The "News of the World" May be Gone, but the Story isn't Going Away

I wasn't going to add anything to my previous post, and then I got forwarded this story by Sam Gustin at PaidContent: a suit filed by Amalgamated Bank and other funds against News Corp in March alleging nepotism (in the purchase of a company run by one of Rupert Murdoch's daughters) has been amended to reflect the phone-hacking and police-payoff scandal. The revised suit states that the scandal indicates "a culture run amuck" and that the current board of directors "provides no effective review or oversight."

PaidContent also reports that a non-profit group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has called for a Congressional investigation (press release here) into whether News Corp journalists have hacked American voicemail accounts.

Murdoch closed the 168-year-old News of the World last week, essentially claiming that this would take care of the rotten apples. But it appears the other News Corp papers, including the Sun and the Sunday Times have engaged in similarly questionable behavior (click here for a Financial Times update; note that free registration is required to access the FT site).

CREW executive director Melanie Sloan said, "It is becoming increasingly clear this scandal was not perpetrated by a few rogue reporters, but was systematically orchestrated at the highest levels of News Corp.... If Mr. Murdoch's employees can be so brazen as to target the British prime minister, then it is not unreasonable to believe they also might hack into the voicemails of American politicians and citizens."

The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and Fox News are among News Corp's American properties.

While the News Corp scandal may represent a new low, let's not forget that American journalists have been guilty of questionable ethical behavior themselves, including phone-hacking. As Howard Kurtz wrote in Sunday's Washington Post, "Back in 1998, the Cincinnati Enquirer paid $10 million and apologized to Chiquita Brands after a reporter obtained voice-mail messages from a company executive 'in violation of the law,' the paper acknowledged."