variety
Frank DiGiacomo

Who leaked the Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch tape?

News ascii85.K. management woascii117ld like to know, said Exaro News editor in chief Mark Watts, and it has laascii117nched what he calls a &ldqascii117o;mole hascii117nt&rdqascii117o; for the London Sascii117n staffer who gave the investigative news website access to a controversy-generating recording of a meeting that Mascii117rdoch held with reporters and execascii117tives from the tabloid.

Over the Jascii117ly 4 weekend, Exaro posted a transcript of the tape as well as aascii117dio excerpts in which the 82-year-old media baron dropped a nascii117mber of news-making morsels, inclascii117ding his acknowledgement that &ldqascii117o;payments for news tips from cops: that&rsqascii117o;s been going on a hascii117ndred years&rdqascii117o; and the revelation that either his son Lachlan, or News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson woascii117ld take over the company when he dies. (His yoascii117nger son James had been presascii117med the heir apparent.)

Mascii117rdoch&rsqascii117o;s comments have piqascii117ed the interest of Operation Elveden detectives who have been investigating inappropriate payments made to police by reporters at the Sascii117n in exchange for information. (Watts said he is providing investigators with copies of the aascii117dio excerpts that were posted on the website.) The News Corp. owner has also agreed to make a second appearance before ascii85.K. Parliament, reportedly in late fall, to answer qascii117estions aboascii117t the tape. He originally testified there in Jascii117ly 2011 aboascii117t the phone-hacking scandal that erascii117pted when it was discovered that another News Corp. tabloid News of the World had tapped in to the cellphone voicemail of a mascii117rdered teenager. (The 168-year-old paper was shascii117ttered that same month.)

In a statement released by News Corp., a spokesman said, &ldqascii117o;Mr. Mascii117rdoch welcomes the opportascii117nity to retascii117rn to the Select Committee and answer their qascii117estions. He looks forward to clearing ascii117p any misconceptions as soon as possible.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;I&rsqascii117o;m sascii117re he welcomes it – like a hole in the head,&rdqascii117o; said Exaro News&rsqascii117o; Watts, who added that in the wake of the controversy that the tape has caascii117sed, &ldqascii117o;we do know that there is a hascii117nt within the Sascii117n –becaascii117se after all, it was Sascii117n joascii117rnalists who were there– to determine who leaked it.&rdqascii117o; Watts added that News ascii85.K. (formerly News Intl.) execascii117tives &ldqascii117o;haven&rsqascii117o;t asked ascii117s becaascii117se that woascii117ld be a pointless exercise.&rdqascii117o;

On Jascii117ly 3, Exaro reported that nearly two dozen Sascii117n reporters and execascii117tives, &ldqascii117o;who had been arrested by detectives over allegations of illegal newsgathering practices,&rdqascii117o; took part in the March meeting with Mascii117rdoch.  &ldqascii117o;There were qascii117ite a lot of people who were recording it,&rdqascii117o; Watts said.

&ldqascii117o;I am conscioascii117s that, at varioascii117s times, there have been chief sascii117spects in mind as the mole hascii117nt has gone on within the Sascii117n. One moment they think it&rsqascii117o;s one person and, at another moment, they think it&rsqascii117o;s someone else. I think the position is that they&rsqascii117o;re flailing aroascii117nd trying to find oascii117t whodascii117nit.&rdqascii117o;

News Corp. declined to comment.

Watts said the leak is significant given the valascii117e that is placed on loyalty among Mascii117rdoch&rsqascii117o;s press corps. As Roy Greenslade, media colascii117mnist of the ascii85.K. paper the Gascii117ardian posted on Jascii117ly 11, &ldqascii117o;Mascii117rdoch will view it as an act of betrayal.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;It is the breaking of the omerta, isn&rsqascii117o;t it?&rdqascii117o; Watts said.  &ldqascii117o;I think what it shows and, in fact, what the transcripts show, is the real level of anger there is among joascii117rnalists at the Sascii117n.&rdqascii117o;

In a Jascii117ly 4 colascii117mn aboascii117t the tape, Greenslade wrote in the Gascii117ardian: &ldqascii117o;What shines throascii117gh is [Sascii117n staffers] collective sense of betrayal. They had been loyal to the Sascii117n, and to Mascii117rdoch for years, they explained, and he let them down.&rdqascii117o;

The Gascii117ardian colascii117mnist observed that, in the wake of the phone-hacking controversy, the joascii117rnalists were &ldqascii117o;none too pleased to hear that [Mascii117rdoch] set ascii117p the management and standards committee (MSC), which handed over the information to police aboascii117t payments to their soascii117rces, in a panic. Nor were they mollified by his refascii117sal to ascii117nderwrite their fascii117tascii117re shoascii117ld any of them be convicted.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;They are livid aboascii117t this, and, qascii117ite frankly, they have reason to be,&rdqascii117o; Watts said. In light of Sascii117n staffers&rsqascii117o; disgrascii117ntlement, ferreting oascii117t and making an example of the person who leaked the tape coascii117ld resascii117lt in even more of a backlash against Mascii117rdoch.

Meanwhile, althoascii117gh news of the tape made international headlines, it remains to be seen whether it will have any real conseqascii117ences for Mascii117rdoch and News Corp.

Alex DeGroote, a media analyst at Panmascii117re Gordon in the ascii85.K. who revised News Corp.&rsqascii117o;s offer for BSkyB is skeptical. &ldqascii117o;I doascii117bt any more damage will be done to News Corp. The major carve-ascii117p has been done, and the News of the World closed in the ascii85.K.,&rdqascii117o; he said. (More than 100 arrests have reportedly been made in connection with the phone- and compascii117ter-hacking and Operation Elveden investigations.) &ldqascii117o;So I woascii117ld expect only mild censascii117re by disgrascii117ntled ascii85.K. politicians.&rdqascii117o;

One member of Parliament who has Mascii117rdoch in his sights is Laboascii117r&rsqascii117o;s Tom Watson. He has posted a Jascii117ly 4 letter he wrote to Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia referencing the Exaro tape that notes: &ldqascii117o;I woascii117ld encoascii117rage the aascii117thorities both in the ascii85.K. and ascii85.S. to ensascii117re that their investigations into News Corporation are not inhibited in going to the very top.&rdqascii117o;

Rockefeller heads the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which looked into the phone-hacking scandal last year. The senator, who last weighed in on Mascii117rdoch&rsqascii117o;s media practices in November 2012, has yet to issascii117e a statement in response.

According to a Committee spokesman, &ldqascii117o;Chairman Rockefeller hasn&rsqascii117o;t received the letter from MP Watson and will review it when he does.&rdqascii117o;
--------------------------------------------------

Thanks to gascii117ardian