Friday, July 15, 2011

Another Murdoch Lieutenant Falls

The day began with the announcement that News International CEO Rebekah Brooks had resigned.   Now she's followed by her predecessor and Rupe Murdoch's handpicked publisher of The Wall Street Journal and chairman of Dow Jones, Les Hinton who has announced his resignation.

Hinton ran News International from 1997 through 2005.  Rupe Murdoch, never one to give up a fight without plenty of  blood on the floor, is plainly running from this one.   First he shuttered News of the World, then he dropped his all but guaranteed takeover of BSkyB pay TV system, then Brooks fell on her sword, now Hinton does the same.

The Murdochs, Rupe and Jimmy, are due for an appearance before a British parliamentary committee next Tuesday.  By then they'll have no one left to fire but themselves.   Oopsie.

Meanwhile, on the truly dangerous side of the Atlantic for the Murdochs, the FBI has begun an investigation into reports that Murdoch crews tried to do the telephone voicemail hacking scam on survivors of the 9/11 victims.

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