I have to give ol’ Wendi Murdoch some credit, she really has some spunk in her!
Video:
The Story:
A Parliament hearing into hacking by News Corp. journalists erupted into chaos Tuesday as CEO Rupert Murdoch was attacked by a man with a shaving-cream pie.
Wendi Deng Murdoch, his wife, rose from her seat behind her husband to protect him and took a swing at the intruder. The man was taken away from the scene and the committee temporarily suspended the hearing.
The hearing continued after a brief pause with Rupert Murdoch not wearing his suit jacket and only a handful of spectators allowed in the room. The BBC reported that the alleged attacker was identified as Jonnie Marbles, who calls himself an activist and comedian.
“Mr. Murdoch, your wife has a very good left hook,” Tom Watson, member of Parliament, said near the end of the hearing.
After the committee dismissed the Murdochs, former News of the World editor and News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks sat down to answer questions.
The committee told Brooks, who was arrested last week, that they would be careful with their questioning because she is participating in a criminal investigation. She insisted that she did not know about the extent of the phone hacking
via Rupert Murdoch Scandal: Brooks in Hot seat after Rupert Attack – ABC News.
However, on a serious note, I quote Michelle Malkin, who has been a contributor at Fox News for over 10 years now:
I blasted the blame-the-hacking victim mentality demonstrated by the liberal press against Sarah Palin. I am just as incensed to see the same mentality applied to the NoTW hacking victims.
Hacking is a serious crime and grave privacy invasion. PERIOD.
Yes, it is painful to see a great media champion/entrepreneur and a great media empire — of which NoTW was just a tiny sliver — under fire. The glee and double standards of News Corp. haters on both sides of the pond are hard to stomach.
But there is no one to blame for this other than those in News Corp. who let the scandal fester, and whose inaction handed critics all the ammunition they are firing now. These are the lumps and now every single rank-and-file employee and contributor at News Corp. is being forced to suffer them.
Rupert Murdoch told the Parliament hearing panel that he “can’t imagine” the illegal hackings took place in the U.S. But at least one victim — actor Jude Law — has alleged his phone was hacked while in New York.
And now, one of the Parliament questioners this morning has just raised the appalling possibility of computer hackings as well as phone hackings.
The failure to address the scandal in a timely, vigorous manner has put everyone associated with News Corp. at risk of retaliation hackings.
ANY and EVERY other newspaper higher-up or Scotland Yard brass who knew about the NoTW privacy invasions, signed off on them, looked the other way, or covered it up should be held accountable in a court of law.
News consumers in the U.K. and beyond will decide in the court of public opinion what price the rest of Rupert Murdoch’s news empire should pay — as well as other non-Murdoch U.K. tabloids with hacking clouds swirling overhead.
Media conglomerates have weathered a litany of plagiarism, fabrication, and circulation fraud over the history of modern journalism. I pray News Corp. can survive this one. Contrary to the company’s salivating detractors, government-imposed journalism ethics won’t prevent or solve the lapses. Competition in the media marketplace is the best check and balance we have.
What she said.