News Corporation board declares its ‘full confidence’ in Rupert Murdoch
The board of directors of US-based global media conglomerate, News Corporation, has given its full backing to its beleaguered chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch.
In a statement last night, the directors declared that they had “full confidence” in Murdoch’s ability to continue "to lead News Corporation into the future as its chairman and CEO".
The vote of confidence came in the wake of the House of Commons parliamentary media and culture committee’s report on Tuesday that Murdoch was "not a fit person" to run a major international business.
A statement from News Corp read; "The board based its vote of confidence on Rupert Murdoch's vision and leadership in building News Corporation, his ongoing performance as chairman and CEO, and his demonstrated resolve to address the mistakes of the company identified in the select committee's report."
This followed an immediate reaction from the company – just after the MPs had issued their scathing judgement - that some of the comments in the report were "unjustified and highly partisan".
Since the report was published, Labour and Lib Dem MPs have pressed media regulator Ofcom to speed up its review into whether BSkyB, which is 39%-owned by News Corp, is "fit and proper" to hold a licence - given the size of News Corp stake.
However the BBC also says that it understands that Ofcom will not be "rushed into a knee-jerk reaction".