Lloyds, RBS and Barclays take £5bn hit as stock and commodity prices plummet, while US urges Europe to be more decisive More than £5bn was wiped off the value of three of Britain’s biggest banks on Monday as global financial markets took fright at the deepening crisis in the eurozone. Stocks fell heavily in Europe and North America while gold rose to a new record of more than $1,600 (£995) an ounce amid concerns that Thursday’s emergency summit of EU leaders would once again fail to resolve the debt problems of the single currency’s weak members. Officials from eurozone countries were on Monday trying to resolve the row between Angela Merkel and the European Central Bank (ECB) over a possible Greek debt default after a day of turbulence that saw bank shares tumble in late trading. Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the ECB, is resisting pressure from the German chancellor for Greece’s private sector creditors to bear some of the losses of a default, but senior policymakers admitted that it was now vital Thursday’s talks in Brussels come up with a credible plan that will restore market confidence after shares, government bonds and commodities all suffered sharp losses. Sources said one option was to convert much of Greece’s debts into longer-term bonds, an approach used during the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s. Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays were the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100, all losing at least 6% of their value as jittery investors digested the results of Friday’s stress tests on European banks , mulled the prospect of the US
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Former NI chief executive’s husband denies bag – containing computer, paperwork and phone – belonged to his wife Detectives are examining a computer, paperwork and a phone found in a bin near the riverside London home of Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International. The Guardian has learned that a bag containing the items was found in an underground car park in the Design Centre at the exclusive Chelsea Harbour development on Monday afternoon. The car park, under a shopping centre, is yards from the gated apartment block where Brooks lives with her husband, a former racehorse trainer and close friend of the prime minister David Cameron. It is understood the bag was handed into security at around 3pm and that shortly afterwards, Brooks’s husband, Charlie, arrived and tried to reclaim it. He was unable to prove the bag was his and the security guard refused to release it. Instead, it is understood that the security guard called the police. In less than half an hour, two marked police cars and an unmarked forensics car are said to have arrived at the scene. Police are now examining CCTV footage taken in the car park to uncover who dropped the bag. Initial suspicions that there had been a break in at the Brooks’ flat have been dismissed. David Wilson, Charlie Brooks’s official spokesman, told the Guardian that Charlie Brooks denies that the bag belonged to his wife. “Charlie has a bag which contains a laptop and papers which were private to him,” said Wilson. “They were nothing to do with Rebekah or the [phone-hacking] case.” Wilson said Charlie Brooks had left the bag with a friend who was returning it, but dropped it in the wrong part of the garage. When asked how the bag ended up in a bin he replied: “The suggestion is that a cleaner thought it was rubbish and put it in the bin.” Wilson added: “Charlie was looking for it together with a couple of the building staff. “Charlie was told it had gone to security, by which stage they [security] had already called the police to say they had found something. “The police took it away. Charlie’s lawyers got in touch with the police to say they could take a look at the computer but they’d see there was nothing relevant to them on it. He’s expecting the stuff back forthwith.” Rebekah Brooks was arrested on Sunday under suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, and of corrupting police officers. She is due to appear before the Commons culture, media and sport select committee today on Tuesday afternoon. Rebekah Brooks Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers News of the World Police Amelia Hill guardian.co.uk
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Thousands of holidaymakers affected as 2,000 taxi drivers block Piraeus and Patras ports, Athens airport and tourist sites Greek taxi drivers protesting against the liberalisation of their profession – an IMF-dictated reform enacted in exchange for the debt-stricken country receiving emergency aid – caused chaos on Monday as they blocked access to ports, archaeological sites and Athens international airport. On the first day of a 48-hour strike, described as “the beginning of a battle”, cabbies took over roads, toll-booths and entries to the ports of Piraeus and Patras in a mass display of defiance against government plans to deregulate their trade. Thousands of holidaymakers visiting Greece were caught up in the mayhem. Many missed connecting flights after some 2,000 taxi drivers took over the road leading to the capital’s airport. Protesters also blocked gates to cruise ship docks preventing some 15,000 visitors from boarding coaches to see prime sites. In northern Greece, holidaymakers were also held up as drivers blocked main roads. “It’s been very trying in the baking heat,” said Mimi Skillett, a British tourist, after missing a plane connection from Athens to Skiathos. Drivers, who vowed to take to the streets on Tuesday, have been spurred into action by a government decision to open up their business by making it easier, and cheaper, to buy taxi licences. The socialist administration implemented the reform as part of efforts to liberalise over 150 “closed shop” professions blamed for stunting competition and Greece’s economic growth. With the country mired in recession, the 23,000-strong sector says its earnings have dropped precipitously. “If you had got a €200,000 [£175,000] loan to buy a car and a taxi licence according of the laws of this country … and suddenly you are told that tomorrow you will have nothing, you tell me what you would do?” Konstantinos Dimos, general secretary of the Athens taxi drivers’ association told state-run television. Under the new rules, drivers will be able to obtain licences for €3,000 compared with the €80,000 demanded previously. With some 15,000 cab owners in Athens alone, unions say there is no need for more drivers. Prime Minister George Papandreou’s government moved ahead with the controversial legislation – lawyers, architects, pharmacists and public notaries will also see their fields opening up – after Athens came under renewed pressure to expedite reforms in return for a second rescue package of loans. The new bailout is expected to be as much, if not exceed, the €110bn financial aid package Greece received last May. Similar action by truckers last year resulted in the government allowing for a respite before the new legislation took effect. Despite appeals from Greece’s culture minister Pavlos Geroulanos, who described the strike as a “huge wound for tourism” – the nation’s biggest foreign currency earner – the drivers vowed to continue their action in future. “This is another blow to the image of our country [after the riots sparked by fresh austerity measures in Athens last month],” said the Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises. “Blocking access to ports and airports creates problems for tourism, one of the main pillars of development and hope that will enable our country to get out of this crisis.” Greece Euro European debt crisis Greece IMF Travel & leisure Athens Helena Smith guardian.co.uk
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Publications omit front-page pictures, claiming three photojournalists were coerced into false confessions Several major newspapers and websites in Georgia have published their front pages without pictures in a co-ordinated protest against the arrest of three photographers accused of spying for Russia. Giorgi Abdaladze, a stringer for the Associated Press newswire; Zurab Kurtsikidze of the European Pressphoto Agency; and Irakli Gedenidze, the personal photographer of Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s president, were detained in the early hours of 7 July. All three were charged with espionage and have reportedly confessed to photographing secret documents, including details of Saakashvili’s itinerary, and selling them to Russian military intelligence. They face up to 12 years in prison in a trial due to start on 1
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Mohammed al-Rashi attends funeral of Damascus demonstrators as celebrities pick sides in fight to topple President Bashar al-Assad The Syrian TV star Mohammed al-Rashi has joined Syria’s anti-regime demonstrators just days after a group of intellectuals and artists protested in Damascus. In a video posted online the actor is seen attending a number of funerals in the Damascus neighbourhood of Qaboun, where at least 15 people were shot dead on Friday, the highest number of deaths reported in a single day in the capital since the revolt began four months ago. Rashi joins a list of stars including the actor Fares al-Heloo who have spoken out against the regime. On Wednesday 30 of about 200 actors, writers and intellectuals who protested in the Midan neighbourhood of the capital were arrested, including the leading actor May Skaf, film directors Nabil Maleh and Mohammed Malas and writer Rima Fleihan. All have since been released. But as those fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad and those supporting him seek the backing of the rich and famous, many of Syria’s celebrities have shown loyalty to the regime. The singer George Wassouf performed before thousands of people at a pro-regime concert in the central Omawiyeen Square on Sunday evening. Wassouf, one of Syria’s most famous singers who hails from a town in the governorate of Homs, is among a number of stars who have drawn fierce criticism for supporting a regime that continues to crack down brutally on protesters. The concert, described as a show of loyalty to the homeland, started with a minute of silence for the dead. Others have hedged their bets. The actor Muna Wassif, the mother of the democracy activist Ammar Abdulhamid, who runs a blog on Syria’s revolution, called in May for an end to the killing and the lifting of sieges on villages but stopped short of calling for the regime to go. In May a group of international filmmakers signed an online petition denouncing the killing of protesters for making “demands of basic rights and liberties”. Nour Ali is the pseudonym of a journalist in Damascus Syria Arab and Middle East unrest Bashar Al-Assad Protest Middle East guardian.co.uk
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Claims Crown’s lawyers failed to disclose evidence in several cases, including the Mark Kennedy environmental activism affair The Crown Prosecution Service faces a crisis following the abandonment of a series of trials after allegations of serious wrongdoing were made against its staff. Senior officials at the CPS stand accused of repeatedly failing to meet their legal obligation to disclose crucial evidence and ensure fair trials. Sir Christopher Rose, a former appeal court judge, has been appointed to lead an inquiry into claims the CPS suppressed evidence relating to the undercover police officer Mark Kennedy. His inquiry will test whether prosecutors in the Kennedy case met the fundamental obligation of disclosure, to give lawyers for the accused any evidence that could assist their defence. The Guardian can reveal that the same CPS lawyer in the east Midlands allegedly implicated in the Kennedy case has been accused of non-disclosure in two other trials. The cases – one concerning fraud, the other drugs – were abandoned in recent months after prosecutors were alleged to have withheld evidence. The development threatens to widen the controversy stemming from the Kennedy affair, which until now has focused on prosecutions of environmental campaigners. On Tuesday, 20 activists convicted of planning to break into the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station will challenge the guilty verdicts at the court of appeal. If successful, their case will be considered a shocking miscarriage of justice. Failure to disclose surveillance tapes led in January to the abandonment of a trial of six other activists, who were accused of conspiring to break into the same power station. The Ratcliffe case and the fraud and drugs trials involved the same senior CPS lawyer, Ian Cunningham. His name first came to light on 6 January, when the fraud trial at Nottingham crown court collapsed after it emerged that three defendants – Mark Taylor, Robert Sankey and Neil Lievesley – had been wrongly accused of fraud by a business partner. The three businessmen were connected to Aussie Mole, a company making pneumatic hammers for laying pipes and cables. The CPS told the judge it had dropped the case, after it realised evidence in its possession suggested the men’s business partner – the key witness – was not, as the judge put it, “a witness of truth”. Judge Andrew Hamilton demanded to know why the prosecution, costing up to £20,000 in public funds, had been mounted. “This is entirely wasted money,” he said. “Who has been responsible for wasting this money?” He added: “These three men have been in fear of being locked up. They’ve no doubt spent a pretty rotten year or more worrying about what’s going to happen to them and it’s all for no purpose.” Demanding a written explanation, the judge said he wanted to know why Cunningham had initially withheld the crucial evidence – a statement from a principal witness in the case – from defence lawyers. “It’s indefensible … this is not a police constable who doesn’t know what’s what. Mr Cunningham is a senior crown prosecuting solicitor. I just cannot fathom how he could have made such a decision.” On Monday, a CPS statement confirmed that an explanatory letter was sent to the judge on 16 February. The CPS said a key witness statement had been originally marked as being not for disclosure to the defendants. It was given to them seven months before the case was dropped, the CPS added. “Disclosure was carried out, albeit late, and a full explanation was given to the judge, which he has raised no further questions on,” the statement said. “While it is clear some aspects of the case could have been handled better, this case was not dropped due to the disclosure issues.” But the case raises serious concerns. Every criminal investigation generates masses of documents. Police and the CPS select those documents which they believe will help secure a conviction. It is a cornerstone of the justice system that prosecutors must also disclose to the lawyers working for the defendants any relevant document that would help their defence. The fraud allegations were first made against the three in 2007, but CPS officials in Derbyshire decided not to prosecute. The file was later passed to the complex case unit of the CPS, which deals with “particularly sensitive and high profile” cases. Cunningham decided to revive the prosecution as he believed the witness was credible. It was Cunningham’s name that was at the centre of controversy that erupted four days later in the same Nottinghamshire courthouse. The Kennedy case hit the headlines on 10 January , when the CPS announced it would abandon its prosecution of six climate change campaigners accused of planning to break into the Nottinghamshire power station. Prosecutors acted after it emerged that a transcript of Kennedy’s surveillance of the activists had not been disclosed to the defence. It was not until last month that the Guardian revealed police allegations that Cunningham had withheld the material from defence lawyers, leading the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, to announce an independent inquiry . That development had a domino effect on the third abandoned trial in which the CPS has been accused of suppressing evidence. Details of that trial cannot be reported for legal reasons, but it involved accusations of conspiring to supply drugs. Before the prosecution opened its case, defence lawyers lodged an “abuse of process” application, calling for the charges to be cast aside. The complaints involved concerns that the defendants would not get a fair trial because police and prosecutors, including Cunningham, had failed to disclose important evidence. Defence lawyers wanted to know why Cunningham, one of two CPS officials running the prosecution, had decided not to disclose the evidence – questioning whether he had been misled, behaved dishonestly or simply not looked at the documents. The dispute resulted in Cunningham having to attend court where, under cross-examination, he told a judge he had not handed material to the defence because he wanted to give himself more time to consider the question. In his ruling, the judge found there were some failings in the disclosure process, but he rejected the application – essentially ruling in favour of Cunningham and the police. That decision was overtaken when lawyers for the defendants arrived in court with copies of the Guardian, which contained details of allegations against Cunningham in the Kennedy case. The judge first adjourned the hearing while he read the articles and then cancelled the trial. A new jury will be sworn in, after the Rose inquiry has determined whether Cunningham was at fault in the Kennedy case. A CPS spokesman said: “There have been no findings against Ian Cunningham at this stage. We await the outcome of the independent inquiry into the Ratcliffe-on-Soar case.” Mark Kennedy Activism UK criminal justice Keir Starmer Police Surveillance Rob Evans Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk
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Death of Sean Hoare – who was first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson knew of hacking – not being treated as suspicious Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbiz reporter who was the first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff, has been found dead, the Guardian has learned. Hoare, who worked on the Sun and the News of the World with Coulson before being dismissed for drink and drugs problems, is said to have been found dead at his Watford home. Hertfordshire police would not confirm his identity, but the force said in a statement: “At 10.40am today [Monday 18 July] police were called to Langley Road, Watford, following the concerns for the welfare of a man who lives at an address on the street. Upon police and ambulance arrival at a property, the body of a man was found. The man was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after. “The death is currently being treated as unexplained, but not thought to be suspicious. Police investigations into this incident are ongoing.” Hoare first made his claims in a New York Times investigation into the phone-hacking allegations at the News of the World. He told the newspaper that not only did Coulson know of the phone hacking, but that he actively encouraged his staff to intercept the phone calls of celebrities in the pursuit of exclusives. In a subsequent interview with the BBC he alleged that he was personally asked by his then-editor, Coulson, to tap into phones. In an interview with the PM programme he said Coulson’s insistence that he didn’t know about the practice was “a lie, it is simply a lie”. At the time a Downing Street spokeswoman said Coulson totally and utterly denied the allegations and said he had “never condoned the use of phone hacking and nor do I have any recollection of incidences where phone hacking took place”. Sean Hoare, a one-time close friend of Coulson’s, told the New York Times the two men first worked together at the Sun, where, Hoare said, he played tape recordings of hacked messages for Coulson. At the News of the World, Hoare said he continued to inform Coulson of his activities. Coulson “actively encouraged me to do it”, Hoare said. In September last year, he was interviewed under caution by police over his claims that the former Tory communications chief asked him to hack into phones when he was editor of the paper, but declined to make any comment. Hoare returned to the spotlight last week, after he told the New York Times that reporters at the News of the World were able to use police technology to locate people using their mobile phone signals in exchange for payments to police officers. He said journalists were able to use a technique called “pinging” which measured the distance between mobile handsets and a number of phone masts to pinpoint its location. Hoare gave further details about the use of “pinging” to the Guardian last week. He described how reporters would ask a news desk executive to obtain the location of a target: “Within 15 to 30 minutes someone on the news desk would come back and say ‘right that’s where they are.’” He said: “You’d just go to the news desk and they’d just come back to you. You don’t ask any questions. You’d consider it a job done. The chain of command is one of absolute discipline and that’s why I never bought into it, like with Andy saying he wasn’t aware of it and all that. That’s bollocks.” He said he would stand by everything he had told the New York Times about “pinging”. “I don’t know how often it happened. That would be wrong of me. But if I had access as a humble reporter … ” He admitted he had had problems with drink and drugs and had been in rehab. “But that’s irrelevant,” he said. “There’s more to come. This is not going to go away.” Hoare named a private investigator who he said had links with the News of the World, adding: “He may want to talk now because I think what you’ll find now is a lot of people are going to want to cover their arse.” Speaking to another Guardian journalist last week, Hoare repeatedly expressed the hope that the hacking scandal would lead to journalism in general being cleaned up and said he had decided to blow the whistle on the activities of some of his former News of the World colleagues with that aim in mind. He also said he had been injured the previous weekend while taking down a marquee erected for a children’s party. He said he had broken his nose and badly injured his foot when a relative accidentally struck him with a heavy pole from the marquee. Hoare also emphasised that he was not making any money from telling his story. Hoare, who has been treated for drug and alcohol problems, reminisced about partying with former pop stars and said he missed the days when he was able to go out on the town. Phone hacking News of the World Andy Coulson News International Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Amelia Hill James Robinson Caroline Davies guardian.co.uk
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Tehran bars special rapporteur Ahmad Shaheed, accusing countries responsible for his appointment of hypocrisy Iran has announced that it will not permit the UN special rapporteur assigned with investigating its record of human rights to enter the country. Ahmad Shaheed, the former Maldivian foreign affairs minister, was appointed by the UN in June to look into human rights violations in Iran, leading to much criticism from the regime in Tehran. According to the Tehran Times, the state English-language newspaper, Mohammad Javad Larijani, Iran’s secretary general of the high council for human rights, said: “The western-engineered appointment of a special rapporteur for Iran is an illegal measure.” Larijani – whose brothers Ali and Sadegh Larijani are Iran’s speaker of the parliament and head of the judiciary – added: “This unilateral action makes no sense and if they want to send a special rapporteur to Iran, they should take the same measure in the case of other countries.” Shaheed’s appointment was the result of concerted warnings by various human rights organisations against Iran’s current record of human rights. In recent years, rights groups have expressed concerns over the arbitrary arrests of political activists, the sharp rise in the country’s rate of execution and claims of torture and rape inside Iran’s prisons. According to the organisations that have been monitoring Iran, in the first six months of this year an average of almost two people a day were executed. Dozens of journalists, several lawyers, political activists, members of different ethnic minorities and many political figures remain in jail with poor legal representation and little access to the outside world. In his remarks about Shaheed, Larijani objected that the countries behind the appointment of the special rapporteur had remained silent over the human rights issues surrounding “Guantánamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, and Israeli jails”. “Iran has no problem with the individual who has been appointed as the special rapporteur, but the appointment of a rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran is unacceptable and Iran will not accept the decision,” he added. In a separate incident, Iran claimed on Monday that its revolutionary guards had dismantled an Iranian Kurdish opposition group based in Iraq after an operation inside Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region in the past two days that left many dead on both sides. A week ago, Iran warned that it would take military action against the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, a Kurdish rebel group based in Iraq, which Iranian officials have labelled a “terrorist organisation”. Iran United Nations Human rights Saeed Kamali Dehghan guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media A recent Gallup poll had Texas Gov. Rick Perry trailing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 4 percent to 13 percent among Republican voters. But the hosts of Fox & Friends said Sunday that Perry would have an advantage if he decides to get in the race because Romney is “obviously not a Christian.” “Only 13 percent of those people said Mitt Romney is their guy,” noted Fox News host Dave Briggs. “It looks perfect for someone like Rick Perry to get in.” “Well the Christian coalition, I think he could get a lot of money from that,” host Ainsley Earhardt predicted. “Because Romney, obviously not being a Christian — Rick Perry, he’s always on talk shows — on Christian talk shows. He has days of prayer in Texas.” “And Tony Perkins, the Family Research Council president, very well known in the Christian community. He is endorsing the governor, saying he hopes he gets in,” she added. In fact, Romney does consider himself a Christian. “There is one fundamental question about which I often am asked,” Romney said in 2007 . What do I believe about Jesus Christ?” “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind.”
Continue reading …Les Hinton Resigns: Wall Street Journal Publisher, Top Murdoch Ally Out Over Phone Hacking
July 18, 2011 No Comment
Les Hinton—a longtime ally and confidante of Rupert Murdoch, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal and the CEO of Dow Jones—is resigning, the paper reported Friday. His resignation is effective immediately. He becomes just the latest corporate casualty of the phone hacking crisis which has engulfed Murdoch’s News Corp. Hinton was the head of Murdoch’s British newspaper division, News International, from 1995 to 2007—the period in which employees illegally hacked into thousands of peoples’ voicemails. He has also been at Murdoch’s side for 52 years, since he was just 15 years old. His departure came on the same day that the current head of News International, Rebekah Brooks, also resigned. It leaves Murdoch’s son James as the last major figure connected directly to the scandal-scarred division (he runs News Corp’s European and Asian holdings) not to relinquish his position. The resignations also came during a day when Murdoch and News Corp moved aggressively to strike a new tone of contrition—a contrast with Murdoch’s previously cagey, combative manner. The company took out ads in British papers apologizing profusely for the misconduct at the News of the World, and Murdoch met with the family of Milly Dowler, the murdered girl whose voicemail was hacked into by the tabloid’s employees. Click here for a complete, fully updated timeline of the hacking scandal. Hinton’s troubles stemmed from his tenure as News International CEO, as well as his testimony about it to the House of Commons. In two separate appearances before the Parliament, Hinton insisted that he was “absolutely convinced” that just one reporter in the News International organization was responsible for hacking. His resignation had been widely expected; it was assumed that he could not credibly continue as the Journal’s publisher in the wake of the hacking scandal and the accusations that he had mislead Parliament. In a letter to staffers, Hinton said it was a “deeply, deeply sad day” for him, and praised Rupert Murdoch’s “brilliant leadership” of News Corp, which owns the Journal. Hinton also sent a letter to Murdoch, in which he directly addressed his reasons for resigning. “I have seen hundreds of news reports of both actual and alleged misconduct during the time I was executive chairman of News International and responsible for the company,” he wrote. “The pain caused to innocent people is unimaginable. That I was ignorant of what apparently happened is irrelevant and in the circumstances I feel it is proper for me to resign from News Corp, and apologize to those hurt by the actions of the News of the World.” Murdoch himself issued a statement about the resignation, which he said he had accepted with “the heaviest of hearts.” He wrote that he and Hinton had been on “a remarkable journey together for more than 52 years,” and stressed that “News Corporation is not Rupert Murdoch. It is the collective creativity and effort of many thousands of people around the world, and few individuals have given more to this company than Les Hinton.” Even with Hinton’s departure, major problems still remain for Murdoch and News Corp. James Murdoch, who is deeply implicated in the hacking scandal thanks to his admission that he signed off on huge out-of-court payments to the victims of phone hacking, is by no means safe in his position, and there are even rumblings that Murdoch himself may have to step down as CEO of News Corp. In addition, the company is rumored to be thinking about selling off News International entirely. News Corp also faces severe political pressure on two continents. The two Murdochs, as well as Rebekah Brooks, are set to appear before a decidedly unfriendly Parliamentary committee on Tuesday to give evidence about the scandal. In the United States, the FBI is conducting an investigation into allegations that News of the World employees attempted to hack the phones of 9/11 victims. Below, read the memos from Hinton, Rupert Murdoch and Robert Thomson. Hinton’s memo: Dear all, Many of you will be aware by now that I resigned today from Dow Jones and News Corp. I attach below my resignation letter to Rupert Murdoch. It is a deeply, deeply sad day for me. I want you all to know the pride and pleasure I have taken working at Dow Jones for the past three-and-a-half years. I have never been with better, more dedicated people, or had more fun in a job. News Corp under Rupert’s brilliant leadership has proved a fitting parent of Dow Jones, allowing us to invest and expand as other media companies slashed costs. This support enabled us together to strengthen the company during a brutal economic downturn, developing fine new products – not to mention one of the world’s great newspapers led by one of the world’s great editors, my dear friend and colleague Robert Thomson. However difficult this moment is for me, I depart with the certain knowledge that we have built the momentum to take Dow Jones on to ever greater things. Good luck to you all and thank you. Les *** Dear Rupert, I have watched with sorrow from New York as the News of the World story has unfolded. I have seen hundreds of news reports of both actual and alleged misconduct during the time I was executive chairman of News International and responsible for the company. The pain caused to innocent people is unimaginable. That I was ignorant of what apparently happened is irrelevant and in the circumstances I feel it is proper for me to resign from News Corp, and apologize to those hurt by the actions of the News of the World. When I left News International in December 2007, I believed that the rotten element at the News of the World had been eliminated; that important lessons had been learned; and that journalistic integrity was restored. My testimonies before the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee were given honestly. When I appeared before the Committee in March 2007, I expressed the belief that Clive Goodman had acted alone, but made clear our investigation was continuing. In September 2009, I told the Committee there had never been any evidence delivered to me that suggested the conduct had spread beyond one journalist. If others had evidence that wrongdoing went further, I was not told about it. Finally, I want to express my gratitude to you for a wonderful working life. My admiration and respect for you are unbounded. You have built a magnificent business since I first joined 52 years ago and it has been an honor making my contribution. With my warmest best wishes, Les Murdoch’s memo: To Dow Jones employees, You will have just heard that I, with the heaviest of hearts, have accepted the resignation of Les Hinton. It is a measure of his integrity and the quality of his character that he felt compelled to take responsibility even though he is far from the serious issues in London. Les and I have been on a remarkable journey together for more than 52 years. That this passage has come to an unexpected end, professionally, not personally, is a matter of much sadness to me. I vividly recall an enthusiastic young man in the offices of my first newspaper in Adelaide, where Les joined the company as a 15-year-old and had the rather unenviable task of buying me sandwiches for lunch. It was clear then that Les was a remarkable talent, and that he had the ability and the energy to carry him far. Little did we both realize that we would be travel companions on a journey through the world of magazines, Hollywood, television studios, coupons and the greatest newspapers on the globe. Little did we realize that our corporate relationship would end in these circumstances. Through all of his many jobs he has displayed leadership – and that leadership has enabled us to make remarkable progress at the Dow Jones company while our competitors have been flailing because of structural change and economic crisis. Three and a half years ago, when I stood atop boxes of photocopy paper in the rather dowdy offices of the old Dow Jones, there was no doubt some apprehension among the staff about the new management. No amount of reassurance or cajoling can convince a person to respect another – respect only comes through the reality of day-after-day contact. Respect is earned not granted. Les has earned the respect of all at Dow Jones, both for the way he conducts himself and for the way he has conducted the company. On this difficult day we should appreciate that his extraordinary work has provided a platform for the future success of Dow Jones. And his great contribution to News Corporation over more than five decades has enhanced innumerable lives, whether those of employees hired by him or of readers better informed because of him. Let me emphasize one point – News Corporation is not Rupert Murdoch. It is the collective creativity and effort of many thousands of people around the world, and few individuals have given more to this company than Les Hinton. Thomson’s Memo: Before Les transformed the company, there were plans afoot for hundreds of editorial layoffs and Dow Jones was at the mercy of management consultants. In the most turbulent of times for “old” media, Les steered us back into profitability and made us a digital force around the world. There will be a certain amount of uncertainty in the coming days, but we should all be clear that, as Dow Jones journalists, we owe Les an enormous and irredeemable debt.
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