Let me instead divert attention to l'affaire DSK so that i can discuss the NotW matter. As we know, before his arrest, he had in any case intended to resign as head of the IMF so that he could go after the greater prize of the French Presidency. As things stand, he has indeed resigned as IMF head but with his reputation in such a state that the French Presidency on a Socialist ticket looks like a shaky proposition. Having covered up previous examples of such behaviour, it now transpires that what he is now accused of appears to be habitual practice. Some of his fellow men, knowing their own weaknesses, offer only faint condemnation ...
Now NotW. The big prize here is BSkyB whose revenues of about 400 billion dollars dwarf those of News International and NotW in particular. Murdoch may have decided to bin NotW since the organisation knows just how toxic the brand has become. They know that what was passed off as an aberration by rogue reporters is in fact habitual behaviour. And News International's attempt at complete control over BSkyB - by far the greater prize - is hanging in the balance. In the circumstances, rather than let the infected limb remain to spread gangrene throughout the body corporate, News International has taken what is not only a bold decision to lop it off sooner rather than later, but one which has even fooled some into thinking that it was a principled, rather than an expedient one! Some fellow media houses, knowing their own weaknesses offer only muted condemnation ...
As for Rebekkah Brooks, I think that rather than see everything as being done to protect her, you should rather switch to the analogy of the Russian troika speeding through the night pursued by wolves. Some minor passengers have been thrown out to delay the wolves, but safety is a long way off. You don't in those circumstances throw every dispensable passenger out at once. Bearing in mind that Brooks has as good as stated that there is more and worse to come, it doesn't take a lot of foresight to conclude that there will be more food for the wolves before too long. The important passengers are the Murdochs.
I hope that we are having a serious discussion. For some reason, you chose to ignore the points I made and to divert attention to African leaders, perhaps forgetting that most of those African leaders have not -- to use the same words you used in defense of the management of NOTW -- "been charged and found guilty" of whatever it is you are accusing them of! Why apply a different standard on them? Anyway, let us refrain from chasing shadows and keep this conversation focused on the fraudulent behavior of the NOTW.
Cornelius wrote:
"... nor was I holding brief for the Murdoch Media Empire. But it is not likely nor have the
bosses in higher management been charged and found guilty of the duplicity or complicity that you accuse them of."
It almost sounds that you are "holding brief for the Murdoch Media Empire."
These are among the established facts:
1. NOTW has bugged thousands of phone lines -- 7,000 according to victims' lawyers.
2. The fraud was first uncovered problem uncovered in 2006.
3. The newspaper's editor Andy Coulson resigned and landed a job (image maker, no less!) with Murdoch protege then-British Opposition Leader and current Prime Minister David Cameron. Dude got a real soft-landing! Meanwhile, royal correspondent Clive Goodman pleaded guilty and was jailed in 2007.
We now know that the history of this criminal misconduct goes as far back to 2002. We have also known since the beginning of this year that the paper's private investigator Glenn Mulcaire told British investigators that the newspaper's leadership hired him to do just what he was doing, tapping phones. Was all this being paid for by the correspondents from their private pockets or from company's payroll?
For you now to say that there is no evidence that the management knew until a few days ago about a practice that even the office cat is said to have known is disingenious. Even if you refuse to see acknowledge the evidence that does not warrant heaping praises on the newspaper's parent company for closing it down.
UgoOn Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 12:26 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:Criminal investigative ethics is reprehensible on all counts, and I
certainly do not condone such journalistic ethics nor was I holding
brief for the Murdoch Media Empire. But it is not likely nor have the
bosses in higher management been charged and found guilty of the
duplicity or complicity that you accuse them of.
You say that, " If the management were not complicit, they would have
nipped the fraudulent
practice in the bud" without verifying that they actually had such
knowledge. Fortunately these odious malpractices have now been
uncovered not a minute too late and we may well wonder: How long has
this been going on ? And also wonder long your line in print along
which you exclaimed, "goodness knows what else they did with those
phones! "
Meanwhile in some parts of our Africa the struggle goes on for some
Freedom of Information Legislation, which will hopefully render phone
tapping etc, unnecessary.
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=Freedom+of+Information+Legislation+in+Africa&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=
> corneliushamelb...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Jul 8, 7:33 pm, "G. Ugo Nwokeji" <u...@berkeley.edu> wrote:
> What really is your point, Cornelius -- that we should clap for the NOTW
> management?
>
> There seems to be nothing altruistic in their action. Cover up is the more
> likely motive.
>
> They were complicit in the outrageous fraud every step of the way. The fraud
> first came to light years ago, two of the accomplces were jailed, police
> were reportedly bribed to suppress the case, and the fraud apparently
> continued unabated. By the time it came to a head, thousands of phone lines
> had been bugged and people's private voice messages altered. Lord knows what
> else they did with those phones!
> If the management were not complicit, they would have nipped the fraudulent
> practice in the bud. They took action VERY belatedly -- albeit a decisive
> one -- and you are showering praises on them.
>
> Do you praise accessory or accomplice to serial murder for arresting the
> serial murderer only after other people have unmasked the murderer?
>
> The management have administered medication only after the patient has been
> stone-cold. The fraudulent practise they condoned for too long, if not
> encouraged, undermined people's basic privacy rights, destroyed lives,
> marriages and careers, obstructed justice, gave the paper undue advantage
> over the competition, and was instrumental to the profitability you are now
> praising its management for giving up in closing the paper.
> Ugo
>
> On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 5:27 AM, Cornelius Hamelberg <
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/History-Of-News-Of-The-World...
> >http://www.google.com/search?q=The+problem+of++media+monopoly+in+a+de...>
> > In my view we should not lose sight of The News of The World's self-
> > censorship and the management's unprecedented reaction resulting in
> > its self- termination. It was the paper's management that complied
> > with and facilitated the investigations. And it was the paper's
> > management that made the unprecedented decision to stop publishing/
> > printing after Sunday, bringing the paper's 168 years of existence to
> > an end. They were not closed – they closed themselves. As someone
> > observed, from a business perspective it's unprecedented that a good
> > business terminates a profitable brand name, let alone the News of
> > the World which since 1950 with a circulation of 8.5 million has
> > enjoyed being the most widely read newspaper in the world. Can you
> > imagine the Financial Times or the New York Times or Cola-cola which
> > is kosher or Mr. McDonald Hamburger saying he was going to change the
> > brand name for ethical reasons such as that there was blood found to
> > be in the meat?
>
> > Watergate aside, and the known/ unknown methods of electronic/ psychic
> > surveillance/espionage we ought not be blinded to the devious methods
> > employed by many an investigative journalist in many other newspapers
> > and the conflicts that have occasionally surfaced with regard to
> > sources/ disclosure of sources and the methods known or unknown of
> > obtaining news scoops....
>
> > Unfortunately the News of the World – like the Sun being a tabloid,
> > have always thrived on sensationalized even sexed-up news and the page
> > 3 girlie....
>
> > The problem of media monopoly and democracy is ever on-going and the
> > Murdochs cannot be faulted for ever wanting a bigger portion of the
> > media pie or for building a media Empire ....only Legislation could
> > be put in place to regulate that.
>
> > The problem of media monopoly in a democracy is a real problem:
>
>> >http://www.google.com/search?q=Arne+Ruth+-+media+monopoly&ie=utf-8&oe...
> > In connection with this sort of problem in once upon a time Sweden, I
> > think of Arne Ruth:
>
-->
> > Is there even a glimmering of any such problem as media monopoly and a
> > free press in any part of Africa?
>
> > On Jul 8, 1:59 am, "Prof. Alfred Zack-Williams"
> > <a...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> > > MsJoe,
>
> > > Sorry to disappoint you. The News of the World your mother adored is not
> > the
> > > same paper it is today, as its demise has indicated. Its owner Rupert
> > > Murdoch is nasty piece of work and a threat to democracy. He is notorious
> > > for bullying workers, particularly trades unionists; he was a corrupting
> > > influence in Australian politics, by convincing Premier Bob Hawke not to
> > > enforce legislation about ownership of major dailies in Australian in
> > return
> > > his paper supported Hawke in the election. British politicians from Tony
> > > Blair to Gordon Brown and David Cameron are frightened of him. He hates
> > the
> > > BBC because it is state owned and as such he cannot lay his fingers on
> > it.
> > > Both him and his son want the BBC privatised, presumably, so that they
> > can
> > > use his billions to buy controlling interests. For any publisher to
> > claim
> > > as his other soft-porn daily, The Sun has claimed that they now choose
> > the
> > > government in Britain by using their massive circulation to convince
> > voters
> > > to tow their line on election day and vote for party that is sympathetic
> > to
> > > Murdoch's agenda including anti-European agenda, anti-immigrant stance
> > and
> > > anti-BBC.
>
> > > I can go on, but hopefully you get the essence of why we should
> > celebrate,
> > > though I imagine, the NOW will re-emerge in different guise in a few
> > months'
> > > time.
>
> > > From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
> > > [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of
> > MsJoe2...@aol.com
> > > Sent: 07 July 2011 20:57
> > > To: Camnetw...@yahoogroups.com; nigerianworldfo...@yahoogroups.com;
> > > AC...@yahoogroups.com; USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
> > > Cc: nigeria...@yahoogroups.com; mwanan...@yahoogroups.com;
> > > Africanswithout_Bord...@yahoogroups.com
> > > Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: CNN Breaking
> > > News.......oohhhhhhhhhhhhh.....flash back News of the World
>
> > > Ooohhhhh didn't now he owned it. As a little girl in Africa, my Mom used
> > to
> > > tell me stories from News of the World that sounded like Soap Opera
> > > materials. While in London, as students, she said getting the latest
> > edition
> > > was almost a religion. While at that, her favorite musician was Tom
> > Jones.
>
> > > Ohhhhhh, sorry to hear the institution is folding but not sorry for
> > Rupert
> > > Murdoch, a viral purveyor of literal mischief and yellow journalism on
> > Fox.
>
> > > MsJoe.
>
> > > In a message dated 7/7/2011 11:00:45 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
>
> > > BreakingN...@mail.cnn.com writes:
>
> > > Britain's embattled News of the World, the world's top-selling
> > > English-language newspaper, will shut down after Sunday's edition. The
> > > scandal-hit tabloid, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., has been at
> > the
> > > center of phone hacking charges.
>
> > > Victims of the alleged phone hacking, where reporters are said to have
> > > obtained PIN numbers and listened to voicemails, include a teenage murder
> > > victim, celebrities, royalty and at least one man killed in the 2005
> > London
> > > bombing.
>
> > > Murdoch has condemned the allegations against News of the World as
> > > "deplorable and unacceptable." Murdoch's media empire extends to the U.S.
> > to
> > > include Fox News and the Wall Street Journal.
>
> > > >+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
>
> > > A bad Credit Score is 600 or below.
> > > Click here to get your 2011 score instantly for $0!
> > > By Experianhttp://www.FreeCreditScore.com/CNN
>
> > > >+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
>
> > > You have opted-in to receive this e-mail from CNN.com.
> > > To unsubscribe from Breaking News e-mail alerts, go to:
> >http://cgi.cnn.com/m/clik?l=textbreakingnews
>
> > > One CNN Center Atlanta, GA 30303
> > > (c) & (r) 2011 Cable News Network
>
> > > --
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