Michael GoldfarbFebruary 29, 2012 14:35

James Murdoch steps down as head of News International

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James Murdoch on a recent trip to London. (Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images)

The younger Murdoch had been in the firing line over the company's response to the phone-hacking scandal.

The line coming from News Corp, the parent company of all Rupert Murdoch's businesses, is this is no big deal. James Murdoch is deputy COO of News Corp and his move to New York has been long planned. News International, which runs News Corp's British newspaper holdings, is a fairly small part of the Murdoch empire, so resigning that title is to be expected.

They can spin it any way they want but you can't tell me that on July 1st of last year that was the plan.

Michael GoldfarbFebruary 27, 2012 17:17

Rupert Murdoch empire's roller coaster ride goes through whiplash turn

New revelations of phone-hacking and corruption ruin British debut of the mogul's new Sunday paper

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Rupert Murdoch: then and now. Holding the first edition of The Sun published after he bought it in 1969 and holding the first edition of The Sun on Sunday published yesterday. The positive buzz about the 80 year old's indefatigability was undone today by new revelations of alleged illegal payments made by Sun journalists to public officials. (Handout/AFP/Getty Images)

Yesterday, Rupert Murdoch launched a new Sunday newspaper to replace the defunct News of the World.The NoW was closed suddenly last July when the phone hacking scandal exploded around it.

The new newspaper was called the Sun on Sunday. The Sun is Murdoch's daily tabloid, his most successful and notorious newspaper here. Today the Sun became embroiled in revelations that are arguably more dangerous to the Murdoch empire than the phone hacking at the NoW.

At the Leveson Enquiry, set up in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal, the Metropolitan Police's Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, in charge of the investigation into illegal activities at News International, publisher of Murdoch's newspapers here, gave an interim report.

She painted a picture of systematic corruption of public officials by The Sun. One public official received £80,000 ($126,500) over a period of years to provide confidential information about individuals to the paper.

Michael GoldfarbJanuary 19, 2012 12:35

Phone-hacking scandal: payday

18 Phone-hacking victims receive more than a million dollars combined from Rupert Murdoch's News International

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Phone-hacking victim Jude Law smiling at a London premiere last month. He is probably smiling again today after receiving damages in excess of $200,000 for having his phone-hacked from Rupert Murdoch's News International (Tim Whitby/AFP/Getty Images)

UPDATE: The total number of plaintiffs who settled with News International is now 37. Only 15 have had their names made public including Jude Law.

Phone-hacking victim Jude Law received the largest pay-out: £130,000 ($201,264). Law's attorney read a statement to the court on the actor's behalf, "no aspect of my private life was safe from intrusion by News Group newspapers, including the lives of my children and the people who work for me."

Michael GoldfarbJanuary 12, 2012 07:22

European woes for Current TV as CEO charges foul play

British branch of Al Gore's liberal channel loses pay cable deal.

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Keith Olbermann, the face of Current TV, is currently off the air. Now the channel itself is likely to go off the air in Britain. (Jason Kempin/AFP/Getty Images)

As if its Keith Olbermann headache isn't bad enough, Current has been told that it will be dropped by BSkyB, Britain's largest cable-TV operator. Sky provided funds for Current's British operations

Sky is part-owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Murdoch scrapped plans to buy Sky outright last summer following the phone-hacking scandal at his British newspaper, the News of the World.

Michael GoldfarbJanuary 5, 2012 04:39

British tabloid editor to take helm of New York Daily News

Colin Myler was the last editor of the now defunct News of the World, epicenter of the phone-hacking scandal

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Colin Myler last month on his way into the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics in Britain, set up in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal. Myler was the last editor of the now defunct News of the World (Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images)

Colin Myler is one of a very short list - editors-in-chief of big circulation daily tabloid newspapers. Most are either British or Australian. New York Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman has a track record of hiring Brits to run the paper and that may explain why he decided to overlook Myler's connections to the phone-hacking scandal.

Myler replaces Kevin Convey, a Boston guy and former editor of the Boston Herald, who had been editing the NYDN for less than two years.

It is also possible Zuckerman hired Myler to get under the skin of his great commercial rival, Rupert Murdoch, owner of the New York Post.

Michael GoldfarbDecember 21, 2011 08:35

Piers Morgan, I beg to differ with you

Former reporter at Britain's Daily Mirror says phone-hacking was rife at the paper when the CNN host was its editor

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CNN's Piers Morgan on the red carpet at an event in LA earlier this month. He's been called onto a different carpet the last two days - Britain's Leveson Inquiry into phone-hacking at newspapers Morgan once edited. (Frederick M. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

CNN host Piers Morgan's claim not to know about phone-hacking while editing British tabloid Daily Mirror is contradicted by a former reporter

Michael GoldfarbDecember 20, 2011 15:00

Britain: CNN star gives evidence on phone-hacking

Piers Morgan, the man who took up Larry King's mantle at the top of the CNN evening line-up, gives testimony to judicial inquiry

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Piers Morgan, CNN star and former editor of the now defunct News of the World, the newspaper at the center of the British phone hacking scandal (Frederick M. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

Piers Morgan, the man who took up Larry King's mantle at the top of the CNN evening line-up, gives testimony to judicial inquiry looking into phone hacking at Britain's tabloids

Michael GoldfarbDecember 14, 2011 03:46

Phone Hacking Scandal Revisited

James Murdoch saw the the crucial e-mail at the heart of the phone-hacking scandal - he just didn't read the whole thing

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James Murdoch still lives in the shadow of the phone-hacking scandal at his British newspapers. (CARL COURT/AFP/Getty Images)

What did James Murdoch know in the phone-hacking scandal and when did he know it? We'll probably never find out.

Rupert Murdoch and sons re-elected to News Corp. board

Catherine LyonsOctober 21, 2011 20:24

Rupert Murdoch apologized for the phone hacking scandal, but defended his company against angered investors at the News Corporation's board meeting in Los Angeles on Friday.

Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson resigns over News of the World hacking scandal (VIDEO)

News DeskJuly 17, 2011 17:11

On the same day that News International CEO Rebekah Brooks is arrested, Scotland Yard's commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, resigns over the phone hacking scandal, but says his "integrity is completely intact."