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Within days of Rupert and James Murdoch’s testimonies to the British Parliament last week, former executives of News Corp.’s British subsidiary contradicted the father and son media moguls. In particular, Colin Myler, the editor of the embattled former newspaper, News of the World, joined Tom Crone, an executive at News International, saying that News Corp’s Chief Executive James Murdoch was “mistaken” in some of the statements he made on the record. News of the World, owned by Rupert Murdoch, through his company News Corp, was forced to shut down recently after revelations over its reporters illegally hacking into the cell phones of celebrities and victims of crime. The scandal threatens to tear down the international Murdoch media empire which stretches from here in the U.S. in the form of the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Harper Collins publishing, and the New York Post, to The Sun and the Sunday Times in the U.K., and dozens of newspapers in his native Australia. News Corp is the second largest media conglomerate in the world, after Walt Disney Inc. The most important questions around the phone hacking scandal lie in what James Murdoch knew about the phone hacking practices as they were occurring. Currently, the Murdoch’s strategy is focused on laying the blame down the chain of executive command. Meanwhile, after allegations that the cell phones of 9/11 victims here in the U.S. may have been the target of hacking by News of the World reporters, the U.S. Justice Department has issued subpoenas to investigate the matter. And this week, Attorney General Eric Holder is preparing to investigate possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by News Corp. News Corp is headquartered in New York

GUEST: Ed Pilkington, a correspondent for the Guardian newspaper based in New York

Read Pilkington’s latest article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/22/
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