Murdoch, Mensch and a new England Manager
May 9, 2012 7:17 pm Leave your thoughts
In recent weeks we have seen Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and CEO of News Corporation, described as ‘not fit to run a major international company’ by British Parliamentarians (who would have thought it after his appearance, alongside one of his sons James, before the Culture , Media and Sport Committee last year, not just notable from the appearance of ‘Jonnie Marbles’).
The conclusion was, of course, disputed along party lines with Louise Mensch, a rather self-publicising Conservative, saying that it had been a “great shame” that the “unfit” terminology had meant that she and three other Tory members could not support the report.
The assessment of the fitness, mental or otherwise, of the Murdoch patriarch, and of the fall-out of the handling of the ‘phone-hacking scandal, to run such a large global conglomerate, may have caused ripples in this country where his interests (The Sun, The Times, his share in BSkyB to name a few) may be seen as extensive. However, it is in the US that he focuses his energies. And is also where his downfall could lie – the Senate is already calling for the record of ‘phone tapping garnered by the British.
But, his media interests in this country have failed to redeem themselves.
Granted he hastily closed the News of the World – not hastily enough by his own admission, following the appalling revelation of the tapping of the ‘phone of the murdered Milly Dowling, an infringement that should surely make the most hardy sick to their stomach (the ‘celeb’s cannot, and should not, gather the same sympathy, or pay-out).
On Wednesday however the appointment of a new England FC manager (ahead of Euro 2012, for which the paper – not just The Sun, mind – has been in full xenophobic swing) saw the front page let leash to a newer depth of depravity.
The target now: speech impediments (which of us does not have one of some sorts?). Such a personal attack on the front page of such a widely-sold newspaper could be interpreted as believing News International have learnt little. It will be interesting to see whether shareholders hold the same view when they next meet for their AGM in the autumn.
Categorised in: Editorial
This post was written by Emmeline Ravilious