Don't Rock the Boat, Board! (Except: You Should)

Last July, when the News of the World scandal was unfurling in all of its non-glory of phone hacking, computer hacking, police bribes, and the like, I wrote a post about how Rupert Murdoch had thrown the NotW staff under the bus -- except for the ones who were really responsible (including Rupert himself, but we couldn't expect much of a mea culpa from him, could we?).

I closed the post by asking what the News Corp. board would do, as they are, ultimately, responsible. When would they hold Murdoch to account for his company's failings?

Today's New York Times has a deliciously acerbic answer: Not anytime soon, thank you very much. (Article, by David Carr, here)

As Carr writes, "Being a board member of News Corporation is not a bad gig; it pays over $200,000 a year and requires lifting nothing heavier than a rubber stamp."

The board is independent only in name, and barely in that (board members are listed here). There are a bunch of Murdochs there, plus others who may at first glance appear to be independent, but whose connections to the family just aren't immediately obvious:

• Natalie Bancroft, an opera singer. Opera singer? Oh yes, and a member of the Bancroft family, that made a lot of money selling Dow Jones (and its crown jewel, The Wall Street Journal) to News Corp.
• Viet Dinh, a law professor at Georgetown. Also: a former Bush administration official, and godfather to Lachlan Murdoch's son.
• Sir Roderick Eddington, of JP Morgan. Formerly: a deputy chairman of a News Corp. division.
• Andrew S. B. Knight, of J Rothschild Capital Management Ltd. Another former senior News Corp. executive.
• And so on.

How far do you think these people will rock the Murdoch boat?

Isn't it time for genuinely independent boards? Past time, I'd say.