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<p>Rupert Murdoch, New Corp. chief executive... took to Twitter on Sunday to weigh in on the breakup of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.</p> <p>"Scientology back in news," Murdoch tweeted. "Very weird cult, but big, big money involved with Tom Cruise either number two or three in [hierarchy]."</p>

Tony Blair's decision to openly court Rupert Murdoch to win power and ensure favorable coverage during his decade-long tenure as British prime minister will come under scrutiny when he faces a media inquiry on Monday. The inquiry, ordered by Prime Minister David Cameron after Murdoch's now defunct News of the World tabloid admitted hacking phones, has tarnished Britain's elite by laying bare the collusion between politicians, the police and the media. Blair kicks off an important week at the Leveson inquiry by answering questions about his often obsessive media management which included courting Murdoch. The inquiry has so far focused...

The New York Times really loathes Rupert Murdoch. The Gray Lady almost achieved nirvana on the front page the other day when a group of laborites in the British Parliament asserted in a "damning report" that Murdoch was "not fit" for major media ownership. Bill Keller, recently the paper's executive editor, devoted his latest column to Fox News with the headline "Murdoch's Pride Is America's Poison." The man who edited The New York Times is blunt: "I would argue that -- at least for Americans -- Fox News is Murdoch's most toxic legacy." If that's not ridiculous enough, try this:...

Ethics watchdog asks FCC to revoke Fox's broadcast licenses By Andrew Feinberg - 05/02/12 09:56 AM ET An ethics watchdog group is using the hacking scandal in the United Kingdom to call on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to cancel Fox's broadcast licenses. The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government (CREW) sent a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on Tuesday, arguing that U.S. law states that broadcast airwaves shall only be licensed to people of "good character" and used "in the public interest." They're asking the FCC to revoke broadcast licenses for the 27 stations the Fox network...

Rupert Murdoch is used to slipping into Downing Street by the back door for discreet meetings with prime ministers, but there was no such privacy on Wednesday when he faced a grilling about his political influence in the full glare of the world's media. … Questioned under oath at a judicial inquiry prompted by revelations of endemic phone-hacking at his News of the World tabloid, which he shut down last July, Murdoch gave a confident performance in which he amiably played down the power he holds. If his enemies had hoped to see him squirm under the forensic questioning of...

- During a meeting with 18 Delaware Tea Party leaders here on Wednesday, Newt Gingrich lambasted The Fox News Channel, accusing the cable news network that employed him as recently as last year of having been in the tank for Mitt Romney from the beginning of the Republican presidential fight and singling out former colleagues for attacking him out of what he characterized as personal jealousy. “I think Fox has been for Romney all the way through,” Gingrich said during the private meeting at Wesley College to which RealClearPolitics was granted access. “In our experience, Callista and I both believe...

Rupert Murdoch turns to Twitter to attack Obama By Ilaina Jonas NEW YORK | Sun Jan 15, 2012 5:17pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Media baron Rupert Murdoch used his new Twitter account this weekend to attack the Obama Administration's opposition to parts of proposed legislation designed to combat Internet piracy. "So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery," News Corp's chairman and chief executive officer posted on his personal Twitter account Saturday. Murdoch, whose media empire includes Fox TV, The Wall Street Journal, Fox Studios and the...

Media magnate Rupert Murdoch on Monday urged Iowans to back firebrand social conservative Rick Santorum, one day before they cast the first votes of the 2012 White House race. "Can't resist this tweet, but all Iowans think about Rick Santorum. Only candidate with genuine big vision for country," Murdoch, 80, said on his official Twitter feed on the eve of the heartland state's nominating caucuses. Santorum has surged into third place in recent days on the strength of his take-no-prisoners social conservative ideology and seemed poised for a strong finish in the largely symbolic first-in-the-nation ballot.

Rebekah Brooks, the former News of the World editor who resigned as chief executive of News International at the height of the phone-hacking scandal, received £1.7m in cash, the use of a London office and a chauffeur-driven limousine as part of her severance package from the newspaper group. Brooks, a favourite of Rupert Murdoch who rose from being a secretary on the features desk of the Sunday newspaper to the very top of the mogul's UK operation, quit in July amid claims over the alleged illegal activities carried out by her executives and reporters. Days after she resigned, she was...

The Occupy Wall Street protesters are planning to get in the face of some of New York's richest tycoons on Tuesday. A "Millionaires March" will visit the homes - or, more realistically, the gleaming marble lobbies - of five of the city's wealthiest residents. On the target list: NewsCorp CEO Rupert Murdoch, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, conservative billionaire David Koch, financier Howard Milstein and hedge fund mogul John Paulson.

Pressed by House Republicans and the Wall Street Journal editorial board to release a copy of his tax returns to justify the so-called "Buffett tax," the Oracle of Omaha said he would comply if News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch did the same. "I think it might be a terrific idea if they would just ask their boss, Rupert Murdoch, and he and I will meet at Fortune, and we'll both give you our tax returns and you can publish them," Buffett told Fortune's Carol Loomis. "I'm ready tomorrow morning," he said. In a New York Times column, Buffett asked Congress...

Leading UK polar scientists say the Times Atlas of the World was wrong to assert that it has had to re-draw its map of Greenland due to climate change. Publicity for the latest edition of the atlas, launched last week, said warming had turned 15% of Greenland's former ice-covered land "green and ice-free". But scientists from the Scott Polar Research Institute say the figures are wrong; the ice has not shrunk so much. The Atlas costs £150 ($237) and claims to be the world's "most authoritative". The 13th edition of the "comprehensive" version of the atlas included a number of...

Worldwide, communists are uniting against the Australian-American Rupert Murdoch, and his “media empire,” News Corporation. Writing for the Communist Party of Australia, Tom Pearson asserts, “In the US, his Fox News Network helped spread the lies about the Iraq war, supported George W Bush’s electoral campaign, pushes racist attitudes towards Muslims and immigrants and supports the extreme right-wing Tea Party.” Self-identified communists and their media allies seem encouraged by the unrepresentative News of the World scandal, even though the paper amounted to 1 percent of News Corp’s operations. They sense an opportunity to regulate free speech, as well. In the...

You mess with Murdoch … you mess with the whole family. ABC News puts a spotlight on the reaction of Wendy Deng Murdoch to an attack on her husband, News Corp mogul Rupert Murdoch, as he and his son James testified before a Parliamentary committee earlier today: A Parliament hearing into hacking by News Corp. journalists erupted into chaos Tuesday as CEO Rupert Murdoch was attacked by a man with what appeared to be a pie.Wendi Deng Murdoch, his wife, rose from her seat behind her husband to protect him and took a swing at the intruder. The man was...

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch was testifying to British Parliament when he was attacked.

Rupert Murdoch's News Limited is the most powerful media organisation in Australia, but has come under unprecedented scrutiny in the wake of the UK phone hacking scandal. Some have questioned its domination of the newspaper industry and are demanding an official investigation into News Limited's operations, although it has yet to find any evidence of wrongdoing. Here is some of the fighting talk that has come from Australia's leading politicians: Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, on Australian radio: "It's [News Limited] decided it wants to have an election. Ignore the fact that we had an election nine or 10 months ago....

snip ...British tabloids have been known for decades for buying scoops and digging up dirt on the famous. Fleet Street has long had a well-earned global reputation for the blind-quote, single-sourced story that may or may not be true. The outrage in this case stems from the hacking of a noncelebrity, the murder victim Milly Dowler. snip The idea that the BBC and the Guardian newspaper aren't attempting to influence public affairs, and don't skew their coverage to do so, can't stand a day's scrutiny. The overnight turn toward righteous independence recalls an eternal truth: Never trust a politician. snip...

Just a headline so far. The war against Murdoch and FOX News continues. Hinton is the latest casualty.

The Guardian has apologised to The Sun fora front page report on Tuesday which stated that the paper had accessed the medical records of the infant son of former prime minister Gordon Brown. In a correction published on page 36 of today's paper, The Guardian admitted the mistake and apologised for the error. The Sun is now pursuing other news organisations which ran the story. The allegation that The Sun had hacked the medical records of Gordon Brown's infant son Fraser in 2006 led the news agenda and looked like being nearly as damaging for The Sun as allegations about...

New allegations have emerged of payments to the police as the row around the News of the World escalates. The paper's owners have passed to the police e-mails which appear to show that payments were authorised by the then editor, Andy Coulson. It comes as a solicitor representing some of the relatives of people who died in the 7/7 bombings says families may have been victims of hacking. MP's will hold an emergency debate in the House of Commons later. BBC business editor Robert Preston says the e-mail disclosure was "a significant development." He said it had an important political...