There’s an old saying that goes, “It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up.” It’s most associated with Richard Nixon and Watergate scandal (the only scandal I will ever end with “-gate”). I wonder if we are going to see something similar with Rupert Murdoch and the News of the World phone hacking scandal. The crux of the matter is that reporters at the News of the World hacked the phones of people they wanted to write stories about, which ranged from celebrities to politicians to murdered children.
When this news first broke, I didn’t pay much attention to it. It looked to occur solely in Britain, and was perpetrated by a tabloid rag. Plus, while hacking into phones is clearly wrong, that appeared to be the end of it. British authorities would investigate it, and that would be that.
How things have changed. First, Murdoch closed News of the World, Britain’s biggest tabloid, which ran from 1843 until last week. Then, he withdrew his bid for British Sky Broadcasting, or BSkyB, the most profitable pay-TV station in Britain. These appear to be awfully drastic damage control steps, and a sign that Murdoch was extremely serious about preventing further blowback. Too late.
Rebekah Brooks, the former editor of News of the World and current head of News International, the publishing division of News Corp – Murdoch’s whole empire – resigned. Shortly thereafter, she was arrested.
Ok, and yet still after all this, I couldn’t get too wound up about the scandal. That changed when, within hours of Brooks’ arrest, reports surfaced that the highest ranking police officer in Britain was resigning. The reason? It looks like there are strong allegations that the British police accepted payment to not investigate the crimes. Hacking phones looks bad. Paying the police to cover it up is worse.
There are also allegations that 9/11 victims may have had their phones hacked, too. This widens the scope from just Britain.
And the kicker? The original whistleblower of the whole affair, Sean Hoare, was found dead today. The police have stated that his death is not suspicious, but in the current climate, even one not prone to conspiracy theories will find that difficult to believe.
I have no idea how much of Murdoch’s empire will crumble, or whether this will become a bigger story in America, or whether it will have any repercussions for FOX News. But still, the schadenfreude is pretty tasty, so I think I’ll grab some popcorn and see how this plays out.
The Unpersons 