Rupert Murdoch resigns from newspaper boards

Strategic consolidation of remaining power, or the first very visible cracks in Rupert's facade of impervious-ness?  Raw Story:

The (U.K.) Telegraph is reporting that media mogul Rupert Murdoch has resigned from the boards of his various newspaper holdings in both the United Kingdom and the United States.



Filings with both the United Kingdom Registrar of Companies and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission indicate the resignations were made within the past week.


Though a News Corporation spokesman called Murdoch’s departure from that company board, as well as NI Group, Times Newspaper Holdings and News Corp Investments, “nothing more than a corporate housecleaning exercise prior to the company split,” there is speculation mounting that it means he and his son James, at one time mentioned as a potential successor, could be on their way out from News Corp entirely.


“James and Rupert have decided that they are not welcome in the UK, and they’re right,” said Claire Enders at Enders Analysis. “There is an enforced emotional withdrawal from these assets because they are no longer useful [in terms of influence].”

Remember:  Just because the media's not talking non-stop about Murdoch's scandal(s), doesn't mean that authorities have given up their investigation(s)..  We wish Rupert Murdoch well in his future endeavors..

Former aide says Tony Blair was pressured by Murdoch not to delay Iraq invasion

Drip, drip, drip..  More damaging allegations from Blair.  Any more bombshells, Alastair or Tony?  Please?   The Raw Story.  The Whole Thing:

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch allegedly telephoned then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair on March 11, 2003 — eight days before the U.S. invasion of Iraq — and urged him not to do anything that could delay the start of the conflict.


The allegation appears in the diaries of Blair’s former communications director, Alastair Campbell, excerpts of which have been appearing in The Guardian.

As summarized by the Associated Press, Blair told Campbell that he “felt the Murdoch call was odd, not very clever.” Both men suspected that the call “was prompted by Washington, and another example of their over-crude diplomacy.”

Blair recently admitted in testimony before Britain’s media ethics inquiry that Murdoch had phoned him three times during the run-up to the war. Murdoch himself claimed during the inquiry that he’d “never asked a prime minister for anything.”


According to the latest revelations, however, Murdoch wanted to let Blair know that his News International would support Britain if it backed the U.S. war. “Murdoch was pushing all the Republican buttons, how the longer we waited the harder it got,” Campbell wrote.

"Rosebud..  Rosebud.."  Small potatoes, really, when compared to his modern day counterpart. More to come, I'm sure..