Rupert Murdoch appeared before a British parliamentary committee today to testify about his knowledge of phone hacking at News of the World. On tonight's Daily Show, Jon Stewart took the opportunity to poke fun at the 80-year-old media mogul—and praise wife Wendi Deng for defending him against a pie-wielding assailant—before mocking Fox News's efforts to downplay the scandal.
Rupert Murdoch appeared before a British parliamentary committee today to testify about his knowledge of phone hacking at News of the World. On tonight's Daily Show, Jon Stewart took the opportunity to poke fun at the 80-year-old media mogul—and praise wife Wendi Deng for defending him against a pie-wielding assailant—before mocking Fox News's efforts to downplay the scandal.
News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch arrived a few hours early at the Houses of Parliament to face questioning over his tabloid phone-hacking scandal, but his driver quickly drive off after being mobbed by photographers. In one of the pictures we're not so sure he's even alive. Have a quick look while you gear up for today's main event.
Tomorrow, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, his son James, and former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks will testify before Parliament about their knowledge of the News of the World hacking scandal that has rocked Britain for weeks. But on tonight's Report, Stephen Colbert—much like Steve Doocy on Friday's edition of Fox & Friends—had a much less serious take on it all. Video of Colbert's segment is above.
How bad are things looking for News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch in the wake of the News of the World phone hacking scandal? This bad: If he screws up enough during Tuesday's parliamentary hearing, he may be replaced as CEO by jauntily-mustachioed COO Chase Carey.
The hacking group LulzSec appears to be back, with a very timely hack of Rupert Murdoch's British tabloid The Sun—the sister publication of the dead News of the World. And they warn, ominously, that they've got emails, too.
Wondering why Scotland Yard botched the investigation into the News Corp phone-hacking scandal so badly? Well, it wasn't because the police agency was comically inept—at least, not entirely because it was comically inept—but because it was comically corrupt!
The dingbats at Fox News' illiterate dementia variety hour, Fox and Friends, finally got around to "covering" the News Corp. hacking scandal that's giving their parent company overlord, Rupert Murdoch, so many problems these days. It is one of the sadder bits of television you'll ever see, right up there with... every other Fox and Friends segment that's ever aired, probably.
Another day, another overwhelming tidal wave of scandal emanating from all corners of the News Corp media empire! Today: defiance! Arrests! And more!
On tonight's Daily Show, Jon Stewart returned from vacation feeling a little blue about the problems currently facing the United States, like the battle over the budget in Washington. But before Stewart could expound on his point, correspondent John Oliver presented him with a recap of Rupert Murdoch's News of the World scandal—a friendly reminder that the British will always find a way to out-shame us tepid Americans.
An American media exec snuck into News of the World's offices shortly before the scandal-plagued magazine printed its final issue. Her friend was considering using the location for filming commercials, so they photographed it extensively. She posted the photos on the Web today, and gave us permission to republish them.
A lawyer representing the family of Milly Dowler — the murdered 13-year-old girl whose phone was hacked by Rupert Murdoch's News of the World — told CNN that the girl's family haven't received so much as a "sorry" from the big man. The lawyer, Mark Lewis, said the Dowler family was upset by the "self-congratulatory" final issue of the paper. He added, "The front cover would have been so much better if it said 'sorry.'" So demanding! Rupe's putting all this mess behind him, and he already did the honorable thing by folding the paper. The scandal's over, people.
News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch touched down in London on the day his Sunday tabloid News of the World published its final issue, preparing "to face the growing phone-hacking scandal that prompted the paper's closure," and, we presume, to personally burn some of the incriminating evidence. Of which there appears to be a lot! The Guardian writes that new memos obtained by the police "appear to show that phone hacking was more widespread... than previously thought," and we've heard a rumor that even more papers—including some that aren't Murdoch properties—will be implicated in similar phone hacking schemes soon. That's the man himself above, of course, checking out the News' final page three girl in his Range Rover as he swings by the offices of News International, News Corp's U.K. subsidiary. Rupe! Do the crossword! [image via AP]
It hasn't hit newsstands yet, but journalists have taken a couple photos of the last copy of News of the World, which is shutting down following revelations that private investigators in its employ had hacked the voicemail of murder and abduction victims and their families.
James Murdoch, son of Rupert, Lord of Casterly Rock, Warden of the West and overseer of News Corp's properties in Europe and Asia, could face criminal charges over his role in the phone hacking scandal at News Corp tabloid News of the World. In the U.S. and the U.K.!
