Two months ago, it was revealed that the NY State Department of Education had awarded a $27 million, no-bid contract to a company owned by News Corp., which seemed especially convenient because former NYC School Chancellor Joel Klein had joined News Corp. to head its growing student technology division. Alas, the lurid phone hacking scandal at a News Corp. tabloid has made the Empire State powers that be rethink things, as State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced last week the state was dropping the deal. more ›

As Britain continues to deal with fallout from the News Corp. phone hacking scandal, which includes illegally accessing celebrities, murder victims' and others' voicemails as well as bribing police officers, Prime Minister David Cameron apparently wants a famous New York City law-and-order type to clean house... but former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton's American citizenship is standing in the way! more ›

When Joel "Numbnuts" Klein left his position as New York City's school chancellor last fall to become a senior VP at News Corp's reeducation eduction division, he "seemed happier than ever before." According to the Times, Klein received $4.5 million in compensation this year, gets a monthly car allowance of $1,200, and Rupert Murdoch promised to spend up to $1 billion on the newly formed educational wing of News Corp to fund Klein's visions. But thanks to the phone-hacking scandal that is tearing through Murdoch's media empire, Klein is charged with conducting an internal investigation of News Corp. "I am trying to get as far away from this as I can," he reportedly told a friend. more ›

If there's one person to somehow look good from the disgusting News Corp. phone hacking scandal, it's Rupert Murdoch's third wife Wendi Deng Murdoch. She jumped to defend her 80-year-old husband who was the target of a shaving cream pie-holding prankster Jonathan May-Bowles (aka Jonnie Marbles), apparently slapping the man and even turning the tables on him. The Guardian reports, "Deng lunged while startled police officers were barely off the back foot. While a roomful of male advisers also appeared stunned, she scooped up the paper plate fired at her husband and launched it like a grenade back at May-Bowles, a comedian, with an amazing right hook. Such was the force of her shot that the foam directed at her husband's face landed on a police officer and on her own blue-painted toes." more ›

One of the Wall Street Journal's favorite hypocrites, The NY Times, has an interesting column from media reporter David Carr that brought up News Corp.'s newspaper insert business, News America, and how the company has "has paid out about $655 million to make embarrassing charges of corporate espionage and anticompetitive behavior go away." In particular, Carr recalled a detail from a Forbes profile of former News America head—and current NY Post publisher—Paul Carlucci and how he would motivate the sales team: more ›

Former News of the World reporter and News Corp whistleblower Sean Hoare was found dead at his home earlier today. In an investigation last year of the phone-hacking scandal that has engulfed News Corp, Hoare told the New York Times that Prime Minister David Cameron's aide and former editor of the News of the World, Andy Coulson, "was fully aware of the hacking" that was going on at the tabloid. The Guardian reports that the police are stating that Hoare's death is "being treated as unexplained, but not thought to be suspicious." more ›

Today the typically ludicrous Wall Street Journal editorial page stands up for its boss Rupert Murdoch, whose empire is sinking into an ever-expanding scandal morass. (Over the weekend, the Times summed it up best with the incredible headline: "Taint From Tabloids Rubs Off on a Cozy Scotland Yard"—"Taint" since discreetly changed to "Stain"). The Journal's editorials and op-eds are renowned for their cartoonish "THE BUMS LOST!" ranting, and today's entry is particularly roaring, as the paper frames the News Corp. scandal as an assault on "press freedom in general": more ›

The leader of London's Metropolitan Police Services, better known as Scotland Yard, resigned today. Sir Paul Stephenson stated that his job was "in danger of being eclipsed by the ongoing debate by senior offices and the media. And this can never be right." Revelations that the police agency failed to thoroughly investigate the tabloid News of the World for its part in the phone-hacking scandal, and that Scotland Yard was a "revolving door" for News Corp employees, who in some cases paid police officers for confidential information, have deeply tarnished the institution in recent days. more ›

Rebekah Brooks, who resigned leading from News Corp's British newspaper division on Friday, was arrested today over her role in the company's growing phone-hacking scandal. And the British authorities arrested her "by appointment" at a London police station. more ›

In the wake of News Corp's phone-hacking scandal that has forced the closure of a British tabloid and the resignations of two of Rupert Murdoch's most trusted deputies, lawmakers in the US have called on authorities to investigate the American wing of the company that owns The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal and FOX Broadcasting Company. Now, according to CNN, US Attorney General Eric Holder says he will look into allegations that the shuttered British paper, News of the World, attempted to hack into 9/11 victim's phones. "There have been members of Congress in the United State who have asked us to investigate those same allegations," Holder told reporters, "And we are progressing in the right regard using the appropriate federal agencies in the United States." more ›

Les Hinton, the chairman of Dow Jones and one of Rupert Murdoch's most trusted confidants, stepped down today amid the burgeoning hacking scandal at News Corp that has extinguished the British tabloid News of The World, forced News Corp's British subsidiary president (and Murdoch favorite) Rebekah Brooks out of office, and spurred an FBI investigation of the company. As the Guardian reports, Brooks's resignation "removed a human shield" from Hinton, as he held her former position at the time when some of the more appalling activity occurred. The Dow Jones publishes The Wall Street Journal, and the paper has walked a fine line in covering the scandal, with the Times's Bill Keller telling the Daily Beast, "I think the Journal has played it pretty much down the middle." more ›

Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of News Corp.'s British newspaper division, resigned today as the phone hacking scandal fallout continues to boil in the United Kingdom and has started to simmer in the U.S. The departure of Brooks, who was once the editor of now-closed tabloid The News of the World whose reporters allegedly hacked the phones of celebrities, politicians, murder victims, dead soldiers, and, possibly, 9/11 victims, as well as bribed police, is called a "another stunning blow to [Rupert] Murdoch’s once all-powerful empire" by the NY Times. And Times competitor, the News Corp.-owned Wall Street Journal, reports, "Ms. Brooks's resignation is the latest development in what has been a dramatic series of events." more ›

The increasingly sensational scandal enveloping media mogul Rupert Murdoch just made it all the way to the F.B.I. The AP reports, and Murdoch's Wall Street Journal confirms, that the feds have launched an investigation into whether The News of the World tried to hack into the phones of 9/11 victims. The probe was launched this morning, a day after Rep. Peter King joined Democrats in calling for an investigation. Jim McCaffrey, a firefighter who lost his brother-in-law Orio Palmer, also a firefighter, on 9/11, told The Guardian, "If these claims are found to be true I think it's a terrible revelation and very, very upsetting to 9/11 family members." more ›

News Corp.'s British phone hacking scandal, which has revolted Britain and the world with revelations that tabloid reporters hacked the phones of murder victims, and possibly 9/11 victims, as well as politicians and celebrities, is now at the government "contempt" stage: Because chairman Rupert Murdoch and his son, James, who heads the conglomerate's British newspaper division, have refused to come before Parliament to answer lawmakers' questions, the media executives have now been issued summons to appear or else they will be held in contempt. And now American lawmakers, including Republican Congressman Peter King, wants the FBI to investigate! more ›

Following the closure of News Corp-owned British tabloid News of the World after revelations that the paper hacked the cell phones of 9/11 victims, murder victims and dead soldiers, Rupert Murdoch has withdrawn the company's $12 billion bid to take over British Sky Broadcasting, the largest satellite broadcasting company in Britain. In a statement, News Corp's deputy chairman said, "We believed that the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corporation would benefit both companies but it has come clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate." more ›

The phone hacking scandal that shut down media mogul Rupert Murdoch's tabloid The News of the World gave The Daily Show plenty of material last night—and this rotten fruit is hanging so low that Jon Stewart and John Oliver didn't have to do much more than simply go through the revolting facts of the case, as Stewart pretended to throw up in his mouth. Some jokes just write themselves, and if you haven't been following along with this yet, the segment serves as a pretty thorough primer on the whole sordid mess: more ›

The UK tabloid The Mirror is obviously thrilled at the scandal that sunk Rupert Murdoch's century-and-a-half old weekly The News of the World, which folded over the weekend after it was revealed, among other things, that employees of the paper allegedly hacked the phone of a missing teenager who was later found murdered. Now The Mirror is reporting that the phone hacking scandal nearly jumped the pond when reporters at The News of the World allegedly tried to buy the personal information of 9/11 victims who died in the attack on the World Trade Center. more ›

A phone hacking scandal—which has mushroomed from hacking celebrities' cell phones to revelations that murder victims' and dead soliders' phone were also hacked and cops were paid off—at a Rupert Murdoch-owned British tabloid, News of the World, has proven so troubling that the weekly will shut down after Sunday. News International announced the impending closure today, and chairman James Murdoch, Rupert's son, said the proceeds from the final issue would go to good causes. more ›

It isn't just the New York City Department of Education that has some suspicious and very expensive contracts, the New York State Department of Education has some curious deals of its own. Like the $27 million no-bid contract the Daily News reports on which was recently given to a News Corp. company that just happens to be overseen by former city Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. Nothing fishy about that at all! more ›

Back in 2007, former Harper Collins editor Judith Regan filed $100 million lawsuit against Harper Collins and its parent company, News Corp, for defamation. She accused a Fox News executive of telling her to lie to federal investigators while they investigated former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik (who is now in prison) because news of her affair with Kerik would hurt Rudy Giuliani's presidential chances. And now it seems like the executive she was referring to was Fox News chairman Roger Ailes. more ›

Now that Cathie Black has taken her controversial place as head of the city's schools, former Chancellor Joel Klein is getting ready to start his new job at News Corp. And it's becoming clearer why he left. Though he claims he had vowed to leave after two terms, and the media claims there were growing tensions with Bloomberg, Reuters is reporting that Klein could make upwards of $4.5 million at his new job, as opposed to $250,000 a year as Chancellor. However, most of that is bonuses; he'll have to scrape by on just $2 million/year in base salary. more ›

In the grudge match between Harper Collins and Gawker, it seems that the mystical power of Mama Grizzly #1 has won out (though it's not omnipotent). The blog raised the ire of former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin when it published scanned pages from her new book (claiming it was fair use), then removed them by court order, and, now, has agreed to not re-post them. The book publisher said in a statement, "HarperCollins is gratified that it was able to resolve the dispute in this way. HarperCollins does welcome public commentary on its books so long as any book content is utilized in a manner that is consistent with the law." more ›

Gawker had to refudiate its position of publishing excerpts from Sarah Palin's upcoming book after a court issued an injunction, forcing the gossip blog to take down the post (here's the "Page not found"). Still, as MediaDecoder points out, there's still Google Cache. more ›

This morning, now-former Schools Chancellor Joel Klein appeared on Good Day New York to speak about moving to News Corp., Fox's parent company, and about what he did for schools in the past eight years. Klein said his legacy "was a shift from a system that was based on power, politics and paralysis to one that's based on performance and progress." It's no secret that Klein butted heads with teachers unions and fought for things like charter schools, but was he a successful Chancellor? There are some mixed feelings about this. more ›