The FBI is probing an allegation that News Corp., which is owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, sought to hack into phones of 9/11 victims, the Associated Press reports, quoting an unidentified law enforcement source.
The official spoke today on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, the AP says.
Again, think about all the folks tied to Murdoch in American media. How deep did this go?
Ripley
Deeper than Kortney enjoying a vegetable.
cbear
Start with Ronnie Fucking Reagan and work your way forward.
bemused
Is it too soon for popcorn?
martha
Deeper than just the 9-11 victims. Ask Eliot Spitzer (not that he didn’t deserve his comeuppance at some level).
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’ve seen a lot of chatter that Murdoch is uncomfortable with what Ailes does at Fox. I think this makes clear that the old man is at least as scummy as his US henchman, as is at least one of his spawn.
Is the Weekly Standard a Murdoch operation?
Evolved Deep Southerner
Oh please, please, please, let it be so …
Villago Delenda Est
I, for one, am tired of “reporters” basing their hack work on an “unidentified law enforcement source”.
It’s like quoting some private who is on guard duty at the front gate as a “DoD official”.
Punchy
How many nutter FBI agents swept this under the rug for years until now? Actually, how may FBI agents have abused the same wiretapping law and tapped in illegally themselves?
scav
well, while quite nice to get action on this side of the pond, I don’t really see how a score of 9/11 beats 7/7 in terms of moral bathymetry.
beltane
How deep did it go? I think even the tin foil hat crowd will be surprised at how deep it went.
Martin
And Ripley wins it in one. Good job. Though you aren’t supposed to see a vegetable, but an enormous green cock. Let’s call it for what it’s supposed to be.
So, are we pleased with the outcome at the Wall Street Journal:
Somehow this will be twisted into another example of how government ruins everything.
Maude
It could have been systemic with Murdock, not just in Britain.
I do wonder what went on here in the US. This is downright creepy.
Cat Lady
This has got legs. Given their success at intimidation in England, why on earth wouldn’t they do exactly that here, with more reward? Shit’s gettin’ real.
Southern Beale
Meanwhile, I just read that Murdoch will have to appear before Parliament next week to give testimony into their investigation. If it were here in the U.S. Joe Barton would apologize to him.
NonyNony
@Jim, Foolish literalist
I have too, but reading between the lines Murdoch is “uncomfortable” with Ailes because Murdoch worships power and money and cares little for ideology. He’d rather have his media empire positioned to be able to support whoever looks like they’re going to be the power brokers for the longer term. Ailes is an ideologue and put all the eggs in the Republican basket. This was good for Murdoch in the 90s because it looked then like Republicans were on the upswing for at least a few decades. Post-W it looks like Republicans will be on a bumpy down-cycle for the next few decades and he’s worried that Ailes marginalized him out of being able to take advantage of this cycle.
But tactics? Shit Murdoch doesn’t give a flying rat’s ass about illegal tactics. If he did he wouldn’t have hired Roger Ailes – political consultant to Richard Fucking Nixon – in the first place.
Southern Beale
@Martin:
As I wrote over at my place, this latest rendition of “nobody could have anticipated” is just more BS. I’m sick of it.
STFU, Bancroft family. You’re just pissed you didn’t squeeze more money out of Murdoch.
El Cid
Clearly these patriots should be covered by the PATRIOT act. Forward, not back.
bkny
roger ailes. he’s not only an asshole — he’s a paranoid asshole.
catclub
Fitzmas, people.
Investigating an allegation as guaranteed by an anonymous source. Extremely weak tea.
The Moar You Know
It’s easy to say that you would not have sold an asset to an amoral piece of shit with a decades-long record of scumbaggery after you have pocketed and spent the money.
jacy
I know this makes me the geekiest nerd imaginable but I always harken back to the TV show Angel, where the demonic law firm of Wolfram and Hart had these companies as clients: Yoyodine, Weyland-Yutani, and NewsCorp.
Not so farfetched, eh?
Excuse me, I’m late for an appointment at Radio Shack….
Chris
@ NonyNony,
I suspect if he’s uncomfortable with Ailes, it’s because he’s worried that Ailes is the other way around and will place ideology and political tribalism before business and profit.
In other words, exactly the same way parts of Wall Street are now worried about teatards in Congress.
Tony J
Balls deep, and shaved from shaft to pucker-point to allow for easy entry.
bkny
#8 . Punchy
how may FBI agents have abused the same wiretapping law and tapped in illegally themselves?:
no way to get an exact number, but an estimated count was 3500 — i’m sure it was way more:
There’s no telling how many of those there were, but the audit estimates more than 3,500 off-the-book requests from 2003 to 2007.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/01/fbi-att-verizon-violated-wiretapping-laws/
Chris
LMAO, I never watched Angel but that’s funny.
bkny
if he’s uncomfortable with Ailes,
there’s a nymap article noting if rupert goes down, ailes is in the wings to take over — at least the u.s. operation. at this point, there might not be much left on the uk side to run…
The Tragically Flip
When do the Republican cries of “partisan witch hunt” start?
NonyNony
@Chris
You know I hadn’t thought of it that way before but yeah, that’s probably a good analogy. And I think that Murdoch is a little scared of Ailes for the same reason the idiots on Wall Street should be a little scared of their Tea Party Frankenstein.
Calouste
@beltane (10):
Considering the revolving door that seems to have existed between News International and the Metropolitan Police, I don’t think we have seen the bottom yet. I doubt we can even hear a dropped stone hit it.
Tony J
jacy @ 21,
There’s nothing nerdy about that. You should feel proud of yourself for being part of the zeitgeist that knew what was going on while conventional wisdom was limping along with its head up its ass.
‘Angel’ was 100% cool. Spike anyone who says otherwise.
Chris @ 25,
Chriiiiiiiiss!
You, my boy, have some serious bloody catching up to do. Didn’t watch ‘Angel’? Tut fricking tut.
ruemara
OT: Takkun is giving JC the grand tour
And they’ve started play bopping each other.
stuckinred
Hannity’s Freedom Concerts making dough off the back of dead and wounded GI’s via FOX.
Arclite
I’m sure it was just a few bad apples. The people at the top had no clue. Just like Abu Grahib.
John Puma
We’ll know something is REALLY up when the FOX goons start lobbying hot-and-heavy for generously funded unemployment benefits.
Jay
Dear Fox,
When you have a low-life like Peter King calling for an investigation, that should be a sign you have gone too goddam far.
Chris
Yes, yes. I’d never seen The Godfather Part II until a couple weeks ago either. Plenty of holes in my pop culture knowledge.
I tried Buffy once and didn’t mind it, but wasn’t blown away either. (Best component of the show by far: Spike. “Oh, PLEASE! If every vampire who SAID they were at the Crucifixion was actually there, it would’ve been like Woodstock!”) If I ever give Angel a shot, it’ll be because of him.
And just to close the vampire parenthesis, know what I’m NEVER giving a shot? Twilight. I saw the first movie mostly by mistake (invited to free showing and had never heard of it before) and that’s by God enough.
JPL
ruemara…ah how sweet. Actually the picture would fit with the discussion if one hissed at the other.
Sasha
It’s amazing how many “new low”s a corporation can find.
dedc79
Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?
Murdoch probably didn’t need to bribe/blackmail republican politicians because they did his work for him willingly.
Dennis SGMM
Considering our gov’s years-long ability to Hoover up every last fucking email, phone call, and credit card transaction and, considering that some people are amenable to being bribed or vulnerable to being blackmailed, I’d guess that whatever investigating goes on stops far short of where it might.
Murdoch is the J. Edgar Hoover of our age.
Bob
The Tragically Flip
I was thinking the same thing, then thought: Wouldn’t they have to admit that Fox wasn’t Fair and Balanced in order to call it a partisan witchhunt?
Tony J
Chris @ 36,
‘Twilight’. Ack.
Give ‘Angel’ a shot. Spike turns up, but I bet by then you’re rooting for the brooding guy in the flappy coat.
Thoughtcrime
‘Course I’m respectable. I’m old. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.
The Tragically Flip
@Sasha:
One of the better examples of dry British wit was the line that “NewsCorp had descended from the gutter into the sewers.”
scav
zeitgheists, they can be found at all times and they’re prone to reverberate over long stretches of same. There are bits of Max Headroom (drat that prating head) that shine odd lights in possible corners here. Media-heavy future anyone? Although I must admit, the Blanks were haunting me earlier during the whole Patriot Act / phone company period. Speaking of which, anybody wanna speculate about skipping the FBI-middlemen and positing direct links between certain rooms locked by ??&? and news companies of interest?
NobodySpecial
I would have been a lot less caring about this scandal had reporters been equally lawbreaking in their reporting on their government and what they do.
Instead, as always, the poor get inquisitors and the rich get stenographers.
jacy
@ruemara:
Hoorah for kitteh pix! Now those of us whose homes are already full up with furry orphans can live vicariously through you!
Walker
@The Tragically Flip
Tucker Carlson is there already.
Redshift
Chris: I agree that Twilight is to be avoided. I caught about a half hour of the first movie at a hotel, and god, was it dull. However, Blogging Twilight is well worth checking out. It’s full of gems like:
Thoughtcrime
As the lid is lifted, will the foul stench of the rotting New Corpse hit America’s nostrils?
The Populist
I firmly believe Spitzer’s downfall could also be tied to this scandal. Seems like the guy was framed.
The Populist
Hopefully. Problem is the villagers won’t care.
I’d LOVE to see BillO get worked up if there is proof of any wrong doing on the part of his employer.
burnspbesq
If every bribe paid in the UK is a separate violation of the FCPA, we’ll be in RICO territory pretty quickly, it would seem.
joes527
The Populist
Spitzer was framed just like Weiner. Y’know … with actual facts.
gene108
I hope folks realize, the WSJ’s editorial page, at least, was compromised almost entirely of right-wing nuttery, when the Bancroft’s ran the joint.
It went from one set of right-wing loons to another. BFD.
Thoughtcrime
Somebody’s already on the case, stat:
http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2011/06/14/sensenbrenner-will-introduce-fcpa-bill/
Tonal Crow
Oh, this popcorn is going to taste good.
Tsulagi
Kinda curious how much coverage of the Murdoch slime in Britain and possible 9/11 victims phone hacking has appeared on the patriotic “Fair and Balanced” Fox News. Guessing not a whole lot.
shawntos
I have complete faith that absolutely nothing will happen whatsoever. Sure, we will hear mumblings from undisclosed sources and I’m sure the DOJ will possibly put some of their best people on this as soon as they get done investigating CEO’s involved in the Crash of 08. Murdoch is powerful, that is why all reports keep repeating the word Empire and everyone knows if you got money, you can do no wrong in the US.
The Populist
(sigh) I am not talking about Weiner. I am talking about how suspicious Spitzer’s love of prostitutes became public.
I am not defending it. I know you’d like to act like I am but I have always found his downfall suspicious due to the fact that his problem was exposed during the beginnings of Bush’s wiretaps and who knows if Newscorp had him tapped as well?
Spitzer exposed powerful men and their greed and no matter what happened, I appreciate him for that.
burnspbesq
@thoughtcrime:
Sensenbrenner throws all kinds of deranged shit into the hopper. Fortunately, hardly any of it becomes law.
Brandon
The 911 hacking allegations is based on a thinly sourced report in another scummy British tabloid, the Daily Mail, that has repprted to have been engaged in a lot of the same behaviour as Murdochs rags, but not on the same scale. I would put as much faith in that report as I would the discovery of Obamas birth certificate.
Michael James
Well, the previously untouchable Rebekah Brooks has just resigned: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/bo8951.