News Corp’s Irish scandal may yet prove to be Murdoch’s Achilles heel

paul larkin should take a leaf from his own book and get his facts right before putting pen to paper. the murdoch empire is guilty of many sins but they were not the first to break the martha pope-gerry kelly story. that dubious privilege went to the sunday world, the dublin-based paper that is part of the independent group, now owned by denis o'brien, one of niall o'dowd's favorite people in the world. it was then picked up by other newspapers including the new york post. but murdoch did not start the ball rolling. it was in fact the dup who peddled the story around and it was given a boost by a drunken nio press officer who was sacked shortly afterwards by mo mowlam, the n.i. secretary of state. so much for a british plot! nor did it cause or even threaten to cause damage to the peace process simply because the notion that martha pope, a former head of the capitol police in wahington d.c. would draw back the sheets of her bed for someone like gerry kelly was so absurd that a) no other newspaper worth the name gave it serious consideration and b) pope won thousands of pounds in uncontested libel suits withing weeks, all settled out of court by newspapres eager to avoid embarrassment in the courts. sorry paul, you got it badly wrong. i suspect you have been spending too much time in the fevered atmosphere of costa del provo. either that or you need to draw the curtains. take a couple of those pills and lie down for a bit.

The Murdoch press all over the world appeals to the lowest common denominator. They are muckrakers bar none.

Wow, What a great article! They should use it at Murdock's trial. I wonder if the silence on the part of other news media is some form of "professional curtesy?" If so, it is very UNprofessional.

A sordid glimpse into the soul of Fox News. May the taint of the European 'news' scandal reveal what a crock of sh.t the 'fair and balanced' network dwells and smells in.