Cut 'n Run

Little Rupert's Newsy-Truthsy Corp Pulls Bid For BSkyB

Just as leaders of countries "signal" to each other through directions they give to their governments -- a trade bill allowed here, a statement by a foreign minister there -- what people do in times of crisis speaks to their character. So what messages are being sent in the current hacking scandal in Britain?

For Little Rupert Murdoch, five years old, his response to the final popping of the lid of the phone hacking crisis at News Of The World was to summarily shut the doors of the 168-year old paper. Bam See? No more problem.

Only, it was clear that there was a problem. And it included targeting the Liberal Prime Minister of England, Gordon Brown, who had succeeded Tony ("Bush's Poodle") Blair, to the extent of publicizing news that his then five-year-old son had been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis.

On top of all the revelations of identity theft, Met coppers paid off, investigations swept under the rug; dragging a little boy into the mud seemed emblematic of how Little Rupert does business.

Even the current Tory Prime Minister, Little Davy Cameron, has had to criticize Rupert just to save his own political hide. And it's not clear whether The Crafty Ol' Digger will be called to testify at hearings on the hacking scandal or not.

So, now, with his deal to purchase the monopoly on Britain's television in jeopardy, Little Rupert decided to drop the whole thing and back away.

The share value of News Corp stock has been slipping ever since the initial scandal regarding News Of The World was broken by the UK Guardian two weeks ago -- so Rupert announced to his shareholders, hey; no worries! News Corp will perform a buyback of some $5 Billion of its own stock, to artificially keep its price stable.

And, there's some talk that Little Rupert's Foxy News may have engaged in some of the same phone hacking and 'research' tactics in the United States, but nothing proven; it's early days yet. But I certainly hope so. I hope Little Rupert loses it all, and Roger Ailes has to beg for Twinkies and Ho-Hos (well, he does that now, anyway).

Recently, Paul Keating, former Prime Minister of Australia and no fan of Little Rupert, called Murdoch "a bastard, a bad bastard... and the only way you can deal with him is to be as bad a bastard as he is. That's all he respects, is strength."

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