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Subscribe to RSSJames Murdoch was back at the Leveson inquiry, where he claimed he didn't know about phone-hacking at News Corp's U.K. unit, and didn't remember being told about it. ITV's Juliet Bremner reports.
LONDON - James Murdoch defended his record at the head of his father's scandal-tarred British newspaper unit before a U.K. inquiry Tuesday, saying that subordinates prevented him from making a clean sweep at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid.
Speaking under oath at Lord Justice Brian Leveson's inquiry into media ethics, Murdoch repeated allegations that the tabloid's then-editor Colin Myler and the company's former in-house lawyer Tom Crone misled him about the scale of illegal behavior at the newspaper.
Leveson asked Murdoch: "Can you think of a reason why Mr. Myler or Mr. Crone should keep this information from you? Was your relationship with them such that they may think: 'Well we needn't bother him with that' or 'We better keep it from it because he'll ask to cut out the cancer'?"
"That must be it," Murdoch said. "I would say: 'Cut out the cancer,' and there was some desire to not do that."
The 39-year-old Murdoch said that at the time he had no reason to doubt his subordinates when he took over at News International, which published the News of the World, saying he had repeatedly been told that nothing was amiss.
"I was given assurances by them, which proved to be wrong," he said.
Revelations that reporters at the News of the World had hacked into the phones of hundreds of high-profile people, including a teenage murder victim, pushed Murdoch's father Rupert to close the 168-year-old newspaper, triggered three U.K. police investigations, led to more than 100 lawsuits, and launched Leveson's inquiry into media practices.
James Murdoch has found himself sucked into the center of scandal, with critics saying that he should have found out about the wrongdoing once he took over at News International in December 2007.
Ben Stansall / AFP - Getty Images
A protestor wearing a mask depicting James Murdoch demonstrates outside London's High Court during his testimony.
The uproar over illegal behavior at the News of the World has already scuttled Murdoch's multi-billion dollar bid for full control of satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC. He resigned from his post as chairman earlier this month "to avoid being a lightning rod," he said.
Murdoch's relationship with politicians also came under scrutiny.
The American-born News Corp. executive revealed that he'd told Conservative leader David Cameron that The Sun newspaper would endorse the Tories' election bid at a meeting at the George club in London on Sept. 10, 2009.
The top-selling paper's endorsement was a blow to Britain's Labour Party — and critics claim that it helped secure Tory approval for the potentially lucrative BSkyB bid after they won the election in 2010.
Murdoch denied the charge Tuesday.
"I would never have made that kind of a crass calculation," Murdoch said. "It just wouldn't occur to me."
Murdoch acknowledged talking to Cameron about it at a Christmas dinner in 2010 — after the Tory leader had been elected prime minister — but said it was "a tiny side conversation ahead of a dinner."
Judge slams Murdoch's Sky News for illegal email hacking
"It wasn't really a discussion, if you will," Murdoch said.
Cameron, who won power two years ago, has been forced to play down his contacts with the Murdochs and with Rebecca Brooks, a neighbor and frequent guest at his home in the countryside.
Rupert Murdoch, who is still chairman and chief executive of News International's parent company News Corp., is scheduled to appear before the inquiry on Wednesday.
U.S.-based News Corp, owner of Fox Television and the Wall Street Journal, was thwarted in its ambition last year to buy the 61 percent of BSkyB, a major British pay-TV provider, that it did not already own. Amid the fire storm of scandal at the News of the World, it withdrew the bid.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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- France's election battle moves from hearts to heads
- UK cops close to arrest over British spy found dead in a bag?
- Judge slams Murdoch's Sky News for illegal email hacking
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Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
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Give him 2 choices, sell his share of all assets of News Organizations in the US or close all of his Businesses in the United States and make him do the perp walk
He is super rich so this is what will happen to him ________, Nothing. It does not matter how many laws he breaks he can and will do what ever he pleases and no government will do anything of substance to punish him.
Lets not forget the man who hacked Scrlet johansons phone is in prison right now.
The damage that this family has done to America by eroding the integrity of our media is just so immense.
Murdoch Sr. gets booted from Australia for trying to control politics. Now the clown does it through Fox and the right wing doesn't see their true leader is a foreigner!!!
Who's watching this live?
I would very much like to see Rupert's family dragged across the coals for his misdoings right before his very eyes. Benjamin Franklin was the man he was with all of his power for the betterment of society. While he profited immensely from his media empire, he also contributed more to society than the majority of other moguls of the time and since. Rupert is a scourge to the planet who has done nothing more than deteriorate the moral integrity of journalism and production value. He deserves hell on earth from this and what better form than to watch his empire be torn apart right before his very eyes, just so he may whither, die, and then continue to spend an eternity in hell for his direct involvement of the degradation of the human race. Here's to wishful thinking.
J-Doggin well said!
So how do you like this GOP? It's your bad boys. It's too bad that an investigation like this would never happen in the USA. Then we would see how corrupt FAX News and the Journal are!
Ya'gotta cut Rupert and his son some slack. His attention was distracted by the efforts his team is pursuing trying to throw an American election towards conservatives in America. How else would he distort the political process and promote fascism? What, with Fox News and his newspapers distorting, lying, misinforming gullible Americans, it's kinda hard to know that your British group is spying on, and stealing confidential information from innocents who are just trying to live their lives. Vote Tea Bigot/Republican . . . and bring fascism to a government near to you.
FOX NEWS OPENINGS: Looking Tea Baggers who will be losing their jobs in the Fall.
Bill:
Why would we want to replace our well functioning oligarchy in the US with a fascist philosophy? The 1% are happy now and the 99% are clueless, particularly those who watch FAUX news and think those "facts" are the "real story" behind the lies told by other "liberal" stations
You have to throw them in jail before the GOP even bats an eye. Right now they just think it's funny.
my my all the posts from these communist traitors motivated by laziness,greed, and self centeredness so much for the guardians of free speech. All fox news does is their jobs providing unedited news not that any of you traitors would know because your communist masters say don't watch and like good little mindless lemmings you obey. Progressives aka liberals aka communists are destroying this country with over regulations over taxation and an over sized corrupt government lead by a two bit chicago street thug who's going to take 8 billion out of medicare advantage to give his cronny friends bonuses but you wouldn't hear that on any other so called news channels. I do hope that in Nov we the people regain control of the senate and more control over the house and obama gets re-elected because then the criminal charges against him pelosi, reid,franks,dobb, epa and the rest of the communist rat pack can finally be filed and I get to watch them all walked out of washington in cuffs. 50 years of mild to moderate socialist rule has brought the country down to what it is now and I think it's time the american people stand up and restore this country for what it was Great Strong Independent and a monument to Freedom during a time when the rest of the world was ruled by socialist governments in the form of dictators, kings,queens, and tyrants where the average man was nothing just property. For this we need capitalists to stay strong those of you being harassed by communist terrorists like the epa, aclu,national labor board, moveon.org, van jones and colorofchange, it's time to stop caving to these low lives and start fighting back.
democratnomore,
you really need to get your doctor to adjust your meds
marklepew,
Spoken like a true lemming. Go to a doctor and get medication because you don't have a better critical response. Please don't vote in November. Thank You!
I think its time you knew the truth. If Jesus returned today, he would still be considered a long-haired hippy liberal. Then the republicans *like the Roman dogs they are, would murder him.
Everybody is corrupt, and that's the problem. It's all the Justice you can buy.
There is hardly anybody to turn to that would do us right, doesn't matter if it's Republican or Democrat, England, France, America, China, or North Korea. It is a generalized problem born out of human nature and that's why it keeps on happening.
The flaws we take from them are our own, or near our own, and that is why they feel justified in continuing the same behavior and not have much to do to keep us there. A change will require a stronger threshold stimulus and will have to come from the bottom up. It will not change from the top down, which I'm afraid is what people are waiting for.
Commonsense,
Your critique of my post, considering the source, actually makes me feel pretty darn good. After all someone who can defend democratnomore's post by deriding someone to post a better crictical response to the ramblings of an apparent delusional person is hilarious. I'm glad to see that the "keepers" released you early today.
Marklemoron's mother is in prison for prostitution and crimes against nature. His family tree is right out of Deliverance.
repeating yourself over several different blogs indicates to me that you are very far removed from reality and it is also seems that you may have missed your meds this morning.........unabridge can I ask how old you are? I find it very worrisome if you are left unattended for any length of time
democratnomore---
So, wich is it? Socialist or Communist? You mention both in your crazy man rant. You do know there is a difference don't you? Maybe you don't. Yeah...you probably don't.
MarkleMFer:
I'm the same age as you, whatever that is. And you should be worried, really worried. I am very focused, preparing for Civil War II, finding out all I can piece by piece about who my enemies are.
"finding out all I can piece by piece about who my enemies are."~unabridged
this is a classic symptom of paranoia, have you seen a doctor lately? If not for the mental issues at least the rash?
You wouldn't know paranoia if it smacked you in the face. And you still don't get it. I love the smell of hand grenades in the morning.
you never served in the military and never had to shoot anybody, I can tell by your bluster. I can tell you would be the first cut and run like the coward you are but imagine yourself to be tough. You couldn'i carry the socks of anyone like me or the people I've served with............your mom called to tell you to pick up your toys little boy.
The only thing you served was possibly powdered eggs in the chow line. You are a fake hero, and with your bluster, mine looks like faint praise. And you still don't get it. Civil War II is coming, and that right soon.
Because there will not be an investigation on this side of the pond, the Murrdoch's are assured that this will go away as soon as the flare up in Britain finds it's final scape goat. Money, power and influence are great insulators in this country when it comes to our legal system -
That's just my opinion but I'm hoping that I'm wrong in this instance and that there will be, if not already, an official probe into the wrong doings of the Murdock's here ... they've gotten laws changed, used Fox News to promote their agenda and messaging all because they can make a buck while tainting our political system in the name of Capitalism ...
yeah the righties have the most untrue unethical news there is in the world and they swear by it, what a poor bunch of mislead lost souls they are, quite pathetic everyone of them
And people actually believe that these arses provide news that's "Fair & Balanced." "Faux & Skewed" is more like it.
'I didn't know... I wasn't there... nobody told me...they lied to me.' The four tenants of any good news editor.
And the big one, "had not reason to suspect wrongdoing..." Doesn't matter all the facts pointed to the obvious, he's gonna sit there and lie about what any idiot at that point knew they had to be hacking VM's.
The bad news is none of them will do jail time, the good news, this is costing them a small fortune. I bet sonny boy wished he were running the show here, where courts have said that Fox News doesn't actually have to report news, and where all of this would be swept under the 'political witch-hunt' rug.
Funny how no Fox News viewers are commenting, I bet this isn't even a story over there.
When you combine money, power, influence and human beings, one needs to suspect wrongdoing.
this will snowball as more then one of the Murdoch news outlets are involved this will be prove to be standard practice within the murdoch empire. Foxnews will take a blow as well. Not that they are the only ones of course even NPR has stated falsehoods . I used to think of NPR as very reliable. The real problem is that Murdoch makes the news entertaining and emotional. Therefore he sales his brand. Somehow the viewer forgot that the News is to be a factual report about events as they occur. It is not survivor it is not for entertainment. It is not something that has to agree with your viewpoint. It is to inform you out what is going on. Reporters need to look back at Walter Cronket and the like and learn what their job is and we the reader viewer need to not be so concerned with being entertained and more concerned with being informed.
Here are all the details regarding the Murdoch Testimonial.
He was testifying before an independent British inquiry into journalistic ethics prompted by phone hacking at his defunct News of the World tabloid.
Leveson Inquiry lawyer Robert Jay pointed out that the private investigator at the center of the scandal, Clive Goodman, had said as far back as 2007 that the practice went beyond the single case for which Goodman and a journalist were sent to prison that year.
Robert, as that great spokesman for the political right Joe Wilson stated so eloquently a couple years back......YOU LIE!
Wow! Sounds like Eric Holder or Bill Clinton testifying before Congress.
Is that really the best you can do?
How about this lie?
Remember that puppet?
Actually, he sounds more like bushthejunior lying to Congress to get our nation involved in an unnecessary war in Iraq.
Remember the "Downing Street Memo"? The one which describes painting an American spy plane to look like a U.N. plane to provoke The Iraqi's to fire on it?
This is how conservatards operate, they are liars, cheats, and thieves.
When a conservatard company wanted to launch a "news' organization similar FuxedNews, Canada said NO. They actually require news organizations to present both sides of an issue.
Our nation used to have "The Fairness Doctrine", ronnie raygun stopped enforcing that.
FuxedNews actually went to court to uphold their "right" to NOT broadcast the TRUTH. it happened in Florida, Google it.
The only news Bush ever made was when he didn't lie, and of course Bush was never in the news. The drunk draft dodger Cheney was always in the undisclosed location, and poor Navy man became a cult follower of the puppet regime.
By default FOX News is what it is - the opposite of CNN - polar opposites for brand recognition, regardless of editorial content. And having missed the prize - the bid to buy up BSkyB - the query and investigation winding through High Court in the UK might prove to be the start to the fall of Uncle Rupert as it can only get uglier - many instances of wrongdoing have been settled out of court but ethically, News of the World have much to answer to for the manner in which it conducts the business of news gathering.
And yet deeper - if investigations leads that far - London Met too has much to answer for as those higher up in the force have shielded NOTW, often looking the other way when a keen eye can see all is not what it seems.
How is it everything/everyone involved still remain coy - being plied with gifts and lavished with champagne lunches ie John Yates who sat on investigative papers when more attention was warranted when numerous claims of phone hacking made the rounds ! In my eyes, his conduct (Yates and his bosses) was criminal, a breach of trust but the Yard protects its own (so it seems) and all remain silent and try fly under the radar with the hope that public interest fades after a while.
"I do recall receiving assurances around journalistic ethics, codes of practice on a number of occasions," he told Leveson. Yeah, assurances something along the lines of ... "we certain we won't get caught...."
jail jail jail! send the murdoch clan to jail!
I had it all uppercase to accentuate the point, but the @!$%#ing Censors at Newsvine got the autocensor
robot to lower case it. What a bunch of Fascist dildos. ")
This ones gonna get collapsed for sure but I cant resist.......
Why are there more consrvative dildoes than liberal dildoes?
Because conservative dildoes rub you the right way!
All caps is damn annoying. Good work, fascist dildo censorbot.
what is all the buzz about?
Marklemoron's mother is in jail for prostitution and crimes against nature. His family tree is right out of Deliverance. You can ignore any comment he makes, no matter how shallow and trite.
unabridged,
Are you still butt hurt by me spanking you on the boards the other day? It sure seems you have a axe to grind to follow me around the boards ..very stalker like. It looks from the timestamp on your post that the teacher let you out early for lunch. Remember Mrs. Obama recommends that you eat vegetables so you won't balloon up lke your sister/ girlfriend
Tit for tat, MarkleMFer.
yawn
MarkleMFer:
Gag
It is funny (in a very sad way) how jealous MSNBC and liberals are of Fox News. You don't hear Fox News continually trying to discredit MSNBC. I guess that is the difference of being on top (Fox) and being on the bottom (MSNBC).
ya, I want to listen to a guy like Stoocey, puhlease. If ignorance was bliss you would be a dynamo
Have you EVER considered this very simple fact: ONLY FOX News acts like a propaganda arm of the conservative right. ONLY FOX News hires EVERY tossed- out-of-work Republican. Who else would give a home to Glenn Beck, who even they found so repulsive and scary that their viewers began to recoil. ONLY FOX News relentlessly misinforms, lies, distorts the news in a manner that promotes the conservative agenda. EVERY News organization (newspapers, CBS, CNN, ABC, Reuters, BBC, etc) sees the news very differently, and makes some effort to report news, not propaganda. Ya' gotta ask yourself why your FASCIST (FOX) NEWS NETWORK appears to stand out. Or are you simply not very inquisitive? Perhaps you ought to look up the history of FOX Newsreel -- going back to the 1930s. It's very interesting.)
Good post, Bill. The one that makes my blood boil is Ollie North. Sells weapons to a country that held Americans hostage. Wow.
everyone of those anchors could not get a real job at any other news outlet so they WHORE themselves out. Remember the old saying what would you do for a million bucks, well we finally see what a bunch of whores would do, sell out the country for a few bucks, I got more respect for prostitutes than those whores at FOX noise
Bill, is there any way your feeble little mind could see things the other way around? Where the alphabet news groups are all in the tank for the democrats and constantly slanting and spinning?
There have been many studies to support this from a broad spectrum including independent groups and some ivy league schools.
The fact that so many of you are so upset that a perspective other than what you want to hear is available is strange. Then you go into the realm lunacy when you call FOX a fascist network because they aren't saying what you want them to.
Do you see the absurdity in what you say or is this just your daily standard?
Elliot, I don't know if you've ever noticed, but what other news organization out there has news anchors (not side op pieces) yes news anchors giving their right wing opinion during and after pretty much every single news story they report. Yes, they also report the news in the most right wing slanted way possible, but they constantly add their agenda and opinion to everything. Just because the news everywhere else is not slanted as far right, does not mean they are far to the left. Just remember that the center is far to the left of anything fox ever puts out.
You are getting the commentators confused with the news reporters. They have morning shows and evening shows on all other networks but fox is not allowed to?
Fox is also the most trusted network in the country.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/32039.html
Fox has also been shown to be more centrist with more balanced reporting with more balanced opinions than other networks, including the one who owns this site.
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Media-Bias-Is-Real-Finds-UCLA-6664.aspx
The comparison - FOX News and all othes - is polar opposites. In the UK, Uncle Ruper's publishing arm ie NOTW and daily tabloid SUN, make their money from trashy, salacious news content. Sometime ago, front page news - YOUNGEST British mum 11 years and couple of months old or how about 27 year old, UK's youngest granddad - and such reports that keeps Uncle Rupert in the black.
Such is the pedigree that gave rise to FOX News state side in the 90's - an injustice to lump all journalist as categorised/definitive of the cast at FOX (I must admit, I don't watch FOX, read NYT ardently). In my eyes, the likes of O'Reilly, Beck et tal are both dangerous and inflamatory, not safe for public consumption.
Bill have you ever considered that the liberal agencies hire the democrats that are no longer functional in the poltical arena? Fox is no different than CNN, NBC they are just the polar oposite, only liberals would think that an agency that disagrees is out to ruin America....complete nonsense as usual from the left. Anyone that disagrees with the left should be banned from the airways...why else push the "fair doctrine act"...move towards socialist/communistic control...
Elliot, have you considered that 100% of four year olds trust there is a tooth fairy that brings money to kids who lose their teeth? Just google it. That makes the tooth fairy 51% more trustworthy than Fox News - simple math. I say Fox has a lot of catchup to do if it wants to be as respected as the tooth fairy. SOmething to ponder on, huh?
Someone posted recently a Mark Twain saying something to the effect- People who don't read a newspaper are uninformed, those that read the news are misinformed. How true. A lot of people kill on Fox, me included, but when it comes to manipulating public opinion all the news outlets are corrupt.
I suspect Murdoch is relying on 'I do not recall' (which has become something of a mantra for him as I watched the proceedings live on TV this morning) because he is in court, in front of a Judge and under oath. In this environment if he lies, and, more importantly, is proved to be lying, he would get convicted of perjury which carries a sentence of up to 7 years - although based on the three MPs who have been sent down over the last couple of decades he would most likely get between 2 and 3 years. (It would certainly remove any chance of his taking charge of a British television broadcaster as he would fail the 'fit and proper person' test!)
'I do not recall' allows him wriggle room while statements of absolutes do not.
From the occasional bits of American Fox News that I've seen (which mainly consist of Glen Beck and his ilk) they have seemed to be forever bashing liberal types and the evil 'liberal media'. Maybe the vast majority of the time they're not doing this.
The only reason clips of the Glen Becks of this world get shown on British TV is because they are so alien to the British viewer especially as they are classified as news broadcasts: British news and current affairs broadcasts have to be balanced/ neutral and accurate (as they are considered to be informing the people on important matters such as politics, law and government) and is regulated by an independent statutary body with the power to levy fines for breaches of the code of practice (they can even remove broadcast licences altogether - as they did with Iran-backed PressTV).
The newspapers are far less regulated - which is how the phone-hacking thing was allowed to continue.... along with the corruption of politicians and police (allegedly).
What a nice family to work for! You get paid to lie, cheat and steal and when the dumpster fire starts, your bosses will just throw you under the bus! Maybe all of this momentum will carry across the pond and we can stop some of these ignorant Americans from digesting crazy propaganda and they'll stop voting against their own self-interests!
Sounds like the obama White House doesn't it?
what was it that this guy has done?
who's the dope........ balance in british t.v.? hey 4/20 was friiday get off the dope .
Translation please?
Is this MSNBC's way of trying to act like they are a credible news outlet.
It won't work...
MSNBC you are really showing your desperation!!!!
ObserverNYC........
Do you believe MSNBC fabricated this story? Do you believe the Murdock's are innocent? Do you believe Rupert Murdock has any loyalty or is patriotic to the United States?
Do you even care that the single most important organizer of the American right-wing consists of a cabal of unethical criminals?
This isn't political; it's criminal.
It is both Clotho......
I find it really hard to believe that the Murdock's had no ideal that Phone Hacking and Payoffs were taking place at their news paper. Like any CEO he would have known full well were the Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars were going per their budget. Lower level managers under him would not have the authority to dispense the large amount of monies that took place in the payoffs. Companies heads need to be held responsible for the actions of their company and not be able to claim probable deniability.
MSNBC is a tabloid that doesn't cover news.
It covers "non News" to keep people happy.
Anything about Fukishima? Nope.
Anything about the collapse of the European Union? Nada.
Anything about what's going on with the Russian and Chinese military? The build up of Russian troops on Iran's north border? Nope.
Tabloid.
INB4 MSNBC "damage control" sock puppet arrives with a long number in it's name to spite my comment.
lulz.
Plenty of articles about wealthy, vain, witless idiots with grotesque amounts of over-inflated senses of self worth.
Lots of news about a neighborhood watch captain who shot a black kid wearing a hoodie.
Nothing about the impending financial doom of Europe, the thousands of starving people being pushed onto the streets, or the sky rocketing poverty rates gripping America.
This isn't at all like what the USSR looked like prior to collapse.
Moped.......(or anyone)
Google: "msnbc fukishima"
Google: "msnbc 'european union' OR 'EU' .......and so on.......
......and, quickly learn just how absurdly incorrect your (Moped's) assertions (re: msnbc) are.
So.....here is the tactic of Fox News, its operatives, and its lackeys.....: attack the messenger and distract attention from their (Murdock's) crimes.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/24/world/europe/uk-phone-hacking/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/james-murdoch-testifies-ahead-rupert-murdoch-inquiry/story?id=16197790
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/04/24/james-murdoch-gives-testimony-at-uk-media-ethics-inquiry/#ixzz1swtvK24c?test=latestnews
Look at these (above) Moped......CNN, ABC, and even FOX NEWS are part of your VAST conspiracy.
Not a single word about Israel being punted from the latest NATO summit,
building another wall on the Lebanon Border,
the Israeli President criticizing Netanyahu for completely annihilating peace talks with the Palestinians,
or anything about how Israel is utterly unprepared for war - despite their insane Prime Minster chanting for war and pounding the war drums.
Thank you MSNBC for informing the American people.
Here's a neat question for you:
If you start building walls around yourself - to "protect yourself from outsiders" - how long does it take for a person to realize they are only constructing a cage around themselves?
Not a single word about Israel being punted from the latest NATO summit,
You mean this story?: msnbc.msn.com/id/47141305
building another wall on the Lebanon Border,
the Israeli President criticizing Netanyahu for completely annihilating peace talks with the Palestinians,
or anything about how Israel is utterly unprepared for war - despite their insane Prime Minster chanting for war and pounding the war drums.
Or this story? (although you've mangled the facts in your own summary): msnbc.msn.com/id/47154270#.T5a9kdnjXcs
Here's a neat question for you: Did you actually look for either of these stories, or was it easier to just blurt out a bunch of nonsense on the first comment section you came across?
Burn him at the stake!
Use this as a catalyst to imprison those that suggest ideas not conforming to what we already hold to be true!!
Believing that everything the other side says is a lie and not tolerating any counter argument is a product of being open-minded; very strict open-mindedness, the most virtuous kind.
Any example of the other side doing the same justifies my hatred.
Can you not see how the other side has eroded civil discourse?
Aren't Chief Executives supposed to be responsible for the actions of their subordinates? Ignorance should be no excuse, they are paid the big bucks to know. As Harry Truman said, The Buck Stops Here. SHould hold them all responsible for the wrong doing of thier companies!
Legally, no. Criminal actions by employees are not necessarily imputed to the CEO. Besides the fact that it would be totally unfair, it would also create a chilling effect, making the most qualified people reluctant to head up corporations of any significant size.
If he knew about the criminal activity and either remained silent or supported it, then yes, he might be guilty of a crime. I'm no fan of Fox News or the Murdochs, but his guilt has to be proven in addition to the underlings who committed the crime. Personally, I am convinced he knew all about it.
Ignorance of the law as well as what your employees are doing is no excuse. Throw the book at him! Why they aren't being tried under the RICO Act here in the US is appalling evidence of the GOPer politicians they own. GOPers are fully to blame for this evil media empire. This man has been interfering with American Politics since the Bush's invited him to became a US citizen. He has shamelessly promoted the GOPer/Evangical agenda then cackels with glee at the stupidity of his own viewers. How easily they are manipulated in the name of God.