“Dirty Digger”: Murdoch’s News of the World Phone Hacking Scandal

July 25, 2011 - PRLog -- Ongoing investigations by London’s Metropolitan Police have revealed at least 3,700 cases of phone hacking by journalists at the 168-year-old tabloid News of the World newspaper. To try to dampen down public outrage, Murdoch – nicknamed “The Dirty Digger” in Britain - closed the newspaper down on July 10, and flew to London to issue an apology in front of a parliamentary committee. Yet, for years, police and politicians appeared to turn a blind eye to the practice of phone-hacking, partly out of a fear of reprisals from Murdoch’s papers, and partly because they craved the good publicity to be had from cosying up to the Australian media magnate.

Jonathan Tonge, a Professor of Politics at Liverpool University, said the scale of the phone-hacking affair, as well as the scale of public anger, would transform relations in what might be described as a “triangle of collusion” between media, police and politicians.

Professor Tonge said Murdoch had had a direct influence on Government policy for three decades. “There are many examples, but one of the most important was when Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair was considering going into the euro and Murdoch refused to back him. They had a lot of arguments about it, and Blair decided to stay out.”

Murdoch has also had a major influence over public opinion whenever Britain has gone to...

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