Cell Phones of people in the news hacked by "News of the World".

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"The disclosure that the News of the World phone hacking allegations involved the victims of crime as well as high-profile celebrities raised the possibility that other victims’ families were hacked — something police were examining. "Basically every major crime story, every major news event, there was some sort of hacking involved," said a senior police source. "It was systematic." "

Catchfire Catchfire's picture


Catchfire Catchfire's picture

This story has been in the news for more than a year--at least when News of the World was hacking journalists, politicians and celebrities. But the Guardian has just broke that they have also been targeting the families of crime victims, most notably they hacked the phone of 13-year-old Milly Dowler after she had been abducted and deleted phone messages, leading friends and family members to believe (wrongly) that Milly was still alive.

The list of hacked victims is growing, with other families of murdered children likely targets--as well as victims of the 7/7 terrorist attacks.

Profit and responsible journalism. Like gum and nuts.

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

...the antecedent of "they" being News of the World, not the Guardian.




Wait, there's more:




Catchfire Catchfire's picture

News of the World axed by News International

News International announced on Thursday that it is closing the News of the World after this Sunday's edition, with no end in sight to the political and commercial fallout from the phone-hacking scandal after 72 hours of mounting crisis.




Murdoch told employees at the 168-year old title: "The News of the World is in the business of holding others to account. But it failed to when it came to itself".


Murdoch said in a statement: "Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad and this was not fully understood or adequately pursued."


I think Murdoch is trying to kill the scandle dead by killing the paper.  Hmm. If anything, those nearly 200 suddenly unemployed people will have little to lose now and might get chatty.


"However, some analysts said the decision may make strategic business sense for Rupert Murdoch if it allows him to salvage a controversial bid to fully take over the broadcaster British Sky Broadcast in a deal estimated at 12-billion pounds, ($19-billion). Murdoch might even be able to fill the gap left by the News of the World with one of his other media properties."

Clearly, what's needed is a global approach to Murdoch.


 THere are reports (including on CBC) that he is just shutting down the offending rag in order to open it back up again in a re-branded form. 

Coincidentally, the domain sunonsunday.co.uk was registered two days ago. 

And the comment from his son James Murdoch, "If recent allegations are true, it was inhuman and has no place in our company" has all the sincerity of a guy blaming his own dog for biting people.

Catchfire Catchfire's picture

Murdoch: the network defeats the hierarchy

The Murdoch empire fractured, a Conservative prime minister attracting bets on his resignation, the Metropolitan Police on the edge of yet another existential crisis and the political establishment in disarray.

A network of subversives would have counted that a spectacular result to achieve in a decade, let alone in a single week. But it was not subversives that achieved it - the wounds are self-inflicted.

As the News of the World scandal gathered momentum it became clear, by midnight on Thursday, that this was not just the latest of a series of institutional crises - the banks, MPs expenses - but the biggest. For this one goes to the heart of the way this country has been run, under both parties, for decades.

It is like a nightmare scripted by Noam Chomsky and Slavoj Zizek: key parts of the political machinery of Britain are wavering.



There is some speculation that James Murdoch might be arrested, as he approved money that went to police bribes.  We'll see.  If so, it would be difficult to imagine how Rebekah Brooks would escape police interest.

From the "network defeats hierarchy" article, this quote stood out for me:

"But what challenges the theory is first, the role of the social media in breaking the old system. Large corporations pulled their advertising because the scale of the social media response allowed them to know what they are obsessed with knowing: the scale of the reputational threat to their own brands"

In another thread about the P.R. firm Hill and Knowlton, Spectrum unearthed this quote from said firms Thomas Buckmaster:  "Managing the outrage is more important than managing the hazard."   Seems the speed of social media makes "managing the outrage" a very difficult task.


Well, this story was so fast moving that I didn't know when to add to this.  But Friday both Les Hinton and Rebekah Brooks got axed, and it seems the Murdoch empire might have run afoul of the anti bribery laws in the States.  



This one is very funny:


More serious analysis:






M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Rick Salutin wrote:
Can we declare a moratorium on Canadian Schadenfreude over Rupert Murdoch and his British tabs? They deserve what they're getting and more. But it tends to conceal the mote in our own eye.



Oh, I think there's enough time in the day to revel in the Fall of the House of Murdoch and take a strip off Evan Solomon's P.R. company Infomercial on CBC's "Power and Politics".  I find the time-- and I have a day job.  :)


This just in:


"Rebekah Brooks, Rupert Murdoch's former British CEO, was arrested Sunday by British police investigating phone hacking and police bribery by the defunct tabloid News of the World.

Police said a 43-year-old woman was arrested at a London police station at noon Sunday by appointment. She is being questioned on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications — phone hacking — and on suspicion of corruption — bribing police for information"



But wait, there's more:

Head of Scotland Yard resigns:


"In a stunning statement , Stephenson stressed his integrity and dismissed weekend claims that it was compromised by accepting a free stay at a luxury health spa where Wallis had been hired as a PR consultant."

In Britain, as in Canada, it seems P.R. companies are the puss that currently lubricates the body politic.

Comic Relief:


"Mocking laughter greets former officer's explanations"

"Such social contacts were part of his duties, he asserted, as he rejected charges that there was anything improper in having taken a job as a London Times columnist just two months after he retired and while the News of the World investigation continued.

Should he not now resign , asked the chairman.

Suddenly Hayman, who has clearly no intention of quitting and for whom journalism had been “a boyhood dream”, was belligerent. “If I get suspended or dismissed, I hope I get grounds for that.”

He was incandescent when Conservative MP Lorraine Fullbrook asked if he had taken any money while in uniform: “Good God! I’m not letting her get away with it! I can’t believe you asked that!” he shouted.

By now, MPs sat watching in disbelief, while some in the public gallery sniggered.

“I normally sum up people’s evidence,” said the chairman, “but on this occasion I find your evidence speaks for itself.”

Never underestimate the power of hubris.

Lard Tunderin Jeezus Lard Tunderin Jeezus's picture
Northern Shoveler Northern Shoveler's picture

I hope people wake up to the fact that in our age it is not the government that is too be feared the most but the corporate oligarchy who recognize no rule of law on the planet.  Anything goes in the search for a profit advantage and citizens rights be damned.

Lachine Scot

More comic relief. I found this one quite funny.


Rupert Murdoch: what will MPs do without someone to fear? Britain's politicians have reacted to Murdoch's troubles like medieval villagers realising that God may not exist

Northern Shoveler Northern Shoveler's picture

Our police will not take orders from politicians to breach the law but many can easily be seduced and bribed by the moneyed elite.


Northern Shoveler wrote:





Well, this is the larger issue at hand, that this hacking scandle is just really an illustration of. Whether it is this, or the "bail outs" in Ireland or Greece, or the melt down on Wall Street, it's all about how our democratic governments really have little power any more. They are just card board cut outs for corporate totalitarians. 

What we are seeing is a part of the system that is attacking freedom, liberty and the right to persue happiness.


A U.K. parliamentary committee looking into the phone hacking scandal was briefly suspended Tuesday after someone tried to attack News Corp. chief executive Rupert Murdoch with what appeared to be a plate of shaving foam.

Murdoch had been testifying at the hearing when a protester who had been sitting in the audience lunged toward Murdoch.

BBC political editor Nick Robinson reported that Murdoch was apparently hit with a plate of shaving foam by a man shouting: "Greedy." The protester was then struck by Murdoch's wife, Wendi Deng, who jumped up to defend her husband



i was at a friends place last night and we got to talking about the news of the world scandel.

my friend stated that over the weekend she saw an interesting post about this story.

simply put i was asked how is this different from wikileaks?

my friend argued -- and i am not sure if i agree totally -- but argued that it is the exact same thing. the only difference is the release of documents vs attack on public individuals but in both cases information was acquired using less then honest methods

so what should i respond with next time we meet for a good scotch.


"You cannot hope to bribe or twist
(thank God!) the British journalist.
 But, seeing what the man will do
unbribed, there's no occasion to."


--Humbert Wolfe, 1885-1940


I agree that there are similarities in the methods.

The difference - Motive.

Not to say that wikileaks is entirely devoid of financial  motives, because Assange has spoken about the value of the information as a commodity, and was curiously pissed off when others used legitimate means to get to the "stolen" goods which he felt was his property. But the motives of NOTW was based far more on selling papers and advertising than the importance of the information itself. 

Also, the targets were not just government, but private people, and in some cases the victims of crimes and tragedy.


remind remind's picture

wikileaks concerns itself with international matters of the public realm, where countries and their "elites" are playing their citizens for fools and not telling the truth. Whilst NotW and Murdoch alleged phone tapping was/is targeting victimized people to exploit for private financial gain their plights. and/or apparently using the information gained illegally as a means of political control of; elected and hired people responsible to the general public at large.

Had the Murdoch empire concerned itself with exposing governmental  corruption as opposed to alledgedly making sure they had control of public officials, or those who would become one. to meet their agenda, they would have been playing their correct role as news media. However, allegedly they were more intereste in enlarging the public focus on the plights of others, as opposed to being an actual news source.

For me. what they are allegedly doing is purely smokescreen to make people look over there, as opposed to over here where corporations like Murdoch's are gaining totalitarian control of the media and people's minds.

Catchfire Catchfire's picture

Rupert Murdoch wrote:
"And I'm not saying that somebody should have told me. To my knowledge certain things were not known. And when new information came to light, with respect to my knowledge of these events, when the new information came to light, the company acted on it, and the company acted on it in a right and proper way as best the company could. But it's difficult to say that the company should have been told something if it's not known that a thing was a known fact to be told."


When will Murdoch himself be charged or does the buck not stop here in his case? After all he is the CEO or Chairman n'est pas?



The Sun has been plunged into its worst ever crisis following the arrest of five of its most senior journalists over corruption allegations, movingRupert Murdoch to pledge his support for the paper amid rumours that it faces closure.


















When people do something wrong and they get caught doing it why don't they just admit they did something wrong and take what's coming to them. They always make matters a lot worse for themselves by continuing to tell lies after they are caught. Didn't read the whole email my ass! Does he take us all for complete fools with a comment like that.



Hopefully the authorities get this sleazeball Murdoch and put him behind bars with the Conrad Blacks of the world where they belong. These scumbag media owners do serious damage to our societies with their sick reporting tactics which are nothing more than blatant propaganda for the rich to to continue and constantly screw the poor. Are there any links between Murdoch and Sun media in Canada? And what about Fox News - is it connected in some way as well?


radiorahim radiorahim's picture

I have a problem with the thread title and the mainstream media's use of the term "hacking".

Hackers traditionally have modified computer software and other devices to make them do things that they weren't designed to do.  Many software programmes wouldn't exist today without hackers.   The net and the web itself wouldn't exist without hackers.

What the British tabloids have been doing isn't hacking...it's "cracking".   What the tabloids and Faux News have done is similar to what a safe cracker does.   They break into things in order to steal personal information.

So let's reject this mainstream media use of the term "hacker" and call these right wing tabloids what they really are...namely "crackers".


Imagine the thought of those dastardly police looking for evidence. What humilation this must be for those charged with these despicable crimes. Hopefully though they will be able to get Murdoch.



And on and on it goes - now the CEO of News International in the police docket

Rebekah Brooks among six arrested in U.K. phone-hacking raids



CBC, one of the things they seem to get right, is airing a documentary on these, and there is no other word for them, evil people. Try and catch it as it is staggering how the British Met police supported Murdoch against his workers, etc.


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Ha! Ha! Ha! Laughing




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Cameron's government must be starting to look shaky what with all these revelations about his party's connections woth Murdock

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I would like to see Murdoch rot in prison in a jail cell right beside Conrad Black - a fitting place for the two of them who think they are above the law

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Pure unalderated scum.

Fox News may be compromised in the USA. What connections does the Murdoch empire have in Canada?


News Corp shareholders 'troubled' by Murdochs' Leveson testimony

US shareholders worry testimony raises new questions and poses threats to other areas of company's media empire





More woe for Murdoch as Ofcom steps up its investigation into whether BSkyB is fit and proper owner of broadcasting licence

  • Rupert Murdoch could ultimately be forced to sell his 39% stake in BSkyB, if a full probe is launched
  • Ofcom have been looking at whether Mr Murdoch is a 'fit and proper' person since last summer
  • News Corp dropped bid for BSkyB following the hacking scandal



Well said Robert

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