News International CEO Rebekah Brooks

As reported earlier, Britain's Guardian has been on the warpath during the Murdoch hacking scandal. Here's The Guardian on Rebekah Brooks of News International, "David Cameron and Rebekah Brooks: a special relationship":

Not since Dylan played the Albert Hall has there been a hotter ticket. MPs expected such demand for seats in the Boothroyd Room of Portcullis House next Tuesday that the appearance of Rebekah Brooks before the culture and media committee was due to be relayed by video to an overspill room – even before Rupert Murdoch and his son James performed the latest in a week of jaw-dropping U-turns and agreed to join her.

It is certain to be an occasion worth clearing your diary for. The last time Brooks condescended to be questioned by MPs, she made the striking admission that the Sun had paid police for information – a statement that she later explained did not mean that she knew of any actual cases of police being paid by her journalists. A decade, several arrests and an entire newspaper have passed since then, and this time there is rather more to talk about.

Murdoch senior's defence of his embattled empire will now be the main event, but it's the under-bill bout with Brooks that I'll be looking forward to most. Such has been the media preoccupation with Cameron's curiously trusting relationship with one former Murdoch editor (yes, I plead guilty) that his much closer embrace of Brooks has undergone little scrutiny.

That's the statement at the clip above, via the extraordinary roundup at the New York Times yesterday, "Updates on British Phone-Hacking Scandal."

Rupert Murdoch Agrees to Face Parliament

There's too much news for a roundup here.

Check Google's news page for Rupert Murdoch. See Mediagazer as well.

Also, at New York Times, "Murdochs Now Say They Will Appear Before Parliament."

LONDON — In an abrupt reversal, the News Corporation said on Thursday afternoon that Rupert Murdoch and his son James would testify next week before a British parliamentary panel looking into phone hacking. They will appear along with Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of the company’s beleaguered British newspaper group, known as News International.

Earlier in the day, the Murdochs had sent letters to the panel, the Commons Culture Select Committee, refusing an invitation to appear.

Plus, Rupert Murdoch's interviewed at Wall Street Journal, "In Interview, Murdoch Defends News Corp."

In his first significant public comments on the tabloid newspaper scandal that has engulfed his media empire, News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch vigorously defended the company's handling of the crisis but said it would establish an independent committee to "investigate every charge of improper conduct."

In an interview, Mr. Murdoch said News Corp. has handled the crisis "extremely well in every way possible," making just "minor mistakes."

News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.

RELATED: At WSJ, "News Corp. Caves as Support Fades."

Gordon Brown Rips Into Rupert Murdoch

At Telegraph UK, "Phone hacking: Gordon Brown gets his revenge on News International."

On the day that Mr Murdoch had to abandon his bid for full control of BSkyB, Mr Brown set out to compound the agonies of the media magnate and end his influence in public life forever.

Speaking for more than half an hour to a packed Commons, Mr Brown’s condemnation of the media verged on the apoplectic, displaying a passion and anger he rarely exposed while in office ...

The sense of righteous fury Mr Brown projected, and his denunciation of New International’s sins, made clear where on the moral and spiritual scale he located himself and his newly-declared enemies.

But see Business Insider, "CNBC's Simon Hobbs: Gordon Brown is a Hypocrite and Has No One But Himself to Blame For Murdoch Hackings."

Milly Dowler Family Pressures Rebekah Brooks to Quit News International

At Yorkshire Post, "Do honourable thing and quit, Dowlers urge Rebekah Brooks."

RELATED: There was a really good piece earlier at Pajamas Media, from Mike McNally, "Victory for the Anti-Murdoch Alliance as 'Phone Hacking' Scandal Shuts UK Tabloid."

... there’s a widespread sense of Schadenfreude at seeing a publication that dealt in scandal and sleaze brought down by a scandal of its own, and I’m certainly no fan of the paper. However, there’s a disturbing political dimension to this affair. Few are talking about it – understandably, as no-one wants to be seen as trying to defend the paper’s appalling behavior – but the crusade against the NoW has been driven at least as much by the desire to damage the Murdoch empire and Cameron’s Conservative government as by any concern for those whose phones were hacked, or for the reputation of British journalism.

After the 2007 court case and jailings, the phone hacking affair appeared to be closed. It was the left-wing Guardian newspaper which reopened the saga with a series of reports in July 2009 – and it’s no coincidence that this was at the time when it was becoming clear that Murdoch was switching his allegiance, and that of his papers, from the Labour Party to the Conservatives. The story was enthusiastically taken up by the BBC, which coordinated its coverage with the Guardian; both organizations saw the phone-hacking story as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to attack both a powerful rival media group, and (through the Cameron-Coulson connection) the Conservatives. Just for good measure, and lest anyone doubt the political and business motivations involved, the New York Times piled on last year.

Other UK news organisations were slow in taking up the story, either because they were Murdoch owned, or sympathetic to Cameron, or because they knew their own journalists had also engaged in phone hacking and other illegality. But with the BBC driving coverage on its prime-time broadcasts, 24-house news channel, and website, the story became impossible to ignore, and the chance to damage Murdoch became irresistible to other rivals. Coulson’s resignation was the first victory for the anti-Murdoch alliance, and they’ve been keeping up the pressure in a bid to derail News Corp’s bid to take a controlling stake in British satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

I find it revolting, but check the Guardian's coverage for more information. They're out for blood over there.

Murdoch Newspapers Targeted Gordon Brown

This story has become a monstrosity. Folks praised Murdoch's closing of News of the World last week, but that's likely only the whet appetites.

At The Scotsman, "Hacking updates: 'Gordon Brown was targeted over 10 year period'":

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said he will refer the proposed takeover of BSkyB by News Corporation to the Competition Commission.

The announcement came less than an hour after News Corp said it was "withdrawing proposed undertakings in lieu of reference to the Competition Commission" - meaning it would no longer spin-off Sky News to secure the deal.

It will delay the bid by at least 6 months.
Gordon Brown is the latest figure to have been targeted by News International publications, according to reports, with allegations that they obtained medical records of his son and tried to access his voicemail.

Brown was targeted over a period of more than 10 years, during which a "blagger" tried to obtain details from his bank account, his lawyers were tricked into handing over information and his son's medical records were obtained by a newspaper, according to the Guardian.

Prince Charles and Camilla may have also had their mobile phones hacked by private investigators, police have warned.

The heir to the throne and his wife are among 10 members of the royal family to be warned they may have been targeted.

Earlier, Nick Clegg has called on Rupert Murdoch to "do the decent thing" and reconsider the bid in the wake of the phone hacking scandal that his engulfed the British arm of his media empire.

The Deputy Prime Minister said: "Do the decent and sensible thing, and reconsider, think again, about your bid for BSkyB."

More at WaPo, "Tabloid intrigue spreads: Queen and Brown reportedly targeted as police complain of sabotage."

Also at Telegraph UK, "News International journalists 'hacked medical records of Gordon Brown's family." Scroll down at Telegraph for additional links, and see Mediagazer, especially AdAge, "Life After Rupert's Reign: What Will Happen in a Post-Murdoch World?"

Kate's 'Marilyn Moment'; or, Rule 5 as Celebrity News Reporting

It's not just ogling at beautiful women. Rule 5 blogging can also bring you up-to-the-minute news. Thanks to Teresamerica, I caught the news of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and her Calgary upskirt moment: "Rule 5 Saturday: Kate Middleton Duchess of Cambridge - The Air Up There."

And now I see the original source material, at the Toronto Sun, "Kate's 'Marilyn moment' in Calgary" (via Instapundit).

It wasn’t the royal honey ‘moon’ Canadians were expecting.

That's for sure.

Impressions: The Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil

I mentioned previously how moved I was by the show in Las Vegas. Charles Spencer, writing at The Telegraph UK in 2006, really captures the feeling:

Everything that was bold and beautiful, fresh and funny, sad and just plain silly about the Beatles comes together in this ravishing and almost indecently spectacular show. It's what old hippies call a head-trip, a constant 90-minute rush of dazzling sights and sounds.

But for those of us who grew up with the Beatles - and the first record I ever bought was She Loves You, aged eight, in 1963 - this latest piece from Cirque du Soleil is also overpoweringly moving. For it achieves the apparently impossible, allowing you to hear the Beatles with fresh ears. At times you seem to be listening to the music of your childhood and youth as if for the first time.

Spencer's a progressive, but folks might put aside ideological reservations and just enjoy the show. We were kids once. "Let It Be" is my most powerful Beatles memory as a child (and "Hey Jude" is right up there), and sometimes nostalgia is overpowering. And recall that recently I've been moved by George Harrison's songs, and it turns out that the one entirely original song at LOVE is Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." It's just so impressive all around.

I'm taking my kids to see LOVE next time we're in Las Vegas. They'll have to listen to some of the CDs, but they're already familiar with a whole lot of The Beatles from hanging out with me, my musical tastes, and from just the radio environment.

Leftists Freaked Out Over News of John Lennon as Republican

Well, mostly Jon Wiener at The Nation, although Joel Achenbach, at WaPo, "can't imagine" John Lennon as a Republican. Cute, isn't that?

But see James Delingpole, at Telegraph UK, "Was John Lennon a secret Reagan Republican?"

Over at the leftie Nation, historian Jon Wiener is having a massive sense of humour failure at this outrageous slur on a man probably second only to Che as an icon of international left-wing street credibility.

Exactly.

This story is so last month, but I couldn't get it out of my mind this week while visiting The Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil.

More on News of the World's End

At New York Times, "At a Paper Set to Close, Defiance and Foreboding":

LONDON — With the tremors of The News of the World scandal still spreading across the landscape of British life, the newspaper’s staff assembled on Saturday for the paper’s last working shift before it is shut down by the Murdoch empire as part of its strategy for limiting the damage to its worldwide brand.

At the newspaper’s plant in Wapping, East London, plans were to double the number of copies printed of the Sunday issue, the paper’s last after 168 years of publication. The run of five million copies was expected to sell out.

The paper’s closing also meant the loss of jobs for 280 reporters, editors and other employees. While some of them had hopes of being rehired for a publication said to be planned by News International, the Murdoch subsidiary in Britain — a new Sunday edition of The Sun, Rupert Murdoch’s mass-circulation daily paper — the mood as they prepared to send the final edition to press was one that mixed pride over the paper’s history of revealing some of the most lurid scandals in British life with bitterness at becoming sacrificial lambs.

“We feel like we have paid the price for a small group of people who are no longer at the paper,” Jamie Lyons, the deputy political editor, said in a Twitter post. He said that his colleagues were “appalled and disgusted” by the phone-hacking that brought the paper low, but added a defiant note. “Let’s go out with a bang,” he said.

More at that top link, and at Telegraph UK, "Rebekah Brooks to be questioned by police over phone hacking."

ICYMI: "The End of News of the World."

The End of News of the World

The final comment: "Thank you and goodbye: After 168 years, we finally say a sad but very proud farewell to our 7.5m loyal readers."

And at Los Angeles Times, "Rupert Murdoch visits a London that's turned on him." And, "British tabloid scandal envelops three pillars already stained":

Even before the hacking allegations exploded into the national consciousness after reports that the News of the World may have tapped into the voicemails of murder victims' families as well as those of movie stars and other celebrities, the reputations of lawmakers, journalists and the police had been tarnished.

Two years ago, Britons were outraged to learn that members of Parliament were claiming reimbursement from taxpayers for expenses such as home improvements and horse manure for their gardens. Lawmakers have pledged to clean up their act, but voter faith in their integrity dropped dramatically.

The police have been hit by accusations of using excessive force against protesters and spying on environmental activists. And criticizing the media is as much a pastime here as it is in the United States.

"All the institutions of politics, press and police have emerged the worse for their involvement in the affair," said Ian Burrell, the media editor at the Independent newspaper. "This is a big newspaper-reading society. People still take immense pride in the 'mother of parliaments' and the integrity of British bobbies.... This story is going to undermine public trust in the way society operates."

Royals Watchers Crowd Charity Polo Match

At Los Angeles Times, "Royals watchers crowd Carpinteria polo club."

'Get Back'

Okay, this clip's from early in the show. Notice at how the dividing curtains fall at about 45 seconds. The theater is divided into quadrants. The curtains are up as guests are seated. Later throughout the performance projections onto large screens are used as part of the performance. There are also a couple of transitional segments with musical choreography projected as well. The crashing bricks here represent something of the Beatles' origins and search for meaning of the rubble of the war. From the commemorative booklet:

The action suddenly stops cold and we flash back further still, to the chaos and devastation of war. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is destroyed. But there is hope:

'A Day in the Life'

More video:

'Octopus's Garden'

Okay, I promised more from "Love."

"Octopus's Garden" is toward the last third of the performance. I'm looking around for some clips from earlier parts of the show, which begins with background from the Beatles' origins in Liverpool during WWII.

I love this, in any case.

Bonus: Ringo live clip. He was touring last month, and spoke to the 5th anniversary audience by satellite feed.

The Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil

My wife and I have seen three performances so far by Cirque du Soleil. The shows are simply outstanding, but nothing's left me with the same feelings as the LOVE production. I'll be writing about it this weekend, and posting music videos and commentary. I've never been an absolute Beatles junky. The show was transformative, however. I can see better than ever how important The Beatles are to American culture. And not just from the show, which was so good — exquisite even. It's the fans, the excitement, and the demand for it all. I'll save some thoughts for later this morning. Here's the brief advertisement at the Mirage YouTube page:

The BBC had a write up in 2006, "Love unveils new angle on Beatles."

And last month, at Las Vegas Sun, "Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono lead celebration for ‘Love’ anniversary."

See the write up at Rolling Stone, "Paul McCartney Celebrates Fifth Anniversary of the Beatles 'Love' Show: Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon also attended Las Vegas performance."

Assimilation's Failure, Terrorism's Rise

From British author Kenan Malik, at New York Times:

SIX years ago today, on July 7, 2005, Islamist suicide bombers attacked London’s transit system. They blew up three subway trains and a bus, killing 52 people and leaving a nation groping for answers.

In one sense the meaning of 7/7 is as clear to Britons as that of 9/11 is to Americans. It was a savage, brutal attack intended to sow mayhem and terror. Yet whereas 9/11 was the work of a foreign terrorist group, 7/7 was the work of British citizens. The question that haunts London, but that Washington has so far barely had to face, is why four men born and brought up in Britain were gripped by such fanatic zeal for a murderous, medieval dogma.

British authorities have expended much effort in seeking to understand how the 7/7 terrorists acquired their perverted ideas and became “radicalized.” In the immediate wake of the attacks, much ink was spilled over the role of extremist preachers and radical mosques. More recently, the focus has shifted to universities as recruitment centers for terrorists.

But this obsession with radicalization misses the point. The real question is not how people like Mohammad Sidique Khan, the leader of the 7/7 bombers, came to be radicalized, but why so many young men, who by all accounts are intelligent, articulate and integrated, come to find this violent, reactionary ideology so attractive. To answer it, we need to look not at extremist preachers or university lecturers but also at public policy, and in particular the failed policy of multiculturalism.

Continue reading.

Actually, I don't separate multiculturalism from extremism. The same ideological forces promote both: the neo-communist left. But state policy exacerbates tensions, and Malik makes some interesting suggestions on bringing people together rather than driving them apart --- and driving some into the hands of terrorists.

Wall Street Journal Reports on News of the World Closing

It's interesting, since WSJ is the jewel in the crown of Rupert Murdoch's media empire.



See, "News Corp. to Close Scandal-Hit Tabloid":

News Corp. said it will close its 168-year-old U.K. tabloid News of the World, a dramatic bid to cap a scandal centered on the paper's controversial reporting tactics.



The weekly paper, published on Sundays, is accused of improperly intercepting voice mails of everyday people, including a 13-year-old murder victim, as well as those of celebrities.



James Murdoch, News Corp.'s deputy chief operating officer, told staff Thursday that News Corp. had decided to close the paper because the allegations—if true—were "inhuman" and had no place in the company.



He said the paper's reputation had been "sullied by behavior that was wrong."



The paper is one of Britain's sauciest and most storied tabloids, and was a key building block in the global media empire built by News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, who purchased it in 1969. It became the U.K.'s best-selling Sunday paper with a righteous, no-holds-barred approach to taking down the rich and famous, from politicians to soccer stars. That style both appealed to the U.K.'s working class and titillated sophisticates who bought it as a guilty pleasure.



But News of the World's populist foundation was cracked this week when allegations surfaced that the same dubious reporting tactics it deployed against celebrities and political leaders may also have been used against the kind of regular people who make up its readership.

More details at the link above, including the disclaimer that News Corp. is the parent company to Wall Street Journal. See also, "Murdoch savvy like a fox in shutting tabloid."



And here's more video from Telegraph UK:

Also, at

British Actress Sienna Miller Settled With Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation Earlier This Year

This was a report from June, "Sienna Miller settles phone-hacking claim."

But Washington Post has an epitaph, "RIP News of the World: Scandal was its product, scandal was its downfall":

The newspaper recently spent a lot of time in court, settling claims from people who claimed their phones had been hacked. Actress Sienna Miller collected 100,000 pounds ($160,000), and former Scotland football star Andy Gray got 20,000 pounds ($32,000). Publicist Max Clifford reportedly won 1 million pounds ($1.6 million) in a private settlement and former Professional Football Association chief Gordon Taylor reportedly won 700,000 pounds ($1.12 million).

Other claims are lined up for trial.

“Our motto is the truth, our practice is the fearless advocacy of the truth,” proclaimed John Brown, who launched the weekly paper in 1843.

A year later, it had the highest circulation of any British weekly at 18,000 copies.

The paper flourished under editor Lacelles Carr, who built circulation from 40,000 to more than 4.4 million when he died in 1941.

Circulation peaked at 8.4 million in 1950.

Rupert Murdoch established his beachhead on Fleet Street by buying the News of the World in 1969.

The News of the World remained the biggest-selling paper in Britain until 2008. It was overtaken by Murdoch’s daily tabloid, The Sun, in 2008, and the circulation now stands below 2.7 million.

Plus, an analysis from Peter Oborne, at Spectator UK, "What the papers won’t say."

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

News of the World to Shut Down in Hacker Fallout!

I knew this was a big deal.

At Telegraph UK, "News of the World axed: last edition this Sunday, says Murdoch." It's a live blog, and following the links, see the Daily Mail, "End of the World: James Murdoch announces News of the World will close this Sunday."

Reports: Grieving Relatives of War Dead Targeted in News of the World Hacking Case

More on the scandal.

At Telegraph UK, "Phone hacking: families of war dead 'targeted' by News of the World."

The Daily Telegraph has learnt that the personal details of the families of servicemen who died on the front line have been found in the files of Glenn Mulcaire, the private detective working for the Sunday tabloid.

The disclosure that grieving relatives of war dead were targets for the newspaper prompted anger among military charities, who said it was a “disgusting and indefensible assault on privacy”.

The Metropolitan Police is facing growing calls from the families of murder victims, those killed in terrorist attacks and those who died in natural disasters, such as the Indonesian tsunami, to disclose if they were targets.

Rebekah Brooks, the former editor of the News of the World and now chief executive of News International, its parent company, faced calls from Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, to step down.

Yesterday The Daily Telegraph disclosed that families of victims of the July 7 bombings were targets for Mulcaire in the days after the atrocity in 2005.

More at the link. And at Los Angeles Times as well, "More accusations of cellphone hacking attempts raise heat on British tabloid."

And from the Guardian, "Rupert Murdoch backs Rebekah Brooks over phone-hacking allegations":

Rupert Murdoch has taken the highly unusual step of issuing an official public statement backing Rebekah Brooks over the phone-hacking scandal engulfing his UK newspaper business.

The News Corporation boss described the recent allegations about phone hacking and payments to police officers by the News of the World "deplorable and unacceptable".

"I have made clear that our company must fully and proactively co-operate with the police in all investigations and that is exactly what News International has been doing and will continue to do under Rebekah Brooks' leadership," the News Corp chairman and chief executive added, in a statement issued from the annual Allen & Co media business conference he is attending in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Murdoch also said he had asked Joel Klein, who heads News Corp's recently created education unit, "to provide important oversight and guidance". Viet Dinh, a non-executive director, is keeping the News Corp board informed along with Klein, he said.

Murdoch's backing came on a day of mounting pressure on Brooks and News International, with prime minister David Cameron bowing to calls for public inquiries into phone hacking by the News of the World and the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, saying the chief executive should "consider her position".

News Corp also faced criticism from MPs during an emergency debate on phone hacking in the Commons on Wednesday afternoon, with Labour's Tom Watson alleging there was "further evidence" that Brooks "knew about the unlawful tactics of News of the World as early as 2002, despite all her denials yesterday".

More at New York Times, "Murdoch Facing Parliament’s Ire in Hacking Case":

From all sides of the House of Commons the disgust came thick and fast, as the legislators recited the most recent allegations against The News of the World: that its executives had paid police officers, lied to Parliament and hired investigators to intercept voice mail messages left on the cellphones of murdered children and terrorism victims. Legislators also attacked the news media in general for employing many of the same tactics.

Also, "The Murdoch Style, Under Pressure."

EXTRA: At Business Week, "Murdoch Gets Dangerous for Cameron as Phone-Hack Scandal Widens." Also, at Mediagazer.