or news international need the murdochs? >> the institutional shareholders are the people who will count on that, and we all know what the fault line is in the states. my impression is that james, grasping for the shakespearean analogies, has nothing, nothing? my impression it is that rupert murdoch is not happy with the idea of james' succession. that is what rebecca was about. >> i think you will see a strong arm of corporate governance finally imposed on news corp. and news international companies. the board structures are not compliant with best practice of corporate governance. >> and that is all for this week. for all of us, good night. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> union bank has put its global expertise to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> "bbc newsnight" was

the influence that the murdoches have had. the way he managed to advance his business empire by heavying up on politics. these are newspapers which use personal stories of the most i'll have kind very often in order to humiliate people in power. in a way, of course, he's right. all journalists should give people in power hell. but the motivation in this case turns out to be slightly different. what he doesn't get, actually people in britain are just sick of it, and that pie in the face, you know, i think in america, why is a poor old man getting a pie in the face? a lot of people in america will feel sorry for him. not in britain. >> i kept watching it today, thinking citizen cane. thank you very much. a pleasure. >>> still ahead tonight, tony blair's press secretary with a behind-the-scenes look at how the murdoch media empire had britain's most prominent politicians battling for its blessings. n e highw. how does it do that? well, to get there, a lot of complicated engineering goes into every one. like variable valve timing a

the u.s. which is rupert murdoch. s would be journalistic malfeasance. >> you have the democratic senatorial campaign putting out a statement. you wouldn't see that liberals who don't like rupert murdoch are just milking this for all it's worth? >> if this had no connection whatsoever to the nature of the operations, especially through fox news, you might say they're reaching. since the basic accusation that michael wolf was saying, that murdoch is using his media power for political ends is similar in the u.s. and the u.s. it's natural the democrats would say this. >> on your media blog at "the washington post" you took on a story about the difference between british and american journalism. you say basically we should come out and say british journalism standards are sleazy and destructive. you think we're dancing around this? >> in this particular iteration, i couldn't keep quiet. i don't take relish in outing my own employer. i thought in this particular instance he said, none of this is to say american journalisti

the family dynamic. and very clearly james murdoch took control of the questioning early on. imes jumping in for his father, and at times actually taking questions when rupert murdoch turned to him and asked him what the answer was. ezra. >> stephanie gosk reporting from london. our thanks. >>> what makes murdoch and more importantly his empire vulnerable is an embarrassment. it is not forgetfulness or high velocity pastry, but it is money. murdoch is a genius businessman and that can't be denied, but he is also a man of deep passions and ideological commitments and long-held grudges and the market knows it. a recent bloomberg story led with a question that seems like it should be simple, what is news corpore really worth? they said at least 50% more without rupert murdoch. and the way they get it is from estimates of barclay's, and they say that it is worth much more than it trades for on the market, so there is a generic murdoch discount which encompasses that he will make decisions that are not consistent with the other shareholder interests. and so what makes news corp vul

brought down by the people he trusted. rupert murdochenies personal responsibility for the phone hacking crisis but says sorry for the victims. >> i would just like to say one thing. this is the -- day of my life. >> drama and chaos as a protestor tries to attack the media tycoon. the i.m.f. calls on euro's own country to tyke decisive action to stop the debt crisis action. and war in somalia. the recruitment of child soldiers is said to be systematic. it's 9:00 a.m. here in singapore. >> it's 2:00 a.m. here in london. broadcasting to viewers on pbs and around the world, this is "newsday"." >> the british prime minister david cameron will make statements to the house of commons later, the start of an all-day debate in the latest developments in the phone hacking scandal. it follows the dramatic testimony on tuesday by rupert murdoch. appearing before m.p.'s, the media tycoon said it was the most humble day of his life but he refused to take personal responsibility for the crisis which engulfs the news world. he appeared before a select c

for one day, it was a pretty good day for the murdoch's. >> could james murdoch be the heir apparent? >> 1 said that if james murdoch had done particularly badly, it would have hurt his possibility of taking over as ceo. he seems to be taking charge during this session and it did not heard him. -- did not hurt him. any day they are not hurt is a good day. >> do you see long-term reputation damaged to the company, regardless of what happens with these institutions? >> i have been tried to ponder how you measure that damage. people will still flock to see 20 century fox movies and to buy the wall street journal's. in the short-term, clearly there is a stain on the u.k. newspaper operations. there was an attempt to contain the damage. >> there is an fbi investigations into the phone hacking and a traditional inquiry and a police investigation on the other side of the atlantic. these will be very problematic. >> if they do will arrive, they would be. it is hard to believe we would get to that point. there is no evidence that any victims of 9/11 had their phone hacked. other government reg

a difficult day for the murdochs there in the house of commons committee. where they're questioning this news corp. chief and his son james murdoch. we have been following the hearing from the get-go. rupert murdoch started it off by saying michelle, this is one of the most humble dayings of his life. >> he said that. later he did change that to say this is the most humble day of my career. i don't know if that was intentional. the second time he was reading it off a peace of paper. where do you begin? this has been such a day. first we heard from police who have resigned over this. we know the tentacles extend far into many levels of society here. police, the press, the public, politicians, all those important people. to be questioning the murdochs a lot of good questions and many of the questions that we've been hearing now of them without them having the luxury of them present things like who knew what and what did you know? did you ask this person this question? what did they know? why didn't you ask that question? i think it got to a point over these ho

stepping away from the huge $12 billion deal is a stunning defeat for rupert murdoch, the powerful mogul who founded and runs newscorp. murdoch's conglomerate may now face more scrutiny. virginia senator jay rockefeller wants a government investigation of newscorp's operations in the u.s. murdoch presides over a $32 billion media and entertainment empire. it owns prestigious names like hollywood film studio 20th century fox, fox news channel, the "wall street journal," the "new york post" and many british newspapers, including the "sunday times." joining us now, porter bibb, managing partner of media tech capital, a media investment firm in new york. >> susie: hi, porter, nice to have you with us. >> great to be here, susie. >> porter, it cements like every other day there's an announcement of a business or merger or take over that the news corp is abandoning. how is this saga going to play out in just a matter of time before news corp breaks >> well i don't think news corp itself is going to be broken up or even slowed down very much by the tsunami of social public outcry, political out

the democrats. i think there has been a lot of liberal anger at mr. murdoch over the years. i also think there have been liberal politicians, democrats, who have been more loath to criticize mr. murdoch in the past, or fox, for fear of having some of the kind of repercussions that british politicians were also afraid of. they do not become targets of fox news. >> in congress, concerns are growing, especially after the suggestion, still unsubstantiated, that news of the world journalists may have been hacking the phones of 9/11 victims. calls have been made to the department of justice and the securities and exchange commission to investigate the allegations. u.s. companies are banned from paying bribes to foreign officials. >> last week when the story broke, this became an interesting story to americans. we found it titillating, fascinating, but it was not necessarily penetrating the consciousness of the greater american public. this week, on the other hand, we are starting to see greater american interest in the story because it could affect americans, not just people in bri

what did the murdoch's know about the alleged abuse? not as you mutt -- not as much as you might think. >> i need to say something. this is not an excuse, maybe an explanation. "the news of the world," is less than 1% of our company. we employ many people around the world who are ethical and distinguished. they are professionals. i am watching and appointing people to my trust. >> the revelation only 15 days ago of the alleged acting, the instigation of the "news of the world," and the murdoch family having to explain themselves. >> when did you find out that the criminality was endemic? >> in >> is a very wide ranging word. -- endemic is a very wide- ranging word. i have to be careful not to interfere with the search for justice taking place right now. i was absolutely shocked, appalled, and ashamed when i heard about the case. >> was there a coverup given that most of the alleged phone hacking and illegal bribing haping between 2002 and 2006. became the chief executive said he was not made aware of the content of the e-mail that was u

news of the world has been shut down. many observers say john murdoch, is on the firing line. it may come down to where else james murdoch's prints can be found. >> james murdoch has made it clear he paid off a huge amount of money to gordon taylor who was a trade unionist who had his phone hacked. james has made it clear that he regards that as an error on his part and he much regrets it. >> reporter: if it's found that james murdoch knew more, smith says shareholders, board members may force his father's hand. >> if they were to really demand that james no longer be the heir, that he change the way the company is structured. he would have to listen to them. >> reporter: there are other reports that independent board membersover newspaper corporation are going even further questioning whether a change of leadership is needed. in other words, replacing james murdoch all together. contacted by cnn, a member of that board called those reports total crap. >>> some of the key players testified on tuesday before what is the british equivalent of a congressional hearing. among them r

when he warmed up, he was the murdoch of old. i expect when he started, he was very conscious of not saying the wrong thing and that is why he was taking time to answer. what's interesting to me, he made it clear he didn't feel the buck stopped with him is that a position that's acceptable for a guy who is chairman and ceo of a news corporation? >> it's quite a surprising position, and there is a different of your reaction to this and most of the public. most of us have never done business with rupert murdoch and know what he is like inside. the first impression of him being very cautious and sometimes worse than cautious, unsure of what he is saying. that is a surprise giving the view of murdoch of this controlling figure. probably the most influential media figure in the world and finally his saying he wasn't accepting responsibility. i think especially to an american audience, that would be a jarring thing to hear, because the normal way to deal with these things to say that finally as the captain of the ship. head 6 the enterp

>> this is critical to the integrity of james murdoch. this is a 2008 email. , you know, it clearly was evidence that there was systemic phone hacking. nothing to do with a rogue reporter. there was systemic phone hacking orchestrated by the newsroom at the news desk of the news or of the world. did james murdoch see that? he says he didn't see that. there are those close to him who said hang on a second this neville email we showed to james murdoch. i think that is why this weekend in britain it's widely regarded that james murdoch is clinging on to his position by his fingernails. if it's shown that he had seen this email then clearly he did not tell the truth to that parliamentary committee. the ramifications of that politically are very obvious. >> michael isikoff, to what extent do you think the credibility is being damaged here on our shores of those related murdoch entities? >> i think there's been a enormous credibility hit to the murdochs and news corp. there was one of the most powerful and feared companies many the world. and certainly in political c

more now on today's hearings and the murdoch media empire. we're joined, from london, by john burns of "the new york times," and from new york, by david folkenflik, who covers the media for npr. so, john burns, what struck you most about the murdoch's message today? >> well, it was a heavily lawyered performance but for all that i thought it was pretty skilled. the lawmakers who were a lot more brief, better briefed themselves than the parliamentary committees in london and britain usually are, they are not... they are a shadow of their counterparts on capitol hill but today i thought that the lawmakers did pretty well but they didn't lay too many gloves on the murdochs. i think that it was greatly to their advantage in a paradoxical way that mr. marbles, i think his name is, entered from stage right with his custard pie or his shaving foam pie, whatever it was because it presented rupert murdoch who is not altogether the easiest man in the world to like in a rather vulnerable light. here's an 80-year-old man who had spent much of the afternoo

see no end to it but i would like to say i think this is very much politically motivated the attacks on murdoch and i would like to talk about that during the show i think there's a problem with many of the left wing critics attacking him for politics and i think that's a business we don't want to be and that's very interesting sean if i can go to you in oxford this any of these allegations and they're very very serious surrounding murdoch and his media assets do any of these things surprise you and are you bothered by the fact that this investigation started two years ago and it's only now that it's getting the light of day that people actually seriously talking about it because these allegations have been out there and the police have known about it . they have and they conducted their own investigation several years ago and they you know found no evidence of wrongdoing obviously there's plenty of wrongdoing i have to say that i'm not surprised with the finding that murdoch's media empire has been conducting itself in likely to be a legal way this especially as the news industry has been unde

reversing the tide, which has been going completely south on the murdoch empire and the murdoch holdings here in great britain. in terms of him stepping down. there have been some rumblings about that among some of his stockholders in some of his companies. but the experts here are saying that's unlikely at least for now. it depends on what comes out of this meeting. it depends on a number of things, especially a couple of inquiries going on. a criminal investigation and a judicial inquiry being run here and what new information comes out. as far as we know, so far, all of this hacking took place five years ago. if there are more current examples of this hacking, that could really doom the murdoch empire. back to you. >> jim maceda, thank you very much. msnbc will be covering the murdochs testifying. >>> back at home on capitol hill, the back-and-forth battle over the nation's budget crisis will reach the house floor today when republicans vote on a plan calling for steep spending cuts in return for raising the debt ceiling. democrats say the measure will never pass the senate and presid

welcome back to cross talk i'm peter lavelle remind you we're discussing the world of rupert murdoch. came. to me fine good to you i think we all agree good journalism is good for society but what is good journalism today because if we look at the business model this will be discussed and during this entire program i mean it's profits that are most important and and traditional media has a very hard time in this environment i mean we all know poor journalists ok i mean is the public good being served by the business model and in journalism today. well peter it's interesting because the idea of responsibility in media is pretty much a twentieth century concept when our founder started the idea was a absolutely open robust stridently partisan press that was full of lies full of innuendo and full of all sorts of false information and that in a sense it seems to me that we're just revolving back to that concept where we've got more stridently partisan media on both sides and we've got this robust communication and the whole idea of the enlightenment was that the founders was that the publ

the regulator. so that's all on james murdoch's watch. and the fact that he's still there and that he's still got rebekah ooks as chief executive, these the people who had to close down. we all agree that rupert murdoch is a great lover of newspapers but don't forget he closed a newspaper last week, a highly profitable paper, in order to walk. in order to save the skins of the people who were in control. and what kind of governance was the newscorp board itself in america applying? and none of this has been a secret. it's all been in the pages of he guardian" and elsewhere. so what questions were they asking about james murdoch and his governance of this company? >> rose: charlie, i think the answer t this question is that everybody in this we're just willing it away. murdoch was willing it away, the police were willing it away, the other newspapers were willing it away, the politicians were willing it away. and actually, newscorp dirtors were probably willing it away. and because the newspapers in a sense can influence the terms of debate

the u.k. would make murdoch and his news corp of violator of the foreign corrupt practices act which has criminal and civil penalties and basically doesn't allow u.s. corporations to bribe foreign officials if murdoch is bribing foreign officials as seems to be the case they're talking about one hundred hundred thousand pounds or one hundred thousand dollars worth of bribes to the london police if that happened while the law and the f.c.c. should look at that and say that the twenty four stations the own that cover forty percent of united states he should not get out of license of a news corp license that should be revoked and news station are sure to come into play so i don't think he has any place the united states and it's very important for. ok toby and i to go to you in london what do you think about what kevin had to say because we all know on this panel that these kind of practice is have been going on for a long time ok why the moral play now. well i think i. would ask kevin to define what he means by brought up a little more carefully because that sounds slightly as though he's overstati

the politicians. they curry favor with murdoch and he's very powerful specially in the u.k. you can call an election one way or another newspapers and television they've got stories they life because well even though these three legal means to be entertained their audience is the audience is like that to the police might have been involved in bribery but then again they might have gotten tips of information that might have led to a person prosecution so it's a very kind of odd arrangement everybody seemed to have gotten something out of it but nonetheless it was quite you legal i mean how do you look at that i mean is that why it went on for so long if the allegations are true well you just have to well you just have to look at the relationship involving the media and government and law enforcement in london it is a very unusual relationship and the environment in london for the tabloids especially is very aggressive viciously competitive and unfortunately in this case it crossed over into line of illegality so none of this is a real surprise and it's been a long time coming

and beyond has the murdoch family finally outfoxed itself. across not the implications of the phone hacking scandal i'm joined by kevin zeese in baltimore he's a spokesperson and lawyer for the government accountability group protect our elections and author of an open letter to the f.b.i. and s.c.c. urging them to investigate murdoch's news corporation in the us in washington we have dave south than i he is communications director for free press and in london we cross a toby young he's a journalist and author of how to lose friends and alienate people all right gentlemen crosstalk rules and in fact that means you can jump in anytime you want kevin if i can go to you first because of your open letter here i took a look at some of the what the laws and by laws of the f.c.c. and they basically their job is to make sure how the airwaves are used and they have to ensure that they're used by people of quote good character who serve the public interest and speak with candor so as murdoch's television empire at least have any place in the united stat

the reporters who work for murdoch in fact actually tried to pay off police to hack into the phones in the context of victims on nine eleven that's something that you would think would really tug on the heartstrings of americans yeah that's going to be what erupts in america and i think what changes the nature of the scandal for him in the united states and there's already connections in that he has sent the his chief of operations over in england during the last go around of these hacking scandals who went before the british parliament and swore that in an internal investigation it turned up no evidence of any more never spread past the news of the world is now of course been rewarded with the the seat as publisher of the wall street journal which of course at least used to be a very prestigious paper here in united states and the fact that it's connected to nine eleven victims is really just unbelievable and it's going to take some time for that to sink in for people here i think that it's sort of thing that you want to dismiss just out of sheer horror but yeah that story that is cor

the fact is, a lot of people are angry at the murdochs. british politicians are going to take advantage of that fact, and come out with the gloves off. now, it's rupert murdoch himself who takes center stage in the unfolding hacking drama that has engulfed his empire. >> for rupert murdoch this is the best thing that could ever happen. this is the best case they could ever have to argue against murdoch and say you have too much power. >> reporter: murdoch and his son james will tell british lawmakers how much they knew about allegations their journalists tapped into voice mails and regularly paid off police. so will former british ceo rebekah brooks who police are already investigating. the controversy has forced the head of scotland yard and his deputy to resign over their alleged links to a former murdoch executive. the scandal has reached the highest levels of the british government, with opposition leaders saying the prime minister himself has questions to answer about his close ties to the murdoch empire. >> but at the moment, he seems

and beyond has the murdoch family finally outfoxed itself. and you can. see. the cross not the implications of the phone hacking scandal i'm joined by kevin zeese in baltimore he's a spokesperson and lawyer for the government accountability group protect our elections and author of an open letter to the f.b.i. and s.c.c. urging them to investigate murdoch's news corporation in the us in washington we have dave south danae he is communications director for free press and in london we cross a toby young he's a journalist and author of how to lose friends and alienate the.