The current crisis engulfing Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp media empire here in the UK has the potential to be the story of 2011.
For those not in the know, King Rupert is the Australian born and naturalized American (for business purposes) Billionaire that controls a vast global media empire which includes 20th Century Fox Studios, Fox television network, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, New York Post and numerous other media outlets around the world. In the UK his News International subsidiary operates News Corps' British holdings which include(d) The Sun, News of the World and The Sunday Times.
For a complete list News Corps holdings check this out.
Anyhoo, back in the mid-2000s, scandals erupted over News of the World journalists and editors working with a private investigator to hack the phones of members the royal family and other celebrities, among whom were Sienna Miller and Hugh Grant. The issue was brought to the police to investigate but the then heads of London's Metropolitain Police claimed there was not enough evidence of wide spread phone hacking and criminal invasion of privacy to warrant a bigger investigation. News International settled out of court with Sienna Miller, Hugh Grant and six other celebrities who had their privacy violated by News of the World staff under the guidance of then Editor-in-Chief Rebekah Brooks.
Unfortunately for King Rupert, the scandal would not go away and in 2010 he announced plans for News Corps to add to its empire by purchasing the 61% of BSkyB (the UK's major satellite network). The bid had to be approved by the government and with the opprobrium hanging over News International (now headed by Rebekah Brooks) it seemed like their could be some hitches in the plan.
According to The Guardian, in 2010 Murdoch, who as a staunch supporter and friend of former prime minster and Labour Party head Tony Blair, saw Blair's replacement Gordon Brown as a kind of Judas that betrayed his political lap dog, offered to end his media war on Brown and Labour if he would work to end the investigations into News of the World's phone hacking and police bribary policy. Brown refused and Murdoch continued on with his war which managed to take out enough damage on Brown that it cost him enough votes that he was not able to form a coalition government with the Liberal-Democrats, resulting in the current mess of a government running the UK.
Then it happened, King Rupert could not hold back the floodgates for ever. Things exploded into public view when it was discovered that News of the World reporters were hacking the phones of murder victims, politicians and the families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. There was a massive outcry and in an attempt to stop the bleeding, King Rupert closed the News of the World after over a century of being in the newspaper business, resulting hundreds of good people losing their jobs. Meanwhile, Rebekah Brooks, who was the head of the entire News International operation remains in her high paying gig.
There is much speculation that King Rupert is protecting Brooks at all cost in order to keep her from having to testify against her boss, James Murdoch, King Rupert's son and possible heir. If King Rupert is out to save Prince James' neck, then he must also be quite aware of the extent of the corruption and criminality in his media empire. So far, a handful of News International employees have gone to prison for their actions. If they were operating under orders that came straight from the top, then that means the man sitting on top of the pyramid is also guilty of the same crimes.
While King Rupert and Prince James going to the clink is still far-fetched, the situation has turned pretty sour pretty fast for the News Corps Empire. He has managed to do something that might not have happened since World War II and the London Blitz - the political parties of the UK are united on a single issue. The Liberal-Democrats, Labour and Tories have joined to oppose News Corps' purchase BSkyB. The pressure has forced King Rupert to abandon his plans to buy the satellite network and the three parties are proposing legislation to limit media ownership to prevent the domination of the market by a single entity, such as Murdoch's empire. Brooks and King Rupert have agreed to appear before the House of Commons but when seems unsure. Meanwhile, the police officers who sold information or seemed to work on behalf of News International to confound investigations into its criminal activities are being brought out into the light of day. In Australia, spurred on by the UK scandals, parliament is discussing laws to limit media ownership. In America, where Murdoch's most digusting apparatus (Fox News) operates, Democratic senators are discussing possible investigations of News Corps to see if they have been just as criminal on that side of the Atlantic as this one.
If nothing else happens, King Rupert has lost News of the World and full ownership of BSkyB. It seems impossible for Rebekah Brooks to retain her position. He has also reinvigorated the Labour Party by providing party leader Ed Milliband, who had been performing some what lacklusterly, with an issue that he could take ahold of and lead a charge. While Prime Minister (and pal of Murdoch) David Cameron has appeared to be stumbling with the issue of playing catch up with Miliband and Labour. Even Nick Clegg and his much belaboured Liberal-Democrats have been given a boost thanks to their long opposition to King Rupert's attempts at total media dominance of the UK. Cameron's "Big Society" has flopped coming out of the gate. The coalition government has been wobbly for quite some time now and with an insurgent Lib-Dems and Labour, its quite possible that the coalition will break up. If this happens then the Tories would not have enough seats to rule. Lib-Dems and Labour could call a vote of no-confidence on Cameron, remove him and then form a new, leftist coalition which would be very opposed to giving King Rupert any breaks.
Meanwhile, swamped by scandal and under investigation, News Corp's right-wing media machine in America maybe a lot less likely to participate in its insane agenda of propaganda and fear mongering during the 2012 elections, allowing the Democrats to actually campaign on the issues and not defending themselves from the bizarre claims of whack jobs like Bill O'Reilly etc. This of course would give Obama and the Democrats a huge edge over the extremist rhetoric of today's GOP.
Could King Rupert's troubles lead to a resurgence of the Left in America and UK? Stay tuned . . .
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