CNN's Kurtz: Officials At Murdoch's Sky News "Reserve The Right To Break The Law"
April 08, 2012 4:03 pm ET by Jeremy Holden
CNN's Howard Kurtz admonished officials at Sky News, a News Corp.-owned British news channel, for "saying they reserve the right to break the law" after it emerged that officials there acknowledged hacking into private emails.
Officials at the News Corp. channel confirmed this week that on at least two occasions, reporters illegally hacked into private email accounts.
Sky News head John Ryley made clear that the hacking was authorized and said that they "stand behind these actions as editorially justified and in the public interest." Kurtz on Sunday called that justification "bloody rubbish."
In an April 6 Huffington Post column, Media Matters executive vice president Ari Rabin-Havt explained how the latest development in the News Corp. hacking scandal further validates concerns that the company suffers from a culture of corruption:
The Sky case is particularly interesting because for the first time, the company has admitted that hacking was not only approved of, but in fact officially sanctioned by the management of the channel. John John Ryley, the head of Sky News, told reporters, "We stand by these actions as editorially justified and in the public interest." Ryley continued: "Material provided by Sky News was used in the successful prosecution, and the police made clear after the trial that this information was pivotal to the case."
Regardless of intentions or the criminal behavior of a target, it is not in the realm of a private entity to determine which laws to follow and which to ignore. It's because of this hubris, which runs up and down the News Corp. ladder, that the company has landed in this place.
Oh yes, and who is it that is the final arbiter of what is right or wrong, legal or illegal?
Profit maybe, or politics?
Talk about a slippery slope!
I'm quite sure they think judicious murder is justified too.
And did Howie say "bloody rubbish", LOL!
Regardless of intentions or the criminal behavior of a target, it is not in the realm of a private entity to determine which laws to follow and which to ignore. It's because of this hubris, which runs up and down the News Corp. ladder, that the company has landed in this place.
The arrest warrant will be issued this week!
If they are drawing your attention to it, then they obviously must have their reasons.
Only and idiot or fool of an investigator let's the object of the investigation determine what is important and what warrants attention, and so again, if News Corp is drawing your attention to these two particular instances of "email hacking" then you can be sure they have their reasons, you can be sure you don't give a damn and aren't interested in their sleight of hand.
"Do you reserve the right to bribe officers and other officials at the Metropolitan Police?"
"Do you claim a legal justification for intercepting the phone messages of the murdered young girl?"
See how easy it is to not take the bait, see how easy it is to stay focused and on point, and to determine for yourself what is a crime, and to not let News Corp determine your attention for you, by drawing it to these two particular examples of "email hacking" that they choose to talk about?
This has legs and is probably the reason that James Murdoch resigned as Chairman of BskyB which the Murdochs were days away from grabbing complete control of last year before the Millie Dowler revelations scuppered everything and in a fit of panic he ordered the shutdown of the biggest earning newspaper in his stable.
If you want a detailed rundown of what has happened go onto the Daily Kos website and look for Peter Jukes writing under the pseudonym Brit and his "Fall Of The House Of Murdoch" diaries. He also has a book coming out this summer under the same title which also goes into great detail about the ongoing scandal.