Dial M for Murdoch: News Corporation and the Corruption of Britain [Paperback]

I thought I knew something of the journalistic world but this is unbelievable. In this book Watson and his collaborator take the lid off a can of rotting slugs. Corrupt or timorous police, politicians too afraid for their own skins to act (or worse still as corrupt as the police), journalists so far out of control that the word amoral doesn't begin to describe them. And the worst of it is that its NOT fiction.Hearing Murdoch senior plaintively complain this morning (26 April) that he and his sons were kept in a state of blissful ignorance by a cabal of very naughty News International senior executives had me caught between hysteria and fury.

OK, enough of the indignation. What is it like as a book. Well its very readable and given that it is written from the viewpoint of two men who feel a burning sense of wrong, the tone is surprisingly detached and analytical. How far some of its conclusions are justified is something that we will probably not fully judge until the final report of the Leveson enquiry. However the self complacent and amoral arrogance which comes through in the reported utterances of so many politicians and senior NI execs are too reminiscent of the rantings of those MPs who resented being caught out by the expenses scandal to be anything but disturbing. The only bright spot is that there are still policemen, MPs and journalists who have standards and the courage to uphold them. So, not an easy read, but its one you'll not easily forget and hopefully the shock will still be around at the next election.

This hardback book comes with a "Day-glo" red dust cover which should mean that it's not easy to misplace!

Just as everyone should watch the film "Schindler's List" so that hopefully such atrocities as the Holocaust will never occur again, so all should read this book as it shows what happens when great power and wealth are acquired and controlled by a few, and as a result the great and the good are forced to cow-tow to these despots in order to retain some degree of public esteem.

As the old saying goes... "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely!" And according to this book (and the Leveson Inquiry) that is just what appears to have happened from within the Murdoch Press in particular. The main scandal that comes out of the book for me is their being so ably assisted by successive British government (including all prime) ministers since the Iron Lady's reign in the early 1980s as a consequence of their fear of the damage the Murdoch Press can do to their public reputations should they ever happen to get on the wrong side of it. For instance, remember Murdoch's The Sun 1992 Election Day front page? It contained a picture of the then Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock's head inside a light bulb accompanied by the caption "if Neil Kinnock wins today, will the last person to leave the country please turn off the lights." Of course, there was no attempt in that headline to influence the election outcome was there?

The book concentrates not so much on the phone-hacking & other illegal intrusions of privacy that News Corp employees and their agents engaged in (Glenn Mulcaire allegedly had over 11,000 A4 pages of other people's personal data in his possession), but more on the lengthy cover-up operations and bully-boy tactics that the Murdoch Machine engaged in over more than 5 years along with the seeming reluctance of the Met Police force to investigate the many instances of wrongdoing within the Murdoch Empire they both uncovered and had reported to them.

High quality writing combined with a clear and attention-holding presentation of copious historical information make this book an eye-opening read. Some have said to me that the two authors have "over-egged the pudding" somewhat: well be that as it may, I didn't get that impression. However, even if there is a grain of truth in that, the book still makes for highly compelling reading - but do watch out for the odd bit of bad language (there isn't much at all) if that sort of thing offends you.

Definitely worth reading!

The week I bought and read this book started with the three main political parties agreeing a framework for future regulation of the press, with much indignation coming from, of course, the press and in particular the Murdoch press. On the Wednesday the two main stories were the budget and the fact that the Deputy Editor of The Sun had been charged with corruption offences. And on the Thursday The Sun led with a headline stating the budget had been approved by 'the ministry for information'. The irony that The Sun and it's owner were criticsing the government for bringing in tighter press regulation could not be lost. And if you want a full understanding of what led to this state of affairs then I suggest you read this excellent book.

The book reads like a thriller I found myself wanting to read it at every opportunity. It shows just how far corruption within News Corp had gone. You are probably familiar with most of the events in this book, but having them all together in one volume like this really does shock. We now know how low they were prepared to go but the piece where Lesley Ash points out she is not Lesley Chapman really does bring it home. The police, the government and the PCC were all afraid of Murdoch and his bullies in the newsrooms. It took a few brave journalists and politicians to stand up to them and finally bring them to book. What is truly shocking is how the police were prepared to ignore the evidence of the level of hacking that was going on that was right there in front of them. No wonder there are so many miscarriages of justice in this country.

If, like me, you believe Murdoch has been a bad influence in this country read this book it will confirm your worst fears. If, on the other hand, you are undecided, again I suggest you read this book it will open your eyes. Lastly if you believe that the proposed regulation of the press is a step too far, read this book. Many argue that laws were broken and that those laws that are already in place are dealing with the wrong doings at News Corp. But what this book brings home is the fact that those who have been given the job of protecting us failed miserably and only took action when they were put in a position where inaction was no longer an option. If you believe that this new regulation is only to protect the rich and famous then at the back of the book is a list of names found in Glenn Mulcaires notes, and yes most of them are famous, but there is a section where the authors do not know who they are or why they are there.