Billionare Rupert Murdoch Plays Down His Political Pull
Rupert Murdoch faced rare public scrutiny about his relationships with elected officials on Wednesday concerning a political firestorm cascading over the British government’s ties to Rupert Murdoch media empire, , and sought to deflect suggestions that he tried to use his links to powerful public figures to further corporate commercial
Rupert Murdoch appearance at the so-called Leveson inquiry came a day after testimony implicated a senior cabinet minister, or at least an aide claiming to speak for him, in a covert effort to win approval for Mr. Murdoch’s company’s $12 billion bid to take over the BSkyB network. The aide involved in the negotiations, Adam Smith, said on Wednesday that he was resigning.
A trove of e-mails, released at the same inquiry on Tuesday, pointed to hand-in-glove collaboration between a lobbyist for Mr. Murdoch’s News Corporation and the office of Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt, the official designated to pass judgment on the Murdoch proposal for full control of BSkyB.
But during a raucous and confrontational session of Parliament on Wednesday, Mr. Hunt rejected opposition calls for his resignation and denied that he had acted improperly in his dealings with Mr. Murdoch.
He also assailed the Labor opposition over its own ties to Mr. Murdoch, particularly those of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, underscoring the importance that successive British administrations have attached to securing the endorsement of Mr. Murdoch’s tabloid daily, The Sun, for their electoral aspirations.
The BSkyB deal, which would have crowned Mr. Murdoch’s 60-year media career, was scuttled last year as the scandal over illicit phone hacking at his British newspapers exploded, and now appears out of his reach for years, if not permanently.
In opening testimony on Wednesday, Mr. Murdoch was not pressed on those negotiations. Instead, he was invited to respond to questions dating back over his longtime interests in the British press, his philosophy of management and his relationship with politicians.
The government’s lead attorney for the inquiry, Robert Jay, pursued a chronological line of questioning beginning with Mr. Murdoch’s entry into the British newspaper market in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Much of the questioning centered on meetings with British political leaders and the pledges Mr. Murdoch had made not to influence his newspapers’ editorial policies.
He acknowledged meetings, dinners and shared quips with a series of prime ministers, but sought to dismiss suggestions that he wielded any influence.
“I don’t know many politicians,” he said, on one of many occasions when he denied accusations from Mr. Jay that his newspapers supported politicians whose policies might offer him some commercial benefit. As to suggestions that his power might be more subtle than such obvious exchanges, he responded, “I’m afraid I don’t have much subtlety about me.”
Mr. Murdoch, 81, appeared to be energetic and alert, jogging to his desk at the end of one short break, and keen to dispute assertions with which he did not agree.
He testified under oath like other witnesses at the inquiry, identifying himself by his full name, Keith Rupert Murdoch. On occasion, he seemed laconic and cautious in his responses to Mr. Jay, mildly disputing suggestions that he ran his companies as a charismatic figure. “Aura? Charisma? I don’t think so,” he said.
He said he welcomed the opportunity to appear at the inquiry to “put some myths to bed.”
The initial questioning went back as far as Mr. Murdoch’s relationship with former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher while he was acquiring leading British newspapers, including The Times of London, in 1981. But Mr. Murdoch seemed eager to rebut accusations that he had sought political cover for his entry into the British newspaper market.
“I have never asked a prime minister for anything,” Mr. Murdoch said. “I did not expect any help from her. Nor did I ask for any.”
“I never let my commercial interests enter into any political considerations in elections,” he said.
Once he had acquired The Times of London and its stable mate, The Sunday Times, Mr. Murdoch said he never gave instructions to the editors of his British publications. The Murdoch newspapers in Britain also include The Sun and the now defunct News of the World, a Sunday tabloid that Mr. Murdoch closed in July as it emerged as the epicenter of the hacking scandal.
Mr. Murdoch said he “did not have enough to do with The News of the World. That was my fault.”Rating: 4.5