Media Matters has learned that News Corp subsidiary News America has settled claims that it hacked a competitors website. The competitor, Floorgraphics Inc, begged then attorney general and now New Jersey governor, Chris Christie to prosecute News America but he declined despite what was considered a clear case. Floorgraphics was forced to file a civil suit instead which was settled after testimony from a former News Corp employee, Robert Emmel.
Federal investigators have contacted Robert Emmel, a former News Corp. employee turned-whistleblower, who has been “a key source of insider information regarding alleged misconduct at the News Corp.”
In 2005, a News America competitor based in New Jersey, along with members of competitor’s Congressional delegation, began urging federal investigators to look into the computer hacking allegation, but no active criminal case was ever pursued. (The New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s office – run by none other than Republican Chris Christie – declined to prosecute Murdoch’s company at the time.) In fact, no investigators ever interviewed Emmel about the News Corp. misconduct he claimed to have witnessed.
Now, in the wake of the widespread phone-hacking done by Murdoch’s tabloid journalists in Britain, U.S. investigators are taking a fresh look at the News America allegations and for the first time have reached out to Emmel, confirms Philip Hilder, an attorney for Emmel.
When the phone-hacking story first broke, U.S. investigators began looking into the claim made in the British press that News Corp. had tried to hack into the phone messages of 9/11 victims. In addition, investigators are seeing if there is a broader problem at News Corp. (Earlier this week, an attorney representing News Corp. shareholders who are suing the company,suggested there is a “pattern of misconduct” inside the company.)
News Corp. is feeling the heat. It recently warned investors that on-going criminal investigation on both sides of the Atlantic “could damage our reputation” and “impair our ability to conduct business.”
Eric Boehlert of Media Matters speaks on Countdown and suggests that a pattern of misconduct may reclassify the media giant from a news gathering organization to a criminal enterprise.
