Murdochs Appear Before British Parliament

You can watch it live here. So far, it's exactly what you'd expect: Oh, the phone-hacking is so regrettable. We didn't know. Once we did know, we "acted as swiftly and transparently as possible." It's everyone else's fault. The police claimed there was no evidence. We have 53,000 employees; we can't know what everyone's doing at all times. Blah blah blah.

James Murdoch (son) seems to be tasked with looking regretful, while Rupert Murdoch (father) is taking on the role of expressing hapless ignorance and shock. Mendacious assholes, both of them.

@emptywheel is providing a great live-tweet of the testimony.

News Corp-Owned Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton Steps Down

The News Corp phone-hacking scandal continues to unfold with Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton, who has worked for Rupert Murdoch for nearly 50 years (!) and was chairman of News International when the allegations of phone-hacking were first made, resigning today.

Dow Jones & Co. is the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, which covers the story here with a bit more integrity than Murdoch's garbage news network.

Rebekah Brooks Resigns

The Guardian: "Rebekah Brooks, the News International chief executive, has resigned after 11 days of mounting political pressure over the phone-hacking scandal. Brooks announced her decision to News International staff in Wapping just before 10am on Friday, saying her resignation had been accepted by Rupert and James Murdoch. She said she no longer wanted to be a 'focal point of the debate' surrounding the company's future and reputation."

The UK and US Attorneys General held a joint press conference this morning in Australia, where they are attending a conference on cyber crime, to confirm that both countries are continuing investigations into News Corp's activities.

Which we knew, but it's still sort of amazing to watch two different governments say they're coming for Rupert Murdoch.

Quote of the Day

"It makes perfect sense that it's News Corp. that finds itself at the center of this galloping controversy because, quite frankly, it's inconceivable that any other global media company would ever allow its employees to consistently misbehave the way Murdoch allows his lieutenants to skirt common sense rules."—Eric Boehlert, in a must-read piece on the unfolding News Corp phone-hacking scandal.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press is reporting: "The FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. sought to hack into the phones of Sept. 11 victims, a law enforcement official said Thursday."

Big news, that.