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Subscribe to RSSTwo senior journalists working for Rupert Murdoch's News International have attempted suicide as pressure mounts at the scandal-hit publisher of the now-defunct News of the World, according to media reports.
The suicide attempts follow weeks of intense scrutiny of the role of The Sun, another Murdoch paper, in the phone-hacking scandal and police bribery case.
The man and the woman, who were reportedly involved in separate incidents, were rescued in time, a friend of one of them said, according to a report Tuesday on stuff.co.nz. The two journalists have been checked into the hospital, according to a report Tuesday by the Financial Times. The newspaper reported that their care is being paid for by News International.
"It was not a suicide pact," the friend told the New Zealand-based news organization. "The attempts were not simultaneous and there is no suggestion of a pact."
Eleven current and former staff of the Sun, Britain's best-selling daily tabloid, have been arrested this year on suspicion of bribing police or civil servants for tip-offs, Reuters reported Tuesday.
Their arrests have come as a result of information provided to the police by the Management and Standards Committee, or MSC, a body set up by parent company News Corp to facilitate police investigations and liaise with the courts.
The work of the MSC, which was set up to be independent of the conglomerate's British newspaper arm News International, has caused bitterness among staff, many of whom feel betrayed by an employer they have loyally served.
"People think that they've been thrown under a bus," one News International employee told Reuters. "They're beyond angry - there's an utter sense of betrayal, not just with the organization but with a general lynch-mob hysteria."
News International, the European arm of Murdoch's empire, is facing multiple criminal investigations and civil court cases as well as a public inquiry into press standards after long-simmering criticism of its practices came to a head last July.
Politicians once close to Murdoch, including Prime Minister David Cameron, turned their backs on him and demanded answers after the Guardian newspaper revealed the News of the World had hacked the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
The London Evening Standard reported that other News International journalists are “terribly stressed and many are on the edge.” The company has reportedly offered psychiatric help to any journalist who wants help.
This article includes reporting by Reuters and msnbc.com staff.
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uh, you're a reporter! You write about what other people do. How stressful can that really be? Personally, I think my pet's veterinarian should be more stressed.
Didn't you ever watch Night Stalker? If the headless motorcyclist or haunted knight's armor was after me, I'd be pretty stressed!
I know people who chant the things that they hear on the American cousin of World News, known as Fox News. They are stressed because they illegally accessed peoples privacy.
Try to research something before you just state a stupid opinion out of total ignorance. How would you like to be "thrown under the bus" by your employer, no matter what your job is. Let's face it, keeping any kind of job these days is stressful. Obviously you have never been a reporter because they are held to account and sometimes thrown unnder the bus, despite just "writingn about what other people do." Duhhh that's the easy part of the job, einstein.
This is how Fascists like Murdoch work.
The end always justifies the means.
So all employees will be thrown under the bus and lied about by Murdoch.
Murdoch would sell out his own mother for 2c.
.
If you make a mistake or do something stupid you run the risk of going from reporting the news to becoming the news, and suddenly everyone is invading your privacy in order to get a story instead of the other way around. Totally not stressful at all.
No doubt the shame of being a criminal is finally dawning on these two. While I prefer they fess up to their punishment and take it, as opposed to ending their life, it'd be good if the other reporters would start coming to an epiphany about how they've invaded people's privacy in horrible ways just to make a sensation for a rag.
The one who should be doing himself in is Rupert Murdoch.
However, he never will because he has no conscience.
Assumptions like that only not make you look stupid, but like a jerk.
"Stressed", the fact that these"reporters" continually broke the law to keep a job they knew was illegal just to "work" for the DEVIL himself does not make me care about their plight today. If these people want to be "forgiven" they should tell everyone exactly who and when they were coerced into committing such terrible acts to their fellow unfortunate human beings. The thing that galls me is that the same things have been done by ALL of this DEVILS "news sources". I hope to live long enough to see Rupert Murdoch and his "empire" reduced to ashes.
Ahhh . . . those Brits. Suicide. Wrong 'cide.
Over here they would have teamed up and committed homicide. I'm pretty sure we invented "going postal." Better run and hide Rupert.
FOX News RAP Sheet =
Illegal phone hacking
11 Criminal Arrests at the Sun
2 Attempted Suicides by Senior Journalists working for News International
Police Bribery
Hush Money
Lying before the British Parliament
Criminal Investigations
Civil Court Cases
Resignations
Any writer who works for Murdoch's Tabloid Empire is no journalist - they all are Tabloid employees!
OMG, this is just brilliant! Let's see:
2012 AD (now), or 2012 BC - all the same old story, rich people f-ing us lil' poor ppl.
And now I think it's our f-ing fault if we are that stoopid in this day and age, if we don't a) get out of the bad deal and let them make us; b) don't cover our behinds by recording everything and c) don't stand up for ourselves by making our recordings public on WikiLeaks.
Peace Out
I don't get it.... the phone hacking journalists and their associates are more stressed than the victims and the victims' families who were deceived that their deceased loved ones were possibly alive???? Sorry, the journalist's legal issues really seem trivial by all measures.
Perhaps it wasn't suicide, the whistlebloiwer in the case commited suicide also, supposedly.I mean after all we are dealing with the Murdoch Mafia, once a part of the team the only way out is in a coffin.
It's a good thing that's not what anyone is saying. Now please learn to read.
It is time for executives to pay the price. Claiming ignorance is no excuse. You get paid for your statutory responsibilities. You are responsible for the corporate culture of greed, corruption, and competition you create within your organization. Wanting all the fruits without the associated responsibilities is just a dream come true. Your claim of misplaced trust in the ones you entrusted just doesn't hold water anymore. A ships captain is held responsible for the iceberg collision even with the first mate at the helm.
LMFAO!! Only liberal msnbc will keep this boring story alive. No one cared about this non-story last year when it happened. We sure as hell care even less about it now.
Liberals! God love em!! LOL!
Maybe some victims might want to read a little about justice.
It all comes back to Rupert Murdoch. The buck stops with him. He is responsible for the way his organization functions and set the tone for the way business practices were carried out. If Conrad Black can be sentenced to prison then so can Murdoch if the evidence should be sufficient.
If only. Unfortunately most of the time, the corporate leadership gets off scott free and sacrifices the little people to the righteous pitchfork wavers.
The "little people" are complicit in this. They get jobs that pay well and access to the chance of joining the 1% if they will "play along." This involves engaging in what they know full well are crimes and unethical behaviors. They make up stories, propagandize, invade people's privacy, slander and libel.
While it is true that everyone should know that Murdoch's people do this, the left-leaning publications also do it . . . if at a less horrific level. It isn't common for left-leaning publications to go after "common" people--though they will do it, as with Richard Jewell and assorted others who have been convicted in the press and have only rarely been vindicated (some are rotting in prison right now). Not a few have committed suicide to get away from the press. The left-leaning press mostly focuses on celebrities and political figures--driving not a few of them nutty and causing them to self-medicate into death and/or engage in odd antics (think of Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson) and have led not a few of them to suicide.
Not all journalists are bad people--some really do quite a good job and risk their own lives trying to bring the news to people, news that they need. But, we need to wonder about the people like Murdoch who make quite so much money off the news. Why is simply providing information to people quite so profitable? Does the profit motive lead to unethical behavior--almost certainly. Does the amount of money to be made encourage criminal behavior--almost certainly. Does this amount of money give ungodly power to a few people who do not deserve it--oh, yes.
I personally think that the first step to stopping this is to break up the news organizations into smaller ones--which will compete against one another. The large monopolies need to be broken up. Murdoch's US citizenship should be taken away so that he is only Australian--or naturalized citizens should not be able to own news corporations. No one person or organization should own more than one outlet. Unless we want to socialize news organizations and make them not-for-profit and answerable to the public--we need to take away the possibility of vampire capitalism by breaking down the monopolies and creating a healthier competitive atmosphere.
But, yeah, I have little sympathy for these people who rose to the top of the heap through unethical behaviors. I wonder how many "little people" they stepped on and drove out of the industry because they wouldn't play along with the unethical behavior required of those who wanted to rise. Sounds to me like they are hoist on their own petards--poetic justice appeals to me.
At least that's what they're told to keep them playing.
In reality, they have NO chance of joining the 1%.
I like the person who said they no longer reported the news, they were the news. Obviously, they don't like the shoe on the other foot! I think all these journalists should be investigated to a point we know what their mother had for lunch for the past few months. Then maybe we would start getting on honest reporting where they report the facts, and quit putting slants on words never said in the context that they wrote about. Oh, wait, fox news would be just a gossip organization (which they are now anyway)!
Everyone #2-#2.5 are Spot On!
Something is not right here. You have to go through all this stuff just to report the truth? That is like saying when you were trying to get a ball out of the street you had to hijack the car coming down the road to keep it from hitting the ball.
The penalties for what they did (and there are mulitple counts) are pretty severe. They may be old enough that prison doesn't seem to be an option.
Is this article intended to incite sympathy for these people? I hope not. They feel bad because what they did was wrong!
Slowly the monster falls apart. No wonder those reporters are feeling stressed, they are about to face justice which will treat them more fairly than they treated their victims.
Yes, but most folks have no idea what this all means because of the language used. Rupert has been pulling strings, directing official police investigations, listening to whomever he wants to spy on...for what, ask yourself? For whom? Ask yourself. Ask not for whom the bell tolls GOP/NWO/1%, it tolls for thee......
Progressive witch hunt.
Jute, too bad they did not tap your identity. I am sure you are a freedom lover as much as I am.
Yep, kinda' like the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials.
PS Cameron is a conservative.
Rupert should be ashamed of the type of reporting his reporters do, look at Bill O'reilly, worst reporter on TV. If he doesn't want to hear the truth from one of his guests, he rudely cuts them off, or he belittles them just like RUSH limpdick. You get what you create Rupert...I wouldn't put it past Rupert to be up to his hairline in that mess, but like everything else the rich get away with it and expect his hourly wage employees to take the RAP for him, WHAT A MAN...
Bill O' Rielly is the best reporter on TV...
Bil O' Rielly "the dev" cannot and will not ever be a TRUSTED REPORTER FOR ANYONE WITH COMMON SENSE. The lunatic fringe that accept his rhetoric as the truth will realize the lies when they most need truth and compassion in their lives. IT WILL BE TO LATE!!!! MR O'RIELLY WILL BE SPENDING THE MILLIONS YOU HELPED HIM MAKE WHILE LAUGHING AT YOUR GULLIBILITY.
Bill O'reilly is the best reporter on tv, like I'm the best fisherman.
Tell me another one.
I guess that answers the question "How can you live with yourselves?"
I'm still waiting for the story about RM being taken to the hospital.
yeah, maybe sharing a bed with George Soros??
There goes dano again - pulling another trigger word straw man out of his arse.
George Soros, George Soros, George Soros...
Try another ink blot answer.
I know tyler will expel me from class for this but why can't a few of the wingnuts working for the Murdoch Mafia on this side of the pond take a bullet for the team. I can see Douchey offing himself after reading the RNC talking point memo on the air, Gretchen gave Steve that "if looks could kill" stare the whole time he was reading it. I figured either the Douche would drown himself in his bidet or Murdoch would have him "disappeared" after that one. I bet he cried all night into his pink heart shaped pillow after he got reamed for that screw up. The Douche should just come out of the closet and quit trying to prove he's a real man.
Fox News and MSNBC among others have engaged in the same sort of thing. (I know. I'm one of their victims.)
Rupert maybe you should offer some psychiatric help to your #1 son Billy O'Reilly, he could use about 500 sessions...
They can all thank Rupert Murdoch and his particular style of journalism for their ills. Let this be a warning to others who want to be a part of his unethical organization. That goes for both sides of the pond.
It is due to immoral and amoral practices as designed by Murdoch- look the ruination he has reeked on America with the FAUX fox news- he is all about lies and manipulation and money - zero integrity - hopefully the young ones will see the light and bail on this form of non journalism....
Rupert maybe you should offer some psychiatric help to your #1 son Billy O'Reilly, he could use about 500 sessions...
I think those two journalist should be charged with attempted murder and thrown in prison.
Rupert maybe you should offer some psychiatric help to your #1 son Billy O'Reilly, he could use about 5000 sessions...
Uhm, can I borrow your handgun?
Gotta believe anyone serious about ending it all can do it.
" The newspaper reported that their care is being paid for by News International. "
As long as the patients give details of their attempted suicides to Murdoch's rag to publish .....
Didn't they destroy other people's lives?
I am really enjoying the fall of the 4th Reich (Republican Party) and its minions (Rush, Faux News, O'reilly). Now the countdown is on for the big boy himself, Murdoch. You can bet these people that tried suicide will be happy to tell all. What do they have to loose?
Oh yea, I'm NOT a Democrat. I'm an Independent so those that are going to call me a liberal Dem, save your breath. I'm just sitting on the sidelines enjoying the battle royal. Pass the popcorn please!
This is an odd statement. The Brits have a national healthcare system. So, is News International saying that they are paying for something paid for by the UK taxation system? Humm.
typical right wing move: taking credit for something that actually comes from a social program.
Those who give the orders, will get away with it.
Those folloing orders, will go to jail.
If things are that bad that they would take their life, there must be guilt there.
Rupert's empire should be dismantled and the pieces scattered to the winds, especially in the USA. He deserves nothing less than prison for the rest of his life.
Thomas Jefferson said our democratic republic wouldn't work without a "well-informed citizenry". And Murdoch's entire modus operandi is to dis-inform his viewers.
Rupert should be in prison.