News Corp to be challenged by Tom Watson over ‘surveillance’

Murdochs face ranks of investor critics at LA event as Labour MP claims type of snooping distinct from hacking Tom Watson, the Labour MP who has been a leading figure in parliament’s investigation into the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, plans to make dramatic allegations about News Corporation’s use of surveillance at the company’s annual shareholder meeting. Watson, who sits on the Commons culture, media and sport committee which has investigated the scandal, said he would be giving News Corp’s shareholders details of previously undisclosed surveillance methods used by the firm that were technologically quite distinct from the phone hacking carried out by NoW staff. He refused to go into details about the allegations he would be making or to offer any evidence to corroborate them. He said: “I want to leave investors in no doubt that News Corporation is not through the worst of this yet and there are more questions for the Murdochs to answer.” Watson has flown to Los Angeles to attend the shareholders meeting, which he will gain access to having been given a proxy vote by the US trade union umbrella group, the AFL-CIO. News Corporation is bracing itself for independent shareholders to vote in considerable numbers at the meeting against the reappointment of Rupert Murdoch and his sons, James and Lachlan, in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal. The scale of the protest outside the Murdoch family is expected to be substantially over 20% of independent shareholders, with several expected to raise questions at the meeting at Fox studios. But their protest will not be enough to topple the family, because Rupert Murdoch controls 40% of the voting shares. Nevertheless, before the meeting there were clear signs of tension at the upper levels of News Corp, with particular emphasis on security at the event and worries about what sort of tone the 80-year-old media mogul will strike in front of those who, alongside him, have a stake in the empire he built. Murdoch’s opening address is expected to show less of the contrition than in London in July, when he told MPs: “This the most humble day of my life.” Instead he is expected to strike a more combative tone, although there are worries that this will alienate some investors and outsiders. The language is understood to reflect the sentiments expressed 10 days ago in a stock exchange filing in which News Corp, in response to the growing army of concerned shareholders, accused its critics of having a “disproportionate focus on the News of the World matter” which

Posted by on October 21, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.