Pressure grows for US legal investigation of Murdoch empire

Pressure is growing on Rupert Murdoch in the US. The Attorney General is facing calls - including from a senior Senator - to investigate "all entities controlled by News Corp".

Pressure is growing on Rupert Murdoch’s media empire on the other side of the Atlantic. The Attorney General, Eric Holder, is facing calls – including from a senior Senator – to investigate “all entities controlled by News Corp”.

A petition is being organised by the Center for American Progress Action Fund through its Think Progress blog. CAPAF is run by John Podesta, former chief of staff to Bill Clinton and co-chair of President Obama’s transition team. The petition says:

“We are writing to express our concerns of potential corrupt practices by News Corporation.

“Specifically, there are credible reports that News Corp subsidiaries bribed police offers to obtain information about former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and others. Further, there are reports that News Corp subsidiaries hacked into voicemails of politicians, celebrities, and murder victims. Some of this activity may have even occurred on U.S. soil. Although initial reports focused on the U.K. paper News of the World, recent reports suggest that this disturbing conduct extended to several other News Corp properties.

“Given the seriousness of these allegations, we ask that you immediately begin an investigation of all entities controlled by News Corp, including domestic subsidiaries such as Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post.”

Meanwhile Senator Jay Rockefeller, an ally of Obama and Democratic chairman of the Senate Commerce, released a statement reported by the Daily Telegraph:

“The reported hacking by News Corporation newspapers against a range of individuals – including children – is offensive and a serious breach of journalistic ethics… This raises serious questions about whether the company has broken US law, and I encourage the appropriate agencies to investigate to ensure that Americans have not had their privacy violated.

“I am concerned that the admitted phone hacking in London by the News Corp. may have extended to 9/11 victims or other Americans. If they did, the consequences will be severe.”

Earlier this week, the Telegraph reported that News Corp could face a bill of $100 million for US investigations into alleged payments to police officers under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

18 Responses to “Pressure grows for US legal investigation of Murdoch empire”

  1. Chris

    Pressure grows for US legal investigation of Murdoch empire http://bit.ly/rrljay

  2. Dr Anne Brunton

    oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day….http://t.co/sQX3zge I love it when a plan comes together. #notw #hacking #usa #obama

  3. Selohesra

    I think you mean a bill of $100,000,000 not $100 – I knew socialists were not very good with money but that is ridiculous

  4. Parliament to say no to Murdoch as police widen the News International net | Left Foot Forward

    […] On the legal front, Scotland Yard have threatened to widen the scope of their investigation to include the “criminal liability of [News International] directors”, while the pressure is being turned up on News Corporation in the US, with Senators questioning whether phone hacking “has broken United States law”. […]

  5. Lord Howard Hurts

    All this hype while we have a sitting President who has presented a fake birth certificate as his “true, Hawaiian, certificate”. Several document experts have attested that his presented document is fake, but not one person in the Congress of the United States has demanded that the document, Obama presented, be compared with the birth certificate on record in Hawaii, to be assure the public that Obama did in fact present his true and legal certificate. But nowm Congress finds this Murdoch issue so important. Wake Up Congress. The President Has Produced A Fake Birth Certificate. Protect the public by demanding an investigation by the FBI, to either prove or disprove the authenticity of this birth certificate.
    Lord Howard Hurts freedomfiles.blogspot.com

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