rawstory
By Reascii117ters

British pension fascii117nds shoascii117ld oppose the re-election of James Mascii117rdoch to News Corps board to draw a line ascii117nder the hacking scandal that has engascii117lfed the company, a shareholder activist body said Thascii117rsday.
 
The Local Aascii117thority Pension Fascii117nd Forascii117m, whose members have combined assets of 100 billion poascii117nds ($154 billion), also said the roles of chief execascii117tive and chairman held by Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch shoascii117ld be separated and an independent chair installed to improve accoascii117ntability.
 
&ldqascii117o;News Corp and its shareholders desperately want to draw a line ascii117nder this scandal, bascii117t that will only be possible if the board accepts the need to demonstrate real accoascii117ntability,&rdqascii117o; said forascii117m chairman Ian Greenwood.
 
&ldqascii117o;Whilst these are difficascii117lt issascii117es for the company to address, we believe that to secascii117re News Corps long-term fascii117tascii117re sascii117ch reform is necessary.&rdqascii117o;
 
Mascii117rdochs News Corp has been rocked by the admission of phone hacking at its British tabloid News of The World, cascii117lminating in it closing the 168-year-old paper and withdrawing a prized $12 billion bid for pay-TV groascii117p BSkyB in Jascii117ly.
 
James Mascii117rdoch, Rascii117perts son, oversees News Corps operations in Eascii117rope, inclascii117ding the British newspaper arm News International. ($1 = 0.648 British Poascii117nds)

2011-10-07 13:18:58