A damning report by the British government, looking at the ethics and competence of the media empire of Rupert Murdoch. Here in the U.S., Murdoch runs Fox News, the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal, among other properties.


LONDON— Rupert Murdoch “is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company,” a British parliamentary committee said on Tuesday in a scathing report over News Corp.’s handling of the phone hacking scandal.

The report culminates months of investigation by a select committee and was far more condemning of the 81-year-old media titan than expected, saying the chairman and chief executive of News Corp. had “turned a blind eye and exhibited willful blindness” over the widespread malpractice at his now-closed News of the World tabloid.

“This culture, we consider, permeated from the top throughout the organization and speaks volumes about the lack of effective corporate governance at News Corporation and News International,” the report said.

The 121-page report includes a catalogue of criticisms, accusing three senior figures at News International, the British arm of News Corp., of misleading the committee, including Les Hinton, the former head of News International, who the panel said was “complicit” in a cover-up. They also said that Colin Myler, the former editor of News of the World and now editor at the New York Daily News, and Tom Crone, a former lawyer at News of the World, “answered questions falsely” to the committee.

News Corp. said on Tuesday that it was “carefully reviewing,” the report and “will respond shortly.”

“The Company fully acknowledges significant wrongdoing at News of the World and apologizes to everyone whose privacy was invaded,” the firm said.

Cut off the head of the beast, three more will spring up in its place.

All we can really do is wait for the generation that listens to these blowtards to die.