Editing News Corporation (section)

===Scandals===
{{main|2011 News Corporation scandals}}

In July 2011, News Corp closed down the ''[[News of the World]]'' newspaper in the United Kingdom due to allegations of phone hackings. The allegations include trying to access former Prime Minister [[Gordon Brown]]'s voice mail, and obtain information from his bank accounts, family's medical records, and private legal files. Allegations of hacking have also been brought up in relation to former Prime Minister [[Tony Blair]], and the [[British Royal Family|Royal Family]].<ref>{{cite news|author1=Nick Davies  |author2=David Leigh |name-list-style=amp |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/jul/11/phone-hacking-news-international-gordon-brown|title=News International papers targeted Gordon Brown|newspaper=The Guardian|date=July 11, 2011|access-date=July 14, 2011|location=London}}</ref> Other allegations put out by ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper include the exploitation, with intent to gain access to or use private information, of a list of 4,332 names or partial names, 2,987 mobile phone numbers, 30 audio tapes of varying length and 91 PIN codes, of a kind required to access the voicemail of the minority of targets who change the factory settings on their mobile phones.<ref name="guardian1">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/sep/10/phone-hacking-victims-list|title=Our phone hacking victims list|newspaper=The Guardian|date=July 12, 2011|access-date=July 14, 2011}}</ref> The names are said to include those of British victims of September 11, 2001 terror attacks, family members of victims of the [[7 July 2005 London bombings|"7/7" bombings]] on London's transit system, family members of British troops killed overseas, [[Murder of Milly Dowler|Milly Dowler]], a 13-year-old missing British schoolgirl who was later found dead in 2002, actor [[Hugh Grant]] and a lawyer representing the family of [[Diana, Princess of Wales|Princess Diana]]'s lover at the inquest into her death.<ref name="guardian1"/> On July 13, 2011, News Corp withdrew its bid to purchase the final 61% stake in [[BSkyB]] after pressure from both the Labour and Conservative Parties in Parliament.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/bskyb-newscorp-idUSL6E7ID2AR20110713|title=UPDATE 1-BSkyB investors eye cash after deal collapse|work=Reuters|date=July 13, 2011|access-date=July 14, 2011|first=Kate|last=Holton}}</ref>

Allegations about the violation of ethical standards by the News Corporation subsidiary ''News of the World'' have been speculatively applied to News Corporation holdings in the United States. Senator John Rockefeller (D-WV) stated on July 12, 2011, that there should be a government investigation into News Corporation "to ensure that Americans have not had their privacy violated."<ref name="Stelter">{{cite news|last=Stelter|first=Brian|title=News Corp. Newspapers May Face U.S. Inquiry|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/world/europe/14react.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=July 14, 2011|date=July 13, 2011}}</ref> His statement was echoed on Wednesday<ref>{{cite news|title=U.S. lawmakers urge feds to investigate Murdoch media company|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/07/13/us.hacking.fcpa/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713230906/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/07/13/us.hacking.fcpa/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 13, 2011|access-date=December 5, 2017|date=July 14, 2011}}</ref> by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who specifically requested an investigation into 9/11 victims, as well as Sen. [[Frank Lautenberg]] (D-NJ) who encouraged an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.<ref name="Stelter"/> On July 13, 2011, Representative [[Peter T. King|Peter King]] (R-NY) wrote a letter to the FBI requesting an investigation into News Corporation's ethical practices, and on July 14, the FBI opened a probe into the hacking of 9/11 victims.<ref>{{cite news|last=Rashbaum|first=William|title=F.B.I. Opens Inquiry Into Hacking of 9/11 Victims|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/15/nyregion/fbi-opens-inquiry-into-hacking-of-911-victims.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=July 14, 2011|date=July 14, 2011}}</ref> Les Hinton, chief executive of the media group's Dow Jones, resigned on July 15, saying, "I have seen hundreds of news reports of both actual and alleged misconduct during the time I was executive chairman of News International and responsible for the company. The pain caused to innocent people is unimaginable. That I was ignorant of what apparently happened is irrelevant and in the circumstances I feel it is proper for me to resign from News Corp, and apologize to those hurt by the actions of the News of the World."<ref>{{cite news|last=BBC|first=BBC|title=News Corp's Les Hinton resigns amid phone-hack scandal|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14170879|publisher=BBC|access-date=July 14, 2011}}</ref>

In 2012, following a BBC ''Panorama'' report, allegations were made that News Corp subsidiary [[NDS Group]] had used hackers to undermine pay TV rivals around the world. Some of the victims of the alleged hacking, such as [[Austar]], were later taken over by News Corp and others such as [[ITV Digital|Ondigital]] later went bust. NDS had originally been set up to provide security to News Corp's pay TV interests but emails obtained by [[Fairfax Media]] revealed they had also pursued a wider agenda by distributing the keys to rival set-top box operators and seeking to obtain phone records of suspected rivals.<ref>Chenoweth, Neil Pay TV Piracy Hits News, ''The Financial Review'', March 28, 2012, online Retrieved May 4, 2012</ref> The emails were from the hard drive of NDS European chief Ray Adams. In 2012, it was also revealed that Australian Federal police were working with UK police to investigate hacking by News Corp.<ref>Tingle, Laura & Daley, Gemma Federal Police Join News Probe, ''The Financial Review'', March 28, 2012, online Retrieved May 4, 2012</ref>