Murdoch's World (59 page)
Authors: David Folkenflik
Page 262
“That's pretty strong medicine”:
Brit Hume, remarks on Fox News channel's election night coverage, November 6, 2012. Subsequent statements from Fox News anchors and pundits in this sectionâBill O'Reilly, Dana Perino, Bret Baier, Chris Wallace, Megyn Kelly, and Karl Roveâare also taken from that Fox News broadcast, stretching from Tuesday evening through early morning Wednesday, unless otherwise noted.
Page 262
“Just look at European welfare state”:
Rupert Murdoch, Twitter feed, November 3, 2012.
Page 263
Ailes later said he had called Michael Clemente:
Chris Ariens, “Roger Ailes on Election Night: âRove was wrong. He backed down. Our guys were right,'” TVNewser, November 16, 2012.
Page 263
illegal immigrants can no longer be treated with hostility:
Chafets,
Roger Ailes
, pp. 244â245.
Page 264
“Nearly every piece of data”:
Matthew Dowd, Twitter feed, November 8, 2012.
Page 264
Hume had offered the closest:
Brit Hume, Fox News election night coverage, November 6, 2012.
Page 264
a blog promising to “unskew” the polls:
Dean Chambers, interview by author.
Page 264
Romney did not draft a concession speech:
Byron York, “In Boston, Stunned Romney Supporters Struggle to Explain Defeat,”
Washington Examiner
, November 7, 2012.
Page 264
“strengthened and amplified by what I wanted to happen”:
John Podhoretz, interview by author.
Page 264
“The conservative followership has been fleeced”:
David Frum,
Morning Joe
, November 9, 2012.
Page 264
Morris explained himself:
Dick Morris,
Hannity
, November 12, 2012.
Page 265
Ailes fired Morris . . . and kept Rove off the air:
Gabriel Sherman, “Fox News Puts Karl Rove on the Bench,”
New York Magazine
, December 4, 2012.
Page 265
Jon Huntsman Sr. . . . took Fox to task:
Jon Huntsman Sr., interview,
Your World with Neil Cavuto
, November 16, 2012.
Chapter 21
Page 266
the plan was to allow the
Sun
to thrive:
One News International executive and two knowledgeable former News Corp executives, interviews by author.
Page 267
“We have the horns and the tails”:
Jane Croft and Ben Fenton, “Hacking Victims Say News Group Destroyed Evidence,”
Financial Times
, January 19, 2012; Erik Larson, “News Corp. Must Search Laptops After âStartling' E-mails,” Bloomberg News, January 23, 2012. Judge Vos's comments also drawn from these articles.
Page 267
Lewis was quickly losing:
Two News Corp executives, interviews by author.
Page 267
Lewis declined to answer:
William Lewis, testimony to Leveson Inquiry, January 10, 2012, afternoon session.
Page 267
they labored to forestall punitive federal action:
Two current News Corp executives and one former News Corp executive, interviews by author; Sarah Ellison, “Murdoch's Civil War,”
Vanity Fair
, June 2012.
Page 268
“drain the swamp”:
David Barrett, Robert Mendick, and Patrick Sawer, “Sun Executives Arrested over Illegal Police Payments,”
Telegraph
, January 28, 2012.
Page 268
Trevor Kavanagh . . . spoke out twice:
Kavanagh, interview, BBC Radio 5
Live;
Radio 4
World at One
, February 13, 2012.
Page 268
called the investigation a witch-hunt:
Trevor Kavanagh, “This Witch-Hunt Has Put Us Behind Ex-Soviet States on Press Freedom,”
Sun
, February 13, 2012.
Page 268
Murdoch signaled they retained his affinity:
“Street of Shame: Sun hacks have Murdoch taped,”
Private Eye
, Issue 1342, June 28, 2013.
Page 269
emails from 2006 suggesting Rebekah Brooks knew:
Rick Dewsbury, “Rebekah Brooks Knew in 2006 About Widespread Phone Hacking at News of the WorldâAfter Being Tipped Off by Police,”
Daily Mail
, February 28, 2012.
Page 269
The company presented [James's] resignation:
News Corp executive, interview by author; “James Murdoch Steps Down as Executive Chairman, News International to Focus on Expanding International TV Businesses,” News Corp press release, February 29, 2012.
Page 269
once again attempted damage control:
Tom Harper, “I've Looked After Horses All My Life and We Gave It Back in Good Condition,”
Independent
, February 29, 2012.
Page 269
Reporters for the
Telegraph . . .
badgered 10 Downing Street:
See, for example, Gordon Raynor, “Rebekah Brooks and the Police Gift Horse,”
Telegraph
, February 29, 2012; Martin Evans, “âGift Horse' to Brooks Surprised Me, Says Scotland Yard Chief,”
Telegraph
, March 1, 2012; Christopher Hope, “Cameron Silent on Rides with Raisa,”
Telegraph
, March 1, 2012; Hope, “Tale of the Police Horse and the Chipping Norton Set That Grew Legs,”
Telegraph
, March 1, 2012; Hope, “Horsegate: I Did Ride Brooks's Police Horse Raisa, Says David Cameron,”
Telegraph
, March 2, 2012.
Page 269
“He's a good friend, and he's a neighbor”:
Christopher Hope, “At Last, Cameron Talks Some Horse Sense,”
Telegraph
, March 3, 2012.
Page 270
Tory fund-raiser promising “premier league” access:
“Tory Charges £250,000 to Meet PM,”
Sunday Times
, March 25, 2012.
Page 270
a two-month campaign against a consumption tax:
Tom Newton Dunn and Steve Hawker, “Pasty La Vista, Taxman,”
Sun
, May 29, 2012.
Page 270
quietly girded for more bad headlines:
“News Corp and the Permira Funds Sign Agreement to Sell NDS Group Ltd,” News Corp press release, March 15, 2012.
Page 270
a satellite TV encryption company vital to Sky TV's enterprises:
This passage is based on author's interviews with News Corp official; a News International spokeswoman; Neil Chenoweth; Mark Lewis; and correspondence between News Corp and the
Australian Financial Review
.
Page 271
Panorama
had teamed up:
“Murdoch's TV Pirates,” BBC 1
Panorama
, April 2, 2012.
Page 271
Chenoweth had obtained 14,000 emails:
Neil Chenoweth, “Pay Piracy Hits News,”
Australian Financial Review
, March 28, 2012, and subsequent articles in the
AFR
.
Page 271
derailed a related lawsuit:
Richard Verrier, “Canal Plus Sues NDS Group,”
Los Angeles Times
, March 13, 2002; “Vivendi to Sell Unit to News Corp,” Bloomberg News as reposted on
LosAngelesTimes.com
, June 10, 2002; “BSkyB Eyes Expansion into Europe,” Bloomberg News, republished by
Investment Week
, August 26, 2003.
Page 271
“old toffs and right-wingers” . . . “lies and libels . . . easy to hit back hard”:
Rupert Murdoch, Twitter account, March 28, 2012.
Page 271
accused Chenoweth of relying on stolen emails:
Darren Davidson, “News to AFR: Put Up or Shut Up over Piracy Allegations,”
Australian
, April 2, 2012.
Page 271
“Panorama
presented manipulated”:
“Statement from Chase Carey, President and Chief Operating Officer, News Corporation Regarding Misrepresentation of NDS by the BBC's
Panorama
,” News Corp press release, March 28, 2012; Dr. Abe Peled and NDS issued six statements and letters to refute the BBC and the
Australian Financial Review
in six successive days starting on March 28, 2012,
http://nds.com/Media_Center/Press_Releases
.
Page 272
Lawyers for News Corp wrote letters cautioning:
Mark Hughes, “BBC to Make Fresh Claims of Murdoch Firm Law-Breaking,”
Telegraph
, March 24, 2012.
Page 272
a News Corp official:
News Corp official, interview by author.
Page 272
OfCom had stepped up its review:
Elizabeth Rigby, Salamander Davoudi, and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, “Challenge to Murdoch Grip on BSkyB,”
Financial Times
, March 8, 2012.
Page 272
His retreat from the UK was nearly complete:
“Statement from Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corporation, and Chase Carey, President and Chief Operating Officer, News Corporation Regarding James Murdoch's Decision to Step Down as Chairman of BSkyB,” News Corp press release, April 3, 2012.
Page 272
Sky News admitted that it had hacked:
Dan Sabbagh, Nick Davies, and Robert Booth, “Sky News Admits Hacking Emails of âCanoe Man,'”
Guardian
, April 5, 2012; Lilly Vitorovich, “Sky News Says Emails Were Hacked in âPublic Interest,'”
Wall Street Journal
, April 5, 2012.
Page 273
Murdoch seemed to relish the testimony:
Rupert Murdoch, testimony to Leveson Inquiry, April 26, 2012, morning session. Murdoch's ensuing quotations and events are drawn from Murdoch's testimony on April 25 and 26 before the inquiry, as cited in the text.
Page 274
called Murdoch effectively a cabinet member:
Price,
Spin Doctor's Diary
, p. xii.
Page 275
a senior aide to Thatcher had taken notes:
“Prime Minister: Rupert Murdoch Lunch,” memo by Bernard Ingham, January 5, 1981,
www.margaretthatcher.org/document/FA5DB3D8544A461DACEDF181801765AE.pdf
.
Page 275 “
Margaret is very keen”:
Woodrow Wyatt note cited by Robert Jay in Leveson Inquiry, Rupert Murdoch testimony, April 25, 2012, morning session.
Page 275
John Major later alleged, under oath:
John Major, testimony before Leveson Inquiry, June 12, 2012.
Page 276
the broadcaster's budget was to be cut:
Harry Phibbs, “Budget Cuts Will Give the BBC a Taste of the Real World,”
Daily Mail
, October 19, 2010; James Robinson and Mark Sweney, “BBC Budget Cut by 16 Percent in Spending Review, George Osborne Confirms,”
Guardian
, October 20, 2010.
Page 276
“get this fucking thing over with”:
Murdoch, as overheard by
Guardian
media reporter Dan Sabbagh, cited in Nick Davies, “Rupert Murdoch Gives More Away Than Planned at Leveson,”
Guardian
, April 25, 2012.
Page 277
Tom Watson read aloud:
“Murdoch âNot Fit to Run' International Company,” BBC News, May 1, 2012.
Page 277
driven by partisan politics:
“News Corporation Statement of UK's Parliamentary Select Committee of Culture, Media, and Sport's News of the World Report,” News Corp press release, May 1, 2012. It includes this assessment: “News Corporation regrets that the Select Committee's analysis of the factual record was followed by some commentary that we, and indeed several members of the committee, consider unjustified and highly partisan. These remarks divided the members along party lines.”
Page 277
the ghost of the
News of the World
caught a break:
John Macdonald, witness statement, Leveson Inquiry, May 8, 2012; Martin Evans, “Leveson Inquiry: Milly Dowler's Phone Was Hacked but Messages May Not Have Been Deliberately Deleted,”
Telegraph
, May 9, 2012.
Page 278
he now agreed to sever the newspaper side:
“News Corporation Announces Intent to Pursue Separation of Businesses to Enhance Strategic Alignment and Increase Operational Flexibility,” News Corp press release, June 28, 2012; three News Corp officials, interviews by author.
Page 279
The split represented a reckoning:
Author's interview with a senior Murdoch newspaper editor, a former News Corp executive, and an adviser to one of the adult Murdoch children. Much of the history, particularly from the perspective of Murdoch critics, is recounted in News Corp Shareholder
Derivative Litigation, C.A. no. 6285-VCN, Delaware State Court of Chancery, Verified Third Amended Consolidated Shareholder Derivative Complaint.
