No More News Corp.

The clear and stated focus of Corporate Constraint is "money and power in the service of money and power".   The commentary I've made these last few days on the furor over the business practices and corporate culture of Rupert Murdock's media empire is consistent with my blog's primary focus -- he is the embodiment of all this site holds harmful to the world.  His is the epitome of the dangerous corporate culture that disregards all externalities in pursuit of the maxim to maximize.

In short, for the Corporate Constraint blogsite, this story is a gift!

And it's a gift that keeps on giving.  I came upon some interesting comments today from Conrad Black, another disgraced media baron, convicted of fraud (and a Canadian, don't you know, although he renounced his citizenship); he had this to say about Rupert Murdock:

"Mr. Murdock has no loyalty to anyone or anything except his company.  He has difficulty keeping friendships; rarely keeps his word for long; is an exploiter of the discomfort of others; and has betrayed every political leader who ever helped him in any country, except Ronald Reagan and perhaps Tony Blair."

You know you've hit rock bottom when a convicted white collar felon like Conrad Black calls you out.

There will be much more written in the days to come, some directly pertinent to the unfolding story, and some novel asides and commentary.  It seems clear, though, that the arc of this story will have a profoundly negative impact on the Murdocks and News Corp.
At this point, going into the weekend, the following provides the most recent developments for News Corp;

 - Rebekah Brooks has resigned, finally, as has Les Hinton, publisher of the Wall Street Journal

 - Rupert Murdock has apologized to the Dowler family

 - The Murdocks have agreed to face a Commons committee meeting next week

 - Share prices for News Corp continue to drop, and the losses are in the $billions

 - The FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that News Corp sought phone records of 9/11 victims.     

I don't intend to allocate much more of this site's space to details of the unfolding story; it has gained huge notoriety around the world, and so it won't benefit from any more commentary from me.

But the Murdock story remains very important for Corporate Constraint. Because the brand recognition surrounding this story is so strong, it provides an extremely powerful springboard from which I will launch more interesting inquiries into such issues as the concentration of ownership in the media, and the degree to which unelected political power drives critical events.

So, as the title of this post says, there will be no more of News Corp., just as I hope News Corp. will be no more.

By David.

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Your musical accompaniment for the day: "I Robot" and "I Wouldn't Want to be Like You", from I Robot (expanded edition), The Alan Parsons Project.  Enjoy.