Murdoch should face the facts - PennLive.com

Who said "The buck stops here"? It wasn't media baron Rupert Murdoch. That much is certain.The slang expression made famous by President Harry S. Truman apparently is nowhere in the vocabulary of Murdoch whose felled News of the World in Britain is at the center of a phonehacking scandal that has rocked the world of tabloid journalism."The buck stops here" derives from the expression "pass the buck" which means to pass the responsibility on to someone else.The latter saying better describes Murdoch who when asked whether he was responsible for the scandal flatly replied "No."Murdoch in a recent parliamentary hearing in Britain apologized profusely for the phone hacking &tstr; including that of a 13yearold murder victim. But he denied he is responsible.Instead he blamed "the people I trusted to run it News of the World and the people they trusted."Murdoch's News Corp. is a global media company whose holdings include the Wall Street Journal and Fox News. The company employs more than 53000 people around the world. Some things are bound to escape his attention.But that's no excuse.When the scandal first broke News Corp. executives laid blame on a few "rogue" reporters.Now we're learning the problem may be endemic to the company &tstr; "endemic" meaning prevalent something Murdoch initially failed to admit. He told parliament he was not fully aware of the extent of the hacking until three weeks ago following revelations related to the young murder victim.How any of this could escape Murdoch's attention for any period of time is a mystery.Murdoch considers The Wall Street Journal the jewel in the crown of his media holdings and he is said to have a soft spot in his heart for newspapers which is where his family got started in the media business.This suggests that he is a more handson owner than not.So what did he think when he read a sensational story based on inside information that was seemingly impossible to get about a celebrity politician or murdered child? Dogged journalism? Perhaps. Illegal activity? Apparently not.Murdoch closed the News of the World less than 1 percent of his media holdings he points out. And his deal for satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting fell through owing to the poor timing. But his media empire is otherwise intact.But the fact is Murdoch was in charge when overzealous reporting occurred and was even encouraged at the News of the World.As the tabloid's owner he is responsible for what happened whether he likes it or not. Whether he admits it or not.