The Official Newscorp/UK end of season finale/Rebekah Brooks did 9/11 thread

That incident is now clearly the most important thing that will be remembered/written about from these hearings. Hope marbles was hired by NI to create a diversion, because it worked perfectly.

holy lol at domfall.

this marbles cunt's voice sounds a lot like that of a very nice person i know, it's putting me off of my attempts to hate him unreservedly.

that Domfall was amazing, well done whoever

HAH from that FOX piece:

(Those of you with better things to do might not know that the media mogul Murdoch is being questioned about the tactics some of his reporting staff undertook, including wire taps, paying for news tips and generally beating the competition to shreds with scoops. In response, politicians are clamoring for a chance to say – on camera – how horrified they are about the entire ordeal. Simply horrified.)

Paying for news tips? Why that doesn't sound bad at all!

Whoever done Domfall, I love you and will buy you more than one pint in honour. RIP Big Man indeed.

Fuck that comedian guy, I had never seen Domfall and now that's eclipsed Murdoch in my memory

Not yet sure if this is directly related: http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2011/07/murdoch-biographer-rupert-wants-lachlan-to-buy-news-limited.html

News Ltd is the local arm of News Corp. It controls something like 70% of the newspaper press here.

Is it that high? That seems very high.

He also owns all those Leader community papers, and Brisbane & Adelaide have nothing but the Courier Mail/Tiser and the Oz.

think lachlan is too smart to buy a bunch of papers that will start leaking money within five years tbh

I thought Australian media was controlled by the Murdochs, kangaroos, and the progeny of felons

it is!

think lachlan is too smart to buy a bunch of papers that will start leaking money within five years tbh

― root 86 tram (haitch), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 13:24 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

You're that sure?

(I hope you're right, I just don't see it myself)

It controls something like 70% of the newspaper press here.

Is it that high? That seems very high.

Is that legal? Some antitrust stuff needs to happen cos these companies just keep growing and growing in revenue and market domination while leaving ethics in the dust. Sad thing is, I think the loophole that voids the oligarchy of legal responsibility is going to save Murdoch's ass.

We have cross-ownership laws that prevent one company controlling a range of media. As a result Murdoch can own the aforementioned press and 25% of the country's biggest pay television provider (which he does) but he's not allowed to own free-to-air television or radio stations (which he almost does – his son Lachlan is interim CEO of the Ten network).

Is he allowed to own that much of the country's press? I don't know how far beyond the law he is in that regard but that's been the situation for more than 20 years i.e. since he bought the Herald & Weekly Times. I know there was a load of consternation when that happened but no politicians or lawmakers stopped it.

The obvious result of Murdoch having such a grip on newspapers is that he decides the outcome of all our federal elections. There is a democratic process and it is followed, but Murdoch's campaigning always determines the winner.

Weird and I thought he was too powerful in America.

Murdoch's campaigning always determines the winner

except for the last one, presumably?

dece analysis of the news ltd sitch in oz

Last week a politician raised the issue of his massive control over the press. Within two days the PM and the opposition leader had defused it.

xp do you mean the one Rudd won or last year's?

the last one

you know, the one where they backed the libs in as hard as possible yet we ended up with a minority labor govt

Abbott's so revolting that even Murdoch couldn't get him over the line imo (although certainly not without trying)

2-3 mths before Howard called the previous election Rudd went to the US and had the press stand round him while he shook Murdoch's hand outside the NYC headquarters of News Corp, ~pivotal~

yeah, well, nobody's going to be doing that anymore! as that crikey article i posted states, this will realign things here as much as anywhere else, as much as harto and chris mitchell and the other aussie execs would like to think otherwise.

That Crikey piece is great, cheers for the link. Also ha I didn't know the Oz was already losing money. You're right, if Rupert goes the Oz will go.

I'll larf if that happens. Bitch who hated me in HS works for that rag.

the oz hasn't made money for years! strictly lives on through 'influence'. it'll be like when packer carked it and channel 9 cancelled sunday (and the bulletin closing) - shareholders don't care for loss-making arms of businesses and once you get rid of the proprietor who can't let go, things tend to get, well, let go.

Completely forgot Sunday had disappeared.

it'll be like when packer carked it and channel 9 cancelled sunday (and the bulletin closing)

Oh god yes of course.

So I wonder which of his UK shitrags are money holes. They can't all be in profit, surely.

Remember ppl thought Rudd was going to lose bcz he couldn’t remember deets of a shit-blind night at a strip club in New York? And then this became “Rudd’s a Top Bloke, he went out on the piss*, good on him........*[WITH THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK POST]” – not hard to see the hand writing that narrative.

you know, the one where they backed the libs in as hard as possible yet we ended up with a minority labor govt

The one where they turned around from the biggest swing in voter memory to not even being able to form a government? And now after another year of steady beasting from News Ltd, despite being in massively better shape financially than under Howard, have dropped to even lower in opinion polling?

The one where they turned around from the biggest swing in voter memory to not even being able to form a government?

On that, I do love how the Murdoch readers claimed a resounding victory based solely on the swing.

In yesterday's inquiry, Murdoch openly said his newspapers run campaigns. That puts paid to all the bell-ends here who insist that Murdoch's newspapers don't run campaigns.

e.g. when he said his press supported Thatcher until she lost the plot or whatever

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jul/19/james-rupert-murdoch-live-transcript

JS: Have you ever imposed any pre-conditions on or upon a party leader in the UK before giving them the support of your newspapers?

RM: I've never guaranteed anyone the support of our newspapers. We changed, we had been supporting the Thatcher government and the Conservative government that followed and we thought it had gotten tired and we changed and supported the Labour party. Whenever it was, 13 years ago, with the direct result of loss of 200,000 circulation.

omg his wife HIT someone! what a HERO!

I hop Johnny Marbles lives up to his name and gets beaned over the head with a condom full of ball bearings.

She hit him? Sue her for the loss of one of his marbles.

The Sunday Times drops its paywall to share its readers delightful views on Gordon Brown:

The most frightening thing about all of this is that this man lead our country. Next we will see him fighting off imaginary attacks by aliens [...]
I always feared that dark forces who want to gag the press, would seize this opportunity. Those who benifited, ordered, turned a blind eye, or were ultimately responsible for the excesses at the NOTW must be brought to justice to prove our system truly is by the people and for the people.
But those who would use this to create a vacumn in which they can hide their dirt must be challenged.
John Ford, Fleet

Kind of bummed that this Jonnie Marbles guy got in there with the cream pie first when poor old deathdr0ne had spent just fucking ages at home making his own.

J Marbles is back tweeting.

I really hope there's no long term impact on letting the public in on committees - it's one of the joys of parliament - I can't remember the last time something like this happened actually inside the commons. 2004?

Whoda thunk The Sun would lead with this today?
http://www.frontpagestoday.co.uk/frontpages/archive/The_Sun_20_7_2011.jpg

Not the most "humiliating" tho.

J Marbles is back tweeting.

ugh why isn't he being held and tortured in isolation? where is our oppressive police regime when we need it?

NEWS CORP BOSS RUPERT MURDOCH, 80, :(, TELLS HACKING COMMITTEE MPs-

Would take a pie in the face from Jonnie Marbles every day rather than hear from cunts like Milo Yiannopoulos ever again.

steve bell's shite

Alternate pie content?

More proof that the real news is far stranger than anything fiction can come up with (from last month)...

Tory MP Louise Bagshawe secretly marries Metallica manager Peter Mensch

Louise Bagshawe, the author and Conservative MP, has married Peter Mensch, the rock promoter, in a ceremony that she kept secret even from her children.

By Tim Walker 6:30AM BST 03 Jun 2011

In what could be the plot of one her bestselling "chick lit'' novels, Bagshawe married the American 19 years her senior during the parliamentary recess.
The wedding in New York was kept secret even from her children. "I am very happy," she tells Mandrake. "It was a small, private ceremony in Manhattan and I'm back at work next Tuesday."

Bagshawe captured Corby for the Tories last year, while Mensch, 58, manages rock bands including Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snow Patrol.
"It will have to be a long-distance relationship to start with," says the MP, who has homes in London and Northamptonshire, while her husband lives in New York. "Our work is important to both of us, but we will get together as often as we can. Peter does a lot of business in London."

Bagshawe, whose books include Passion, Glitz and Career Girls, first met Mensch, a divorced father of teenaged children, in Oxford when she worked in the record business.

Passion, Glitz and Career Girls

is this from a chick-lit title generator? jesus.

That's three books, rather than one, right?