If anyone is wondering just how far the Murdoch’s will go to protect Rebekah Brooks need only look at Judith Regan to see where their loyalties ultimately lie. And if the FBI is wondering where to start to see if News Corporation committed criminal acts this side of the Atlantic, may I suggest starting with a subpoena of Judith Regan and Roger Ailes.
All this time we’ve been railing against Murdoch, it felt like we were swimming upstream alone. Long before Keith Olbermann began his vendetta against Fox News and later Murdoch. But the Internet has a memory, and despite the vulgarity of some of the expression, primed as it was for Annoy.com's mission, below is a compilation of what Annoy.com published. Vindication has taken a long time, but it looks like, finally, it may just have arrived.
Annoy.com vs. Rupert Murdoch: Decades of Disgust
The biggest irony of all, was that my small company had waged a First Amendment battle, the resolution of which would protect the likes of News Corporation. No one could argue that online transmission of content of the New York Post, and later Fox News could meet the vague definitions of both indecent and annoying.
Almost every month, our disgust for Murdoch and the extent to which he was singlehandedly and irreparably degrading journalism was published on Annoy.com.
There was the song Money Green (based on Candle in the Wind), a posthumous message from the media to Diana about their relentless and deadly pursuit of her, (later turned into a video to point out the veracity of the predictions in the song), in which Murdoch was referred to as a “high class whore” who “paid for photographs, and your life was the price we paid.” The final line: “The carnage will continue, like the poison in the pen. And no one knows the difference now, between The Sun and CNN.
Then there was “If We Had Ethics,” based on the delightful “If I Did It” book deal with OJ Simpson. Judith Regan, a Rupert Murdoch darling who could do no wrong, was fired from News Corporation’s publishing arm, HarperCollins, on December 15, 2006 – supposedly over anti-Semitic comments she’s alleged to have made, in addition to the controversial O.J. Simpson faux confessional, “If I Did It,” which was distasteful enough to cause a collective public apoplexy. Regan was so maligned by virtually everyone (including me) that even the liars at Fox News, another News Corp. subsidiary tarred and feathered her, with none other than the ethically challenged Bill O’Reilly leading the charge.
Almost a year later, Regan slapped News Corporation with a hundred million dollar lawsuit, accusing the company and HarperCollins of wrongfully dismissing her.
The lawsuit suggested that Regan’s downfall was quite possibly a craftily engineered preemptive strike to discredit her, so that by the time she opened her mouth to reveal the things she now has, no one would pay heed. They badly underestimated her.
According to Wikipedia, Regan “was ordered to lie to federal investigators regarding the controversy over Bernard Kerik, with whom she was having an affair, to protect Rudy Giuliani's bid for president.” According to the New York Times, “The assertion that the News Corporation has sought to protect Mr. Giuliani appears in the opening page of the filing. The document later revisits aspects of the assertion without providing a full account of what is alleged to have occurred or how it might be substantiated in court.”
Turns out, Judith Regan was familiar with New Corporation’s modus operandi. The executive who tried to influence her to lie to federal investigators was Roger Ailes, chairman of Fox News. And Regan had proof. She had taped the conversation.
When News Corporation got wind of the recording, it took only two months before they reached a confidential settlement with Regan -- paying her $10.75 million, and in a curt press release, stated “After carefully considering the matter, we accept Ms. Regan’s position that she did not say anything that was anti-Semitic in nature, and further believe that Ms. Regan is not anti-Semitic.”
If anyone is wondering just how far the Murdoch’s will go to protect Rebekah Brooks need only look at Judith Regan to see where their loyalties ultimately lie. And if the FBI is wondering where to start to see if News Corporation committed criminal acts this side of the Atlantic, may I suggest starting with a subpoena of Judith Regan and Roger Ailes.
Our attacks against the disgusting, repulsive dregs of humanity who promoted violence and divisiveness and compromised any shred of the most basic common decency to whore themselves for the News Corporation brand included New York Post’s Andrea Peyser; Steve Dunleavy; Peter Chernin; Megan Turner; Adam Buckman; Murdoch’s wife who no doubt married him for his youthful good looks, Wendi Deng; Dianne Brandi, Vice President of Legal Affairs for Fox News Network; Geraldo Rivera; Oliver North; Daniel Pipes, Bill O’Reilly; Gen Beck; Richard Johnson; Lenn Robbins; and Michael Kelly.
All this time we’ve been railing against Murdoch, it felt like we were swimming upstream alone. Long before Keith Olbermann began his vendetta against Fox News and later Murdoch. But the Internet has a memory, and despite the vulgarity of some of the expression, primed as it was for Annoy.com's mission, below is a compilation of what Annoy.com published. Vindication has taken a long time, but it looks like, finally, it may just have arrived.
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