Murdoch scum

[Spearmint Rhino]

Murdoch scum

Furtho wrote:

Not significant, but just kind of creepy. Mulcaire scored that goal on 17th July 2002, which was in the period between Milly Dowler's disappearance on 21 March and the discovery of her body on 18 September.

Fucking hell, yeah, that is creepy. Watching him punching the air and celebrating, and knowing that once he'd showered and gone home, he was straight back to the day job of hacking into missing children's mobile phones.

[Harry Lime]

Murdoch scum

atlanticjaxx wrote:

There was a point where he turned to Paxman and said to him 10% of the population have had their phone hacked and that conceivably his (i.e Paxman) girlfriend could have looked at his phone to see if he was having an affair (which constitutes hacking in his mind). Campbell laughs nervously and Paxman looks at him with that wtf Paxman look.

Haha, aka "that big rubbery horse-face of mock incredulity".

A lot of people on here seem to work in the media, what's the likelihood of the best case scenario?

The worst case is the good old British public forgetting about it in a fortnight, especially when NOTW starts giving away dozens of free holidays in Spain or Greece, for all the family of course.

More likely I would have thought is a brief period of censure, another 5% off the NOTW circulation, possibly another nail in the coffin of the printed press and eventually after a suitable length of time has elapsed, News Corp getting the green light for the Sky deal regardless.

But what about the best case? The Sky deal getting back heeled as cross party politicians finally grasp the thorn of newspaper impropriety? Coulton in jail? Brooks at least in career wilderness? Huge swathes of the population turning away from the tabloids in disgust? A world where people ask "remember the red-tops before the hacking scandal came out... they were a disgrace?"

And get the response "what were the red tops?"

[Come along, Min]

Murdoch scum

@Harry Lime

"But what about the best case? The Sky deal getting back heeled as cross party politicians finally grasp the thorn of newspaper impropriety? Coulton in jail? Brooks at least in career wilderness? Huge swathes of the population turning away from the tabloids in disgust? A world where people ask "remember the red-tops before the hacking scandal came out... they were a disgrace?"

And get the response "what were the red tops?"


Nice dream. I fear the cultural hegemony of Murdoch indicates something far closer to your previous paragraph.

@Sixmartletsandaseagull

Chilling is just about right I reckon.

PMQ's

Ed Milliband got Cameron to admit that he didn't see this affecting the Sky deal, which was good, just wish he wasn't so one dimensional with it. What was needed was some old-style pulpit style righteous indignation. He's so .. flat.

...

Halifax, Lloyds Virgin Atlantic, Vauxhall all pulled there ads today according to Daily Politics.

[Eggchaser]

Murdoch scum

Sixmartletsandaseagull wrote:

Paul McMullen was also peddling the greater good line on Nicky Campbell's phone in show on Radio 5 Live this morning. He stated that he and his ilk were simply writing the truth and that they were society's last bulwark against corrupt politicans and police. He felt they should not be tarnished by the errors of one man: Mulcaire. Among some other warped ideas.

While I hesitate to take a NOTW hack's word at face value I found him chilling.

And he got a right kicking from the lawyer who was also on, who said that bribing the police has only been illegal since 1901 so it's understandable if the NOTW had forgotten about it.

[Sixmartletsandaseagull]

Murdoch scum

Eggchaser wrote:

And he got a right kicking from the lawyer who was also on, who said that bribing the police has only been illegal since 1901 so it's understandable if the NOTW had forgotten about it.[/quote]

Yes, he was very good the QC fella, Geoffrey Robertson.

[Etienne]

Murdoch scum

Co-operative has changed tack today and announced that it is suspending advertising with the NotW.

I think the NotW might be toast actually. Can see Murdoch cutting that loose in order to protect his SKY deal, which is where the money comes from.

Coulson is certainly facing criminal proceedings, and I don't think Brooks' position is tenable either.

[ursus arctos]

Murdoch scum

Doesn't the NOTW print money? Its circulation is huge, and its costs shouldn't be that high.

If that's the case, I can't see Murdoch throwing in the towel, given the extent to which NI is bleeding money elsewhere (over here, for instance).

Instead, I would expect some sort of cringeworthy "rebirth" of the paper, perhaps with one of the kids as a figurehead.

[Ginger Yellow]

Murdoch scum

The worst case is the good old British public forgetting about it in a fortnight, especially when NOTW starts giving away dozens of free holidays in Spain or Greece, for all the family of course.

I think the worst case is actually the opposite. Parliament, shamed by its earlier disinclination to push harder and by the political toxicity of the child murder angle, implements severe restrictions on the press and/or a government regulatory body to replace the PCC. Now, implemented properly, that might not be such a bad thing - I've long argued that the PCC should have statutory power and responsibilities rather than being the toothless body it is, but I wouldn't expect any scandal-driven regulation to be well implemented, especially by the Tories. Also, the worst case is that the Met get off scot free, which seems quite likely to me.

[Duncan Gardner]

Murdoch scum

ursus arctos wrote:

Instead, I would expect some sort of cringeworthy "rebirth" of the paper, perhaps with one of the kids as a figurehead

They'll certainly be the masthead. Little changes...

[Etienne]

Murdoch scum

Ursus, most recent figures I can find for NotW/Sun was that they made 55m profit in 2009, compared to 62m in 2008. Small beer compared to the many hundreds of million that SKY makes, and likely to shrink further - even without an advertiser/consumer backlash.

[Duncan Gardner]

Murdoch scum

(Unrelated PM for Etienne)

[Sean of the Shed]

Murdoch scum

I wasn't aware until this morning that there is no requirement for newspapers to co-operate with the PCC. Both the Desmond titles have opted out, and the Murdoch press could do the same without any repercussion. As far as I can see, this makes the PCC entirely toothless and worthless.
It should be disbanded immediately and replaced with an independent committee that all the press should co-operate with or lose their licence to print.

[Wyatt Earp]

Murdoch scum

"Licence to print": bit Brezhnev?

[Harry Lime]

Murdoch scum

Ginger Yellow wrote:

Also, the worst case is that the Met get off scot free, which seems quite likely to me.

Yep, I was going to say at the end of the original post that I hadn't even mentioned the police conduct, but I was thinking more along the lines of the impact on NOTW/News Corp anyway, especially given that people on here will be far more knowledgeable about that.

As for police misconduct it's interesting that only last week there was flurry of articles accusing the police of collusion with insurance companies.

Co-incedental timing? I dunno.

[Torcida]

Murdoch scum

First of all, I don't think the News International folks get how seismic this is. They're still in the "lessons will be learned" phase. Fuck that. I want the NotW closed down and a stake driven through its heart and garlic sprinkled all over it.

Second, it would be smart politically by Cameron to open up with both barrels on NotW. More than what he said yesterday. I'm talking suspension of publication, public enquiry, the whole works. I actually think he's canny enough to get that. But let's see.

[TMA]

Murdoch scum

Co-operative has changed tack today and announced that it is suspending advertising with the NotW.

Easyjet, Virgin Media and Tesco have also pulled adverts.

This is all very well, but what news from Carphone Warehouse?

[Squarewheelbike]

Murdoch scum

Re the PCC. Their chairman is Paul Dacre, I really don,t need to say anymore!

[Come along, Min]

Murdoch scum

Torcida wrote:

Second, it would be smart politically by Cameron to open up with both barrels on NotW. More than what he said yesterday. I'm talking suspension of publication, public enquiry, the whole works. I actually think he's canny enough to get that. But let's see.

The thing that stops anyone from tackling NI is the cosiness of NI with everyone with power in this country and what those who work or have worked at NI have on whoever wants to tackle them.

I saw on TV yesterday a man from Plaid Cymru talking about being leant on.. Plaid Cymru mind!.. micro management at its best.

....

Is anyone getting tired of Alastair Campbell constantly, in everyone sentence, trying to spread this on to the media as a whole? I mean, why on earth would he do that, why would he be doing Rupert Murdoch that favour?

I'm not saying the media as a whole is not a story, but its the mechanical manner with which he's doing it.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Murdoch scum

Nicholas Soames has called for a pause in the takeover.

The common sense straight-talkers on the Tory benches are otherwise a bit quiet on this point.

[Ginger Yellow]

Murdoch scum

I wasn't aware until this morning that there is no requirement for newspapers to co-operate with the PCC. Both the Desmond titles have opted out, and the Murdoch press could do the same without any repercussion. As far as I can see, this makes the PCC entirely toothless and worthless

Even for papers that do opt in, it's still toothless. It only acts in response to complaints from subjects of a story. It can't subpoena evidence. It can't fine or impose any other penalty on a paper beyond naming and shaming, which the paper is supposed to publish but is always relegated somewhere obscure.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Murdoch scum

The Attorney General is all over the place.

He's saying "News of the World" instead of "News International" a lot.

[Ginger Yellow]

Murdoch scum

I'm talking suspension of publication, public enquiry, the whole works. I actually think he's canny enough to get that. But let's see.

See, this is why I think my version is the real worst case. Much as I'd love to see the NOTW gone, having the government suspend its publication would be a horrific precedent for freedom of speech (and almost certainly illegal under European law).

[Mumpo]

Murdoch scum

TMA wrote:

Co-operative has changed tack today and announced that it is suspending advertising with the NotW.

Easyjet, Virgin Media and Tesco have also pulled adverts.

This is all very well, but what news from Carphone Warehouse?

Ha ha. Look, while you lot were waffling away about this issue on here, I was engaging in some Direct Action. I was reading the Independent in Smiths at lunchtime when a woman walked up next to me and picked up a copy of the Sun; so I gave her a really hard stare, even whilst she was in the queue waiting to pay for it. I think I made her feel really uncomfortable. Then, as I left, I put the Indy back down on top of one of the racks containing the Sun, to put anyone else off buying a copy.

[Ginger Yellow]

Murdoch scum

Re: the PCC. Their chairman is Paul Dacre, I really don,t need to say anymore!

Technically he's chair of the Editors' Code of Practice Committee, not the PCC (that's Buscombe). Still disgraceful, though.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Murdoch scum

The line seems to be that the public enquiry has to wait till the end of the police investigation. Surely, the takeover should wait till the end of both.

Jeremy Hunt's next statement is going to be interesting.