The potential significance of the decision by the English prosecution authorities to arraign for
trial a number of very senior figures of News Corp’s UK division (News International) cannot be
underestimated in terms of company compliance laws in the United States. As the Guardian
newspaper reported on Tuesday, if senior News International executives Andy Coulson and Rebekah
Brooks are found guilty of having made illegal payments to police and public officials, they will have
also have been found to have contravened America’s “Foreign Corrupt Practices Act”.

Although Piers Morgan has denied knowing anything about the recent phone hacking scandals, a former Daily Mirror Journalist now claims that the hacking happened while Morgan was the editor of the paper.

Rupert Murdoch's troubles just crossed the Atlantic. Yesterday the U.S. Justice department and the FBI announced they plan to subpoena Murdoch's News Corp group over the alleged phone hacking of 9/11 victims and the bribing of foreign officials.

It was slick. It was savvy. And it could well prove to be Team Murdoch’s saviour.
 
Rupert Murdoch’s performance at the select parliamentary committee in London, where he was grilled for two hours, was a polished, professional and painstakingly manufactured PR master class.
 
As father and son sat down looking like Mr Burns and Smithers, the phone hacking scandal had already knocked 12pc off the value of News Corp shares, which cost the Murdoch family a cool $750m (don’t shed to many tears, the family’s stake is still worth about $5.2 billion).
 
However, as Murdoch Senior masterfully handled his inquisitors and his wife busily batted away shaving-foam pies, the share price of his media empire News Corp began to soar.
 
At 80-years-old, Murdoch’s public relations strategy has at times seemed as frail as the man himself. As the raging inferno of the phone hacking scandal engulfed News Corp, Murdoch looked out of touch as he lurched from crisis to crisis after one shock revelation followed another.
 
However, when he eventually assembled his dream team of PR advisors, their finger prints could soon be seen all over his statements, apologies and parliamentary performance.
 
Right from the get-go Murdoch’s coaching was apparent. Just examine his opening statement — “This is the most humble day of my life.”
 
This was contrived as a sound bite his handlers knew would be repeated in news bulletins and newspaper coverage. It may have been a bit early when he delivered it, but it none the less proved to be one of the quotes of the day.
 
The massive audience that tuned in to see a ruthless, all powerful, media mogul get his comeuppance, would have been shocked at the frail, tired man that looked every one of his 80 years.
 
It is very unlikely this just happened to be one of Murdoch’s off days. Remember, this is the same man who was snapped earlier in the week out jogging with his personal trainer.
 
Again, his appearance as he sat in the glare of the media spotlight was well manufactured to evoke the sympathy an old man unaware of the shenanigans the bright young bucks his company had hired were getting up to deserved.
 
His son James was a little stiffer in his presentation, but stuck to fixed responses and used meaningless but complex phrases when he got the chance.
 
It was also noticeable that when Rebekah Brooks took the hot seat she was dressed almost nun-like, her hair colour darkened and her delivery slow and precise.
 
Her quietly spoken performance was miles away from the Alpha Male environment of the newsroom, which she dominated during her time as editor of the Sun and News of the World. Indeed, her polished performance aimed at showing dignified remorse tried to have us believe newspaper offices are a picture of calmness and politeness.
 
The phantom pie flinger was something of a distraction, but it very much worked to Murdoch’s advantage.
 
How could someone try to attack a frail old man like that? When his wife leapt to his defence, she suddenly became the hero of the day. Indeed, the whole episode brought a very real human side to the ruthless billionaire and even an outpouring of sympathy.
 
Yes, cynics out there are already wondering if it was all part of a well-choreographed carnival. And with the levels these people have stooped to in the past, who knows?
 
Now Murdoch moves on, battle scared and weary, still wounded, but knowing that his excellent performance may well have helped save his bacon.
 
As the attention now turns away from the media mogul to focus on the Prime Minister’s part in this sordid tale, without question Murdoch has his handlers to thank. It was a rare opportunity to see how they subtly helped change people’s perceptions of Team Murdoch by focusing on how they spoke, looked and communicated. So while it was no doubt a good day for Murdoch, it was an even better day for the art of public relations.
 
Paul Allen, Managing Director of Paul Allen and Associates PR, www.prireland.

As Rupert Murdoch, his son James and former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks, are being grilled by the British Parliament it has emerged that supermodel Elle Macpherson and her business manager have been victims of the News Corps phone hacking.

The hunter has now become the hunted. Rebekah Brooks, who must have sent wave after wave of tabloid hacks to doorstep the rich and famous while editor of the Sun and News of the World, is now getting some of her own medicine.

In the wake of the closure of the New of the World and the resignation of Rebekah Brooks, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, Les Hinton has stepped down from his position on the very day that Rupert Murdoch issued a public apology for his corporation's involvement in the phone hacking scandal.

Prodded by irish American congressman Peter King the FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, which heads up The Washington Post, Fox and SKY, sought to hack into the phones of September 11 victims.

Irish staff on Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World, devastated when they learned via Sky television and internal emails that their paper was closing three days later last Sunday, will be individually informed over the next two weeks of the intentions of management.

The News of the World has paid the ultimate price for the phone hacking scandal – the paper is to cease publication this Sunday.