Fox News and the NOTW Phone Hacking Scandal

by NowPublic Staff | July 18, 2011 at 10:19 am

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Fox News: Strange Coverage of Phone Hacking Scandal

Fox News is doing a cartoonishly bad job of covering the NOTW phone hacking story, trotting out an "expert" who apparently does not understand who hacked whom, nor what phone hacking is, nor why Murdoch's "we're looking into it" isn't enough. This isn't surprising, though: News Corp owns Fox News, which is part of the most lucrative part of his empire. One cannot expect Fox News to honestly investigate its boss: no media outlet can credibly do so.

Following the News International Phone Hacking Scandal

That said, Fox News is doing a spectacularly bad job with this, and would be better off trying to ignore it than pursuing its current path of whitewashing the story. Meanwhile, the "expert", a PR guy named Bob Dilenschneider, has acknowledged that he sounded... shall we say "ill-prepared" on Fox News.

However, Fox is in a special (read: bad) position here: the outlet is a lot closer to the phone hacking scandal than most American viewers realize. Former Fox News exec Dan Cooper said that his then-boss Roger Ailes had him build a special room (the "Brain Room") for the express purpose of spying, and that his own phone was hacked; these allegations were made in 2008.

Cooper was shopping a book at the time, but those allegations are sure to get a second glance, since News International is accused of hacking US-based phones on 9/11. While there is no connection

Fox News is brazenly right-wing in its broadcasting, and now Democrats can taste blood in the water. There's no evidence at the moment that Rupert Murdoch's US-based properties were involved with the (still-growing) scandal, but we clearly can't take News International at its word, judging from how widespread the criminal activity is turning out to be: Prime Minister David Cameron is being asked to show up in Parliament on July 20 to answer some questions.

Cameron has refused to resign, but, depending on how far this goes, his own party may have to force him out. He's accused of basically taking orders from News International on hiring Andy Coulson.

Rupert Murdoch's seemingly-invulnerable empire has been compromised: he's under internal pressure to sell off his UK properties (the ones that still exist, anyway), and even the chain of succession is threatened. As James Murdoch sinks in the scandal's quicksand, Elizabeth Murdoch is emerging as the heir apparent to News Corp.

Meanwhile, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates has also resigned after 30 years as a cop, following his inaction in the face of growing evidence of News International's illegal activity. In his statement, Yates denies any involvement in the hacking or bribery incidents themselves.