News Corp: I See The Bad Moon Arising

That's if you can see it through all the gloom, because there is an ever increasing cloud of it hanging over Rupert and friends.


I see the bad moon arising.
I see trouble on the way.
I see earthquakes and lightnin'.
I see bad times today.

(CHORUS:)
Don't go around tonight,
Well, it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise.

I hear hurricanes ablowing.
I know the end is coming soon.
I fear rivers over flowing.
I hear the voice of rage and ruin.

Hope you got your things together.
Hope you are quite prepared to die.
Looks like we're in for nasty weather.
One eye is taken for an eye.

News Corp shareholders renew call for Rupert Murdoch to step down

Calls for Murdoch to be replaced are reignited following James Murdoch's resignation from British pay-TV giant BSkyB
Dominic Rushe
3 April 2012

Shareholder activists have renewed their call for Rupert Murdoch to quit as chairman of News Corporation, as the company faces fresh turmoil with the resignation of his son James Murdoch as chairman of its British pay-TV giant.

Christian Brothers Investment Services (CBIS), which allied a massive vote against Rupert Murdoch, his sons and several of his appointed directors last year, calls for him to be replaced with an independent director.

In last year's vote, James Murdoch emerged as the least popular director with shareholders: 67% of the votes not controlled by the Murdoch family went against him.

This year's resolution, filed shortly before James Murdoch stepped down at BSkyB, says the phone-hacking scandal has placed News Corp in peril. It reads: "This pervasive and continuing scandal has led to an erosion of public confidence, helped to scuttle a critical business acquisition, and threatened the journalistic reputation and viability of News Corporation's UK publications. It also has made clear the need for independent board leadership to steer the company through a process of reform," says the resolution.

Julie Tanner, assistant director at CBIS, said Rupert Murdoch had to take responsibility for News Corp's continuing woes following the hacking scandal at his UK newspapers that has led to dozens of arrests and the closure of the News of the World.

"This is a situation that has to be dealt with from the top. This company has a long history of corporate governance concerns and it is no surprise that it has been unable to deal with this scandal as it has happened," she said.

Tanner said James Murdoch's resignation at BSkyB, which is controlled by News Corp through its 39.1% stake, was not enough and that it was unacceptable that he was staying on as a nonexecutive director at the broadcaster. "He should be removed," she said.

Rupert Murdoch and News Corp's chief operating officer Chase Carey issued a statement after James Murdoch's resignation in which they praised his work at BSkyB and said they looked forward to "James' continued substantial contributions at News Corporation."

Michael Wolff, author of Murdoch biography The Man Who Owns The News, said there was now immense pressure on James to resign from News Corp. "But he hasn't shown much inclination to go," he said. "James is worried the company will sell him out. What's going on now is that James wants to stay out of jail."

Father Seamus Finn, shareholder activist at Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, said shareholders were concerned by James Murdoch's ongoing problems and his recent resignations from board positions at Sotheby's, GlaxoSmithKline and now BSkyB.

Finn clashed with Rupert Murdoch at last year's AGM. "You're suggesting I'm a very bad person," Murdoch told Finn when the investor quizzed him about the hacking scandal.

"I can see that he wants to protect his son but this goes way beyond anything that shareholders can swallow," said Finn. Gruniad

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