Tag Archives: corporate diplomacy

Last night I was asked on BBC’s Newsnight, its influential current affairs television program, what Rupert Murdoch should do wearing his corporate diplomat hat given he’s now being pursued by a high-profile range of interested parties — UK Parliament’s Culture/Media/Sport select committee, London’s Metropolitan Police and the FBI who all are very interested in the extent of his company’s phone hacking and police bribery practices.  Is Rupert Murdoch’s defiance going to be seen as a Tony Hayward moment, the former BP executive wanting his life back? Clearly his newspaper brands in the US and UK have a lot more defending to do, with the mere whiff of wrongdoing taking the shine off both News International’s share price and the levels of trust in its brands.  The UK impact of this drama hopefully will result in not only a change in the privacy laws and regulation of the media, but will shine a bright light on the nature of British news media ownership and the dysfunctions that imbalances of market power bring.  Stay tuned!