Rupert Murdoch physically attacked in British Parliment

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LONDON (AP) — A protester splattered Rupert Murdoch with white foam on Tuesday, interrupting a dramatic hearing in which the media baron told British lawmakers he was not responsible for a phone hacking scandal that has rocked his global empire.

Murdoch appeared by turns vague, truculent, sharp and concise as he spoke alongside his son and deputy, James, calling the parliamentary inquiry "the most humble day of my career" but refusing to take personal blame for the crisis that has swept from a tabloid newspaper through the top levels of Britain's police and even to the prime minister's office.

Murdoch, 80, said he was "shocked, appalled and ashamed" at the hacking of the phone of a murdered schoolgirl by his now-shuttered News of the World tabloid.

But he quibbled with a suggestion that criminality had been endemic at the tabloid and said he had seen no evidence that victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack and their relatives were targeted by any of his papers.

"Endemic is a very hard, a very wide ranging word," Murdoch said. "I also have to be very careful not to prejudice the course of justice that is taking place now."

Murdoch said he was not responsible for the hacking scandal, and denied his company was guilty of willful blindness over hacking.

He laid blame on "the people I trusted but they blame maybe the people that they trusted."

After more than two hours of testimony, a man in a plaid shirt appeared to run toward Murdoch with a pie plate full of foam, before being struck by the executive's wife Wendi Deng. The foam hit Murdoch's suit jacket.


http://news.yahoo.com/man-rushes-rupert ... 44558.html

So now leftists are resorting to violence?

I wouldn't call a foam pie, "violence"

of course most of it landed on the person who threw the pie because Murdoch's wife intercepted.

How did they get into the building with a foam pie, I have no idea.

1) How are leftists grouped with this man? How do you know he is not a friend or family member of one of the people who was a victim of this hacking scandal?

2) I hardly call pieing someone in the face with soft foam violent. Disrespectful? Yes. Violent no.

3) The person who actually resorted to violence was Wendi Deng who gave the man with the plaid shirt a nasty hit. Did you hear the smack in the video? That had to hurt. Then again, I don't feel sorry for the guy. Even though he was only going to "pie" Murdoch, he charged at him so the wife could only assume the worst. That or she had a rather extreme reaction to husband about to be disrespected (which can happen during times of stress).

There is no evidence so far that Murdoch himself was involved in the hacking scandal. The guy most likely is clueless. With a massive international empire, it is impossible to know everything that is going on. It is the equivalent of saying the major knows every little thing going on in his city offices.

Talk about trying to promote your agenda Inuyasha

The foam flan flinger is a desperate comdian wannabe who tries anything to get a bit of free publicity in his sad desperate search for fame. It had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with 'look at me I'm a self indulgent moron'.

really?? which comedian?

My god! The dreaded shaving foam attack. This act is impolite but it is hardly injurious.

ruveyn

Typically I view people who do these sorts of things as attention seekers.

However, today when I was viewing a video about the incident I saw the man being taken away and something struck me, this person had to realize going into this that he would be arrested and he did not look as if he felt heroic for it.

This is an incredibly high profile case and the allegations against Newscorp are very large when put into perspective.

Peoples private lives are for sale to those who have the right amount of money to offer up. You may say that this is nothing that hasn't been seen before but you must take into account how pervasive technology is in everyones lives. This is a very big deal. Imagine that you anger the wrong person and this person has connections and money... now imagine what can happen should your private info become available to this other private citizen who can also buy secrecy. Now not only can this person buy secrecy but they also place the recipient of the bribe in a situation that could also ruin the recipients life should it come to light. Imagine that this person has friends in law enforcement, government, and social media. Also look at the way that private companies can store and sell data... and don't forget that people are very clever and software can aggregate, link, and parse information together... or humans can do it the traditional way. Personal computers! Databases! Datamining! This is huge! These are resources so vast!!

What we have is a foreign interest in ownership of a media organization that disseminates incredibly strong propaganda about matters on social services, national security, and economic affairs... these are things that change entire countries and also the entire world!

Now think about corporate structure and all the protections such a status provides and think of the seriousness of the crime that has been committed. Imagine if you had been one of the victims if you can...

To you, inuyasha, all this comes down to is left vs right? You have no care for the allegations against Newscorp? You have no mind to consider how serious this issue really is and what it actually means to society and personal safety?

Go a step farther and think about what it means to national security that persons with the financial backing of a corporation can buy protection and information from nearly any walk of life once they find the right mark, including law enforcement and other government agencies. Have you been following this case at all and thinking about what it actually means?

Not only is this nasty case showing an incredibly darkside of newscorp but it also illustrates what a serious issue bribery is. How much do you think it costs to get information out of a man who lacks integrity and makes 50k per year? A man who makes less... a man who makes far more? Or maybe you are a news company and you don't need to pay cash, as a company you have eyes and ears everywhere and mouth that can be heard round the world should you wish to make it so. Maybe you got some information in your pocket that would damage this person and then it is no longer bribery it is extortion... and it works!

This case is hot hot hot and it is depressing as Hell. It highlights many problems that we are going to continue to face in the future as we adjust to new technologies and corporate entities the likes of which the world has never seen before...

While a lot of this situation is rather "traditional" much of it is also emergent and previously impossible... go and make the argument that information and silence have always been on sale if you wish, but it is simple minded and lacking in consideration for modern technologies and corporate financial and global reach.

What exactly are we getting a glimpse of here?

and all you have is... "herpderp leftists?"

I have no faculties to lay out clearly how incredible i think what we are witnessing here is, but it makes me wish I had never been born every time I see this level of depth in an individual because the parts make up the whole and you aren't uncommon at all.

It's pretty common for Foxbots to inappropriately weigh the gravity of a situation. Hacking, personal invasion, bribery, dead whistle blower - meh. But foam in the face - now that's completely out of line.

It would have been nice if his wife's left had caught the guy's temple.

Jonathan May-Bowles aka Jonnie Marbles.

Yeah because anyone who dare pies Murdoch in the face with soft foam shall be put to death or at least be subjected to serious injury.

Why would it be nice to cause that man serious injury for an offense that is not that serious?

To Inuyasha all evil come from the left and the right is always virtuous.

I hear there is a vacancy for Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service. I nominate Wendi Deng! No-one would dare commit crime in Greater London for fear of her right hook!

It's a funny thing about this - almost nobody has anything positive to say about this attack on the UK message boards. The guy has been roundly ridiculed.

I wanted to hear the Murdochs explain themselves, not watch a publicity seeking moron throw shaving foam pies. If Murdoch senior had been too distressed to continue after the assault answers would have been lost, or at least delayed until a subsequent hearing. And the Murdochs started out as the villains of the piece. To many now, Rupert is an old man who has suffered a vicious assault and is deserving of sympathy.

I'm disappointed that this moron has only been charged with public order offences and not with Contempt of Parliament.

Its not about who so much as where and when.