Post date: Jul 10, 2011 2:12:15 PM
News Corp chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch arrives at his London headquarters to tackle a telephone-hacking scandal that has sent tremors through the British political establishment and
may cost him a multi-billion dollar broadcasting deal.
LUTON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JULY 10, 2011) POOL - Media baron Rupert Murdoch flew into London on Sunday (July 10) to tackle a telephone-hacking scandal that has sent tremors through the British political establishment and may cost him a multi-billion dollar broadcasting deal.
Murdoch, 80, was driven through the gates of his east London headquarters holding up the last edition of the best-selling newspaper he had closed only hours earlier in an attempt to contain the crisis. It was not clear what meetings he had planned in the coming hours.
Best known for its lurid headlines exposing the misdemeanours of the rich, royal and famous, the News of the World said simply "Thank You & Goodbye" over a montage of some of its most celebrated splashes of the past 168 years. For admirers it had been a stock feature of lazy Sundays, for critics it had become a symbol of craven irresponsibility in the British media.
Murdoch had seemed on the point of clinching approval for a cherished prize, the buyout of broadcaster BSkyB, only last week; but revelations phone-hacking had extended beyond celebrities to relatives of victims of 2005 London bomb attacks and of soldiers killed in action stirred broad public anger.