Hoist by his own bastard(ry)

When Lord Justice Leveson was holding hearings into the press, he produced a report that was anything but a whitewash.  Shocked by the immorality and amorality of tabloid journalists in particular, his conclusions were very sobering to the industry.  Rupert Murdoch was hauled over the coals at the hearings and by the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport, where he said he was very humble at the latter before almost getting hit by a foam pie.  But like a child, he was only feeling sorry for himself – he was self-humbling, he had been humbled but he allowed the distinction to be confused, as when he said he didn’t tell prime ministers what to do (as Sir John Major said, this was technically true, though PMs were left in no doubt what Murdoch wanted).

Now, he has been caught in a technique that he would have lauded had it been against anyone other than him and his confidantes – the secret recording.  Here, he shows himself to be the opposite of humble, stating he would help out his journalists, even if they were jailed (of which, as with all News International statements, the explanatory note following this was made a mockery – he wasn’t just presuming innocence until proven guilty but afterwards too, even if jail sentences followed).  He thinks bribing public officials and hacking phones are as “next to nothing,” adding that the police are “incompetent.”  That will make an interesting Annual Police Awards (sponsored by The Sun) next time around.   

Charlotte Church said he settled with Murdoch instead of examining their dirty laundry in the public arena of a court because News International lawyers wanted to put her emotionally fragile and potentially suicidal mother on the stand, as a deliberate ploy to force Church to settle.  This she said, that despite everything, News International were still the aggressive same as always, incapable of showing contrition.  He words ring truer than ever after this revelation.