News Corp.’s involvement in a phone-hacking scandal has led to about a dozen arrests, several high-profile resignations, the closing of a 168-year-old tabloid and the suspension of a $12 billion deal to acquire a satellite broadcasting company.
The Wall Street Journal, which has been criticized for coverage of its owner, broke the story of the latest developments: the U.S. Department of Justice is preparing subpoenas as part of an investigation into possible phone hacking of 9/11 victims and whether U.S. laws were broken as part of the crimes committed in Britain.
The Journal, along with other papers, also reported on two men who “broke ranks” with News Corp. and said that James Murdoch knew about the widespread nature of the phone-hacking in 2008, which contradicts testimony he gave, with his father Rupert Murdoch, before Parliament on Tuesday.
Here’s a chronology of the week’s major developments.
Thursday:
- Former News of the World subeditor located in Florida; He was part of a contract with a private investigator who was jailed for phone hacking (The New York Times/Palm Beach Post)
- Sun features editor, formerly of News of the World, fired by News International (The Guardian)
- Murdoch’s Times of London criticized for comic comparing phone-hacking to famine (Poynter)
Wednesday:
- News Corp. stops paying legal fees of Glenn Mulcaire, private investigator who was jailed in 2007 for News of the World phone hacking (The Guardian)
- Project for Excellence in Journalism confirms Murdoch’s Fox News trails other networks in scandal coverage; PEJ also tracks changes in Wall Street Journal front page stories under Murdoch (PEJ/Poynter)
- Wall Street Journal ran at least seven opinion pieces supporting News Corp. (Bloomberg)
Tuesday:
- Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch testify before Parliament committee; Rupert Murdoch, who said the people he trusted were responsible for the crisis, called it “the most humble day of my life” (Parliament Live TV); Jonnie Marbles explains why he “foam-pied” Rupert Murdoch during Parliament testimony (The Guardian)
- Former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks testifies before Parliament committee (Parliament Live TV)
- Reports: News Corp. considers replacing Rupert Murdoch as CEO with COO James Carey (Bloomberg)
Monday:
- News of the World whistleblower Sean Hoare found dead (BBC)
- Wall Street Journal criticized for editorial about News Corp. troubles (Poynter)
- Guardian editor contacted New York Times editor to interest paper in phone-hacking coverage (Newsweek)
To keep up with all the latest developments, follow us on Twitter @notwfallout. You can also catch up with our 5-minute explainer.
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