the others who were supposedly hacked - and are now screaming bloody murder - are still scumbags, so no glory for the Left there. It just proves how low the whole ideology is by who their fellow travelers are.

Gotta go - have fun.

shana said...

The Jude Law allegations might open News Corp to prosecution in America, and it might not. Would have loved to see expert opinion on that point, but it wasn't forthcoming from the Telegraph or the Mail. Oh well.
More likely, though, the allegations would probably be against News Int. Still not sure how you implicate Fox News in this, other than, er, um, it's owned by the same parent company so therefore they are evil.

garage mahal said...

Fox News is part of News Corp to my knowledge. If prosecuted, their operating licenses could be revoked, or more likely, denied for renewal.

Alex said...

Fox News is part of News Corp to my knowledge. If prosecuted, their operating licenses could be revoked, or more likely, denied for renewal.

That's quite a leap even for you garbage. But you do need jerking-off material, so I won't begrudge you!

shana said...

So are you suggesting that if one person in one branch of a multinational is convicted of wrongdoing, that means that the entire multinational considered guilty? I'm no expert in US corporate law, but that seems crazy to me.

William said...

Apparently hacking into the phones of murdered children is more profitable than hacking into State Dept. cables. Murdoch has some papers that make money in contrast to the NYT and the WaPo.....British tabloid journalism is its own place. Murdoch used some of his editors interchangeably. It's possible that they imported some of those Fleet St. techniques to this country. If they did, they should suffer the consequences. I can't help but think that the animus is not against the phone hackers but against the political ideology of those hackers.....The liberal media nearly always portrays the stumbles of those on the right as grand sins and the grand sins of those on the left as human foibles. The Rev. Wright is in the prophetic tradition and Sarah Palin is a religious fanatic. Iran Contra was something akin to a fascist putsch and the greasy scandals of the Clinton administration were the lubricants of democracy.....Murdoch has a successful business model. There is something unseemly about all these reporters yammering for the collapse of a business that employs so many of their colleagues.

Alex said...

I'm no expert in US corporate law, but that seems crazy to me.

Our garbage operates on many levels of crazy. Batshit crazy.

Bruce Rheinstein said...

Just to clarify, the allegation is that the News of the World hacked into Jude Law's phone, now News Corp., which is a separate legal entity.

The allegation being put forward here (including by at least one person who appears to be a communications professor) appears to be that criminal activity by a News Corp. subsidiary was done with the knowledge and approval of Rupert Murdoch.

In the UK that would probably be actionable, but in the U.S. Murdoch has less legal protection as a public figure.

Alex said...

Murdoch has a successful business model. There is something unseemly about all these reporters yammering for the collapse of a business that employs so many of their colleagues.

It's 100% ideology all the time. Fox News MUST be destroyed at all costs.

Bill said...

Man, reading some of these comments makes me actually believe you morons condone what Murdoch's corporation has done. You people are a bunch of sick fuckers.

Bruce Rheinstein said...

"reading some of these comments makes me actually believe you morons condone what Murdoch's corporation has done"

Examples, please.

Lombardi Chick said...

Man, reading some of these comments makes me actually believe you morons condone what Murdoch's corporation has done. You people are a bunch of sick fuckers.

I know the feeling, Ren. Why, just yesterday, I was reading a Mediaite thread on Bill Maher's latest controversial show (you know, the one where the supposedly funny guy talked about having angry sex with Michelle Bachmann, and Dan Savage indicated he thought about doing the same to Rick Santorum, and wished all Republicans dead), and there was not a molecule of condemnation from the lefties on the site.

Which is not to say I was actually expecting any.

Having said that, please indicate where you saw anyone here (or elsewhere) giving approval to these activities. I guess I missed it.

JC said...

I find it funny that the reaction here to wrong-doing by people on the right is "Well, I bet we'll find out the Left was doing.....something."

You know it's bad when this is the best you can come up with. You're so used to doing the old "tu quoque" routine whenever anyone on the right does something wrong, that this situation has left you perplexed. You don't know how to respond to a situation when the Left hasn't done anything similar, so your response becomes "Well, they must have done something wrong too!"

shana said...

Also, garage, you're confusing Fox News Channel (a cable TV channel that the FCC doesn't regulate) with News Corp's 27 Fox O and Os. You have to be of "good character" to have an FCC broadcast license, so I imagine that this will be the hook on which Sens. Boxer and Rockefeller hang their investigations.
However, the chairman of Fox Television Stations is one Roger Ailes, who is not an uncanny political operator. It will be interesting to watch Sen. Boxer try to accuse him of crimes which, as of yet, he has not been alleged to commit. Pass the popcorn, indeed.

shana said...

By the way, we'll know that people are really serious about breaking the Murdoch control over the media when they stop watching Star Wars. :-)

JC said...

But what am I saying? I'm sure if it had been The Guardian or the New York Times that got caught doing something like this, all of you guys would be in the comments here saying "Well, I bet this is going to blow back on the Right. They totally must have done something here, too"

Bruce Rheinstein said...

all of you guys would be in the comments here saying...

Because we're all just a stereotype to you.

BJM said...

@garage

What operating licenses would those be?

JC said...

"Because we're all just a stereotype to you."

Holy non sequitur, Batman! That's the best you can come up with?

Bruce Rheinstein said...

Holy non sequitur, Batman! That's the best you can come up with?

Sorry. I save my A-list material for A-list trolls.

JC said...

Fall back for someone who doesn't have an argument - call the other person a troll.

shana said...

JC, instead of assuming all of us are saying what you accuse us of doing (because, if you, like, read the comments, we're not), it might help if you address your criticisms directly towards the people to whom you object.
This is why political discourse is breaking down - instead of rationally airing your concerns (which, by the way, are not unwarranted) your snark makes you seem like a jerk, which means people behave like a jerk to you. Don't be part of this vicious circle.

BJM said...

@Ren

On a scale of 0-10 this is about a 2 compared with the NYT publishing classified military material while our service men and women are in harms way.

The US media should be holding their collective noses and defending Fox to the hilt. Once press protections are breached and precedents established the govt censorship bell cannot be un-rung and eventually will toll for them as well.

It never ceases to amaze me that the left is so willing to give up their rights to weaken a political opponent.

kurt mueller said...

Garage: "Fox News is part of News Corp to my knowledge. If prosecuted, their operating licenses could be revoked, or more likely, denied for renewal."

Jeez, are you really this obtuse? Fox News is a cable channel, not a broadcast station, ergo the FCC does not license Fox News.

JC said...

shana - So do I have to individually name all the people behaving in the way I described? I thought I could assume people here were smart enough to figure out whether they are/are not doing what I described, and react accordingly.

Bruce Rheinstein said...

1:25 PM: all of you guys

1:49 PM: I thought I could assume people here were smart enough to figure out whether they are/are not doing what I described

So which is it?

JC said...

"All of you guys" meaning all the people who came here saying what I described.

You know, there is subtlety in the English language...

shana said...

JC, in the magic world of the internet, where so many misunderstandings can occur, I think we all have to work a little harder to come across as rational people.

Bruce Rheinstein said...

there is subtlety in the English language...

It was some other "all of you guys?" That's pretty subtle.

JC said...

Notice how you cut out the first part, where I specifically described who I meant by "all of you guys."

And I'm the one who is supposedly a troll?

JC said...

I guess this is your style of argument, Hockey Bum? Ignore the actual point I bring up, in order to go on...and on...about some perceived slight? To argue over the semantics of "all of you guys" instead of what it was I really said?

Bruce Rheinstein said...

JC said...

But what am I saying? I'm sure if it had been The Guardian or the New York Times that got caught doing something like this, all of you guys would be in the comments here saying "Well, I bet this is going to blow back on the Right. They totally must have done something here, too"

7/17/11 1:25 PM


That's your complete post. Or is it your position that a previous post somehow modifies it?

JC said...

Also the point about how "all of you guys" (i.e. Crack Emcee, edutcher, Paul, etc.) immediate reaction was "Well, I bet the Left must have done something wrong too." The second post was intended to provide an example of just how ridiculous that reaction is. Because I know that those named people would not have the same reaction if it was the NYT, CNN, or any other left-wing media organization.

They would not jump on this comment board to say "Well, I bet Rupert Murdoch did something wrong too!" They would go on their usual rants about how horrible and corrupt the left-wing is, and how this is just the latest example.

Alex said...

JC - what's with "all you guys"? Do you know anything about British tabloid culture? This story is par for the course over there. The problem I have is how the left is immediately jumping on this story to see how it can negatively impact Fox News...

ken in tx said...

I think Murdoch will survive it.

BTW, Thank you Ann for tweaking the interface. What you did solves my complaint and makes me feel good that someone actually reads my comments.

The Crack Emcee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Crack Emcee said...

Hey, give JC a break:

I've become "all of you guys" just as NOTW has become the entirety of Murdoch's holdings.

It's how Libs think and function, and I still say it's possible one of their bone's are gonna fall out of the mess because, from where I sit, something's still wrong with the optics.

Like the beginning of the Anthony Weiner saga, it just doesn't add up,...

garage mahal said...

Has Roger Ailes Hacked American Phones for Fox News?

Very very interesting!

“I made the connections. Ailes knew I had given Brock the interview. Certainly Brock didn’t tell him. Of course. Fox News had gotten Brock’s telephone records from the phone company, and my phone number was on the list. Deep in the bowels of 1211 Avenue of the Americas, News Corporation’s New York headquarters, was what Roger called the Brain Room. Most people thought it was simply the research department of Fox News. But unlike virtually everybody else, because I had to design and build the Brain Room, I knew it also housed a counterintelligence and black ops office. So accessing phone records was easy pie.”

I'm Full of Soup said...

Garage:
Fox News is a cable channel. I don't think cable channels need a license from the fed govt.

Bruce Rheinstein said...

The AP is reporting that "Britain's most senior police officer, Paul Stephenson" has resigned in connection with the scandal.

Heywood Rice said...

It's just a few bad apples.

gk1 said...

Wishfull thinking by so many lefties wanting to bring Fox down. So is it your position that wrong doing by Fleet Street british tabloids is soley the fault of Murdoch?

Alex said...

So I take it Alan Colmes was gleeful the other day? Talk about biting the hand that feeds you...

I'm Full of Soup said...

Ren:

I agree it is horrifying if Jude Law's phone was hacked! Btw - who is Jude Law?

Heywood Rice said...

It can't happen here.

Bruce Rheinstein said...

Has Roger Ailes Hacked American Phones for Fox News?

Roger Ailes, phone hacker? Seriously, this is embarrassing even by Nation standards.

Synova said...

As for "the left has done something bad too" thing, otherwise known as "do you want to make a big deal of this and have it backfire on you?" thing...

Firstly, I don't know that anyone is particularly invested in Murdock, and being shocked, shocked!, that some journalist bribed someone or bugged a phone or whatever the heck bad stuff happened is sort of a spectacle in itself. At some level journalists are supposed to be sneaky and unlawful.

The supposed shock and charge that journalists are involved in political activism through these activities is laughable on the face of it. Really? Are you kidding me? It's not that the "left" should be concerned about the potential for back-fire here, but that it's so much SOP and we're so used to it that no one hardly notices when it happens.

The party atmosphere is telling. Anyone with a little perspective wouldn't be gleefully unconscious of the past political behavior of journalists in this country, who are shameless in their support for the left. Telling the future, that the howling over what's coming down on FOX might well come down elsewhere, doesn't take a gift of prophecy.

Heywood Rice said...

Move along nothing to see here.

Synova said...

And what I mean by "journalists are supposed to be sneaky and unlawful" is... well... I'm waiting for the first person on the left to condemn a journalist who reveals classified information when a Republican administration is involved.

Will. Not. Happen.

The Crack Emcee said...

Forget Garage's fevered brain - he's taken a trip to Conspiracy Theoryville:

Hockey Bum,

The AP is reporting that "Britain's most senior police officer, Paul Stephenson" has resigned in connection with the scandal.

Still nothing - probably people under him fucked up, with the Queen and all that, so he's taking responsibility. We need somebody, trying to save their skin, to start talking. (Honest folks, who crossed a line, are not going to help Garage rub it raw.) Scandal calls for a bad guy - is there a bad guy in this?

Alex said...

Wasn't Wine-gate supposed to have legs last week? Oh it didn't go anywhere. Just like this dog won't hunt. Keep tryin' lefties!

Heywood Rice said...

Mistakes were made.

Alex said...

Mistakes were made.

Isn't that what CBS said about memo-gate? Oh nothing to see, move along...

Heywood Rice said...

Everyone does it.

The Crack Emcee said...

Synova,

Telling the future, that the howling over what's coming down on FOX might well come down elsewhere, doesn't take a gift of prophecy.

Thank you (no one will ever hear me claim that) but what I'm thinking is, who are the low-life's here? It's hard to tell from this side of the pond, and considering we're talking about tabloids, but who's involved that would be willing to sell out their values? Obviously a Lib, because - more often than not - they have no values.

Like I said, we need more information - 10 people (now 11, with the cop) have been arrested, right? That's a lot of folks. Somebody's got bto start talking,...

Alex said...

Everyone does it.

So you will never admit the history of left-wing media dirty tricks. History only begins in July 2011. Everything else "down the memory hole".

Bruce Rheinstein said...

everyone does it

Or perhaps has been accused of doing it:

Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta report in their recent book that Hillary Clinton personally
listened to a secretly recorded audiotape of a phone conversation of Clinton critics plotting their next attack. The tape contained discussions of another woman who might surface with allegations about an affair with Bill. Bill's supporters monitored frequencies used by cell phones, and the tape was made during one of those monitoring sessions.

Heywood Rice said...

They started it.

Hagar said...

They have been doing this kind of stuff to "celebrities" and the royals forever, and nobody ever said anything but "tut, tut, what terrible manners."
What some folks in the industry has not understood is that going after the relatives of fallen soldiers, not to mention hacking the dead girl's cellphone and interfering with it, crossed a line into a quite different territory.
However, it is difficult to see that the crimes themselves were any different; they were just committed on different victims.

So one must necessarily conclude that the uproar - on both sides of the ocean - is for political reasons.

And the Google profile thing is a great pain in the rear!

Hagar said...

Crack,
I think the trick here is that once these people are arrested, they can't talk, or rather, it does not matter if they do, because in Britain it is now against the law to write and publish anything about their cases un til they have been tried and sentenced.

Bruce Rheinstein said...

in Britain it is now against the law to write and publish anything about their cases un til they have been tried and sentenced.

That won't stop American papers from reporting information, and that information will be available on Al Gore's newfangled Internet.

shana said...

garage quoted:
Deep in the bowels of 1211 Avenue of the Americas, News Corporation’s New York headquarters, was what Roger called the Brain Room.
I have seen the Brainroom at Fox News Headquarters. Yes.
I'd like to tell you it looks like the Tardis or something. But it's not. It's a cube farm.
Cube farms aren't, for obvious reasons, a great place for black ops and counterintelligence. I mean, wouldn't you want to have dividers between the monitors for that sort of thing?

Heywood Rice said...

Al Gore is fat.

Heywood Rice said...

Also, how dare the libtards try and take advantage of this over politicised scandal that has nothing to do with Fox News. They are such hypocrites as usual because the lamestream media is totally biased for Obama and they refuse to criticise them for it. They are just jealous of Rupert Murdoch because he's wealthy and they are waging class war on our job creators to destroy this country. What traitorous lowlifes. It is nothing less than obvious that Soros has set up the Murdochs to clear the way for Obama's reelection which otherwise could never happen unless he was running for president of Kenya.

Werehawk said...

Well the timing of the entire brouhaha is interesting particularly if one bears in mind when the the entire thing came to light. It emerges right when Rupert Murdoch was about to buy a controlling interest in sky1 which is the BBCs only competition in England...

Hacking by British newspapers and tabloids has long been an open secret and News of The World was far from unique in hacking into potential sources of news stories. The lengths they went to are disgusting enough but I very much doubt that they were the only ones dipping down into the sewer to get a story. For the matter expecting Rupert Murdoch to be fully aware of every action taken within one particular subsidiary of his company is a bit much particularly in a multinational in which the head to limb ratio is pretty high

Bruce Rheinstein said...

It is nothing less than obvious that Soros has set up the Murdochs...

Mobys are so 2004.

Heywood Rice said...

Yes Wherehawk, if I understand what you're saying all this phone hacking and bribing the police is common knowledge in the UK, unless you're Rupert Murdoch, who because of his high moral character, remained completely in the dark about what his employees were doing. Seems like common sense but you'll never get the moonbats to admit it.

Werehawk said...

Antiphone:

I suspect that Murdoch (like many CEOs) most likely simply looked at the bottom line and left things to whoever his deputy was in charge to run things as they saw fit. Given the size of news corp I very much doubt he would be aware of the exact activities of the staff of one particular newspaper were. So long as profits were meeting or exceeding expectations I very much doubt that he'd look any further.

As for British tabloids and hacking. Given how much the British tabloid market is a very much a dog eat dog environment I very much doubt that one would be able to find a British tabloid that has not sunken to the depths that News of The World did in search of a story. I seem to recall more than one tabloid being caught hacking the royal families voice-mails and bribing police officers for information.

In any case like I said the timing of this entire brouhaha is interesting to say the least. Call me cynical but when you have a media market dominated by one state broadcaster (BBC) and with the only private competitor about to change hands having a scandal emerge is awfully convenient.

Lydia said...

At The Telegraph site (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyyoung/100097249/rebekah-brookss-arrest-isnt-any-worse-for-dave-than-it-is-for-gordon/), here’s some info on the British political complications of all this:

Gordon Brown was at least as friendly with Rebekah Brooks as David Cameron....it was Gordon Brown who hosted a “slumber party” for Brooks at Chequers on her 40th birthday in 2008 and Gordon Brown who attended her wedding to Charlie Brooks in 2009? Even Ed Milliband isn’t completely untainted by this scandal, having hired ex-Times hack Tom Baldwin as his spinmeister-in-chief and attended Rupert Murdoch’s annual summer party a few weeks ago.

As Crack Emcee and others here have noted, they’re all in this game together, so maybe we should just wait and see how this all shakes out before popping the corks over the demise of the Murdoch brand.

Revenant said...

Mobys are so 2004.

It is always 2004 here in the Althouse comments section.

Sloanasaurus said...

Im not sure exactly why liberals are welcoming this scandal. SInce liberals dominate 90% of the news media, they are at far more risk of being found out.

Its a big duh, that over zealous journalists have found other means to gather information such as trying to hack phones or pay cash.

Not the NY Times though. They just outright lie rather than try to get the information.

Anthony said...

I'll just mention at this point that I agree with everything Lombardi Chick says.