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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    Murdoch's Media Empire Exposed

    Rupert Murdoch's troubles in Britain are escalating fast. Since closing his News of the World , he's had to buy back stock in his News Corporation, to keep up its value. Today, he abandoned plans to take full ownership of British Sky Broadcasting, which the BBC calls "a huge humiliation" and "extraordinary reversal of corporate fortune."

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    By Warren Olney • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    Rupert Murdoch's troubles in Britain are escalating fast. Since closing his News of the World, he's had to buy back stock in his News Corporation, to keep up its value. Today, he abandoned plans to take full ownership of British Sky Broadcasting, which the BBC calls "a huge humiliation" and "extraordinary reversal of corporate fortune." The scandal over NOW cell phone hacking and bribery has been reported for years by the Guardian, but not much by anyone else. Then, last week, the paper revealed that its editor-in-chief had warned Prime Minister David Cameron not to hire Andy Coulson, who resigned from NOW because of the scandal. How much did Murdoch know about reporters breaking the law to get juicy stories? Did his executives lie to investigators? Has News Corp violated British or American laws? What does the scandal reveal about the culture of news in Britain and in the US, where News Corp owns the New York Post, Fox News and the Wall Street Journal?

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Is Rupert Murdoch's Media Empire Crumbling?
    1. 0:00Debt Negotiations Devolve
    2. 7:25Murdoch's Media Empire ExposedYou’re reading this
    3. 44:22Will Roundup Resistant Crops Be the End of the Monarch Butterfly?
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • KCRW placeholder

      Andrea Brody

      Senior Producer, KCRW's Life Examined and To the Point podcast

    • Sonya Geis with wavy brown hair wearing a black dress with red accents and decorative earrings against a white background.

      Sonya Geis

      Senior Managing Editor

    • KCRW placeholder

      Christian Bordal

      Managing Producer, Greater LA

    • KCRW placeholder

      Alan Rusbridger

      Guardian Newspaper

    • KCRW placeholder

      Roger Cohen

      Columnist for the New York Times; Foreign editor for three years

    • KCRW placeholder

      Carl Bernstein

      Author, journalist and the investigative reporter

      NewsNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Is Rupert Murdoch's Media Empire Crumbling?
    1. 0:00Debt Negotiations Devolve
    2. 7:25Murdoch's Media Empire ExposedYou’re reading this
    3. 44:22Will Roundup Resistant Crops Be the End of the Monarch Butterfly?
    Back to To the Point