On the day Rupert Murdoch’s empire withdrew from its bid to takeover BSkyB in the UK, a US Senator has said he suspects News Corp of criminal activity in the USA.
Rupert Murdoch withdraws his BSkyB takeover bid as David Cameron vows to end the “ugly chapter” of phone hacking. Here’s how the day unfolded.
David Cameron sets out an independent inquiry into phone hacking led by Lord Justice Leveson, saying that anyone involved in illegal activity, however high up, must play no part in the UK media.
“As I spent most of the time in the rainforests of Central America, I can’t quite be sure whether I’ve come from or returned to some sort of banana republic.”
Gary Gibbon
Channel 4 News Political Editor Gary Gibbon looks at whether political opposition to Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB bid marks its death-knell.
Gary Gibbon
Is Wednesday ‘D-Day’ in the phone-hacking scandal, with the possibility of Ed Miliband squaring up to David Cameron over the issue in the House of Commons?
The former prime minister says he is “shocked” by the apparent behaviour of News International journalists who accessed his legal and bank files, as well as obtaining details of his son’s illness.
As News Corporation announces plans to spend $5bn to buy back its shares, Channel 4 News looks at how the past 10 days have highlighted the bizarre corporate structure of the Murdoch Empire.
News International has hit back at former prime minister Gordon Brown’s claims that journalists at The Sun and The Sunday Times “blagged” his financial, legal and medical information.
Senior Met police officers, past and present, have accused News International of failing to cooperate with the phone-hacking inquiry.
As Met Police chief John Yates admits making decisions in the phone-hack inquiry which proved “damaging”, Channel 4 News looks at the missed chances which have triggered calls for him to quit.
We think of Rupert Murdoch as a newspaper man who got into television. But in America he already makes more money from television. It is starting to look possible that could he end his career in Britain without owning a newspaper any longer. For as this crisis unfolds he could easily conclude that UK newspapers just aren’t worth it anymore. He is, at the end of the day, a businessman.
Jon Snow
What a fertile garden for weeds to take root: this infernal coalition of failure is precisely why this does indeed represent Britain’s Watergate moment, blogs Jon Snow.
The phone-hacking scandal has been painted as a very British picture of journalism by the US press, even by Murdoch-owned organisations. And that’s the way he wants it, writes Felicity Spector.
The Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt refers the takeover bid for BSkyB to the Competition Commission after News Corp withdraws plans to hive off Sky News.