Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. So I guess wherever there is a Rupert Murdoch owned corporation, there’s a raging inferno.
The New York Times has reported that an Australian newspaper has published an investigative report alleging that News Corporation used a special unit in the mid-1990s to sabotage its competitors. The piece has led the Australian government to begin a criminal investigation into the claims. News Ltd., the company’s Australian media wing, has dismissed the report as “laughable” stating that it was full of inaccuracies and baseless claims that have been dismissed by courts in other countries, including the United States.
According to The Australian Financial Review, NDS Group was encouraging the mass pirating of rival satellite television networks.  The information was attained through 14,000 internal emails from the former News Corporation subsidiary. The emails have been published by the paper that is owned by a rival faction, Fairfax Media. It should be stated that there were no effective laws against pay TV piracy at the time of these claims in the country, so these actions were technically not illegal at the time. The Australian report came a day after a BBC documentary made similar accusations against NDS Group.
How many instances do we need to make the determination that News Corporation is an absolutely filthy organization that truly does not have any respect for journalistic integrity whatsoever? This story is coming off of the recent accusations of phone hacking at its British newspapers, which led to the demise of News of the World. It feels like every week there is a new story coming out about the debauchery that is being committed seemingly by every wing of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
It is truly amazing to me how this organization continually finds itself embroiled in controversy, yet always finds a fault with the accusations. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised for the fact that it is a corporation that will do anything to protect face, as any other corporation would do. For my money, I hope it is found that these accusations are true. I know that is biased, but to be honest I really do not care. It is organizations like News Corporation and people like Rupert Murdoch who will eventually be the death of real journalism if they are allowed to continually run amok in order to push across their own agendas and interests. It is time for true consequences to fall over all of those involved in anything of this dirty nature. Obviously, the News of the World scandal didn’t do the trick, so maybe this will.
As an aspiring journalist, I want to believe that even though I may not agree with the views of a particular news organization I can still have faith that there is some sort of honor in the way it conducts its practices and reporting. After seeing this, I am certain that I will never look at News Corporation as a viable source of anything. Not that I did before, but all of these recent accusations have solidified the fact that not only is it a biased organization, but it is also corrupt as hell. So here’s to Rupert Murdoch, the man who is at the helm of everything that is wrong with journalism today. Keep up the good work buddy. You continue to be an inspiration for all.