"He’s about as empathetic as he is humbled" - NUJ questions News UK response to Rupert Murdoch video leak
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) genetal secretary Michelle Stanistreet has queried News UK’s response to the leaking of a recorded meeting with the company’s boss Rupert Murdoch and his staff at The Sun.
In a statement, Stanistreet said of the video which captures Murdoch promising to stand by his journalists should they be convicted on any phone hacking: "News UK's response has been to say that Murdoch was showing ‘understandable empathy’ with his staff. He’s about as empathetic as he is humbled.”
She continued: “Murdoch set up the Management and Standards Committee and, at the same time as setting up shop with the Metropolitan Police, he threw his staff to the wolves. Data was handed over to the police as an act of corporate damage limitation – there was no consideration of public interest tests, there was no thought to the consequences of outing journalistic sources, and there was no consideration the impact on staff who’ve worked loyally for Murdoch’s titles and done as they’ve been told. It's a bit late to say he is sticking up for his staff when he has already sold them down the river and put their sources at risk. It is a core principle of the NUJ that sources and whistle-blowers are always protected, and Murdoch and his executives at News UK trashed that principle without a thought to the consequences."
The video displays Murdoch criticising the police investigation into police payment claims made against the newspaper, where he stated: "The idea that the cops then started coming after you, kick you out of bed, and your families, at six in the morning, is unbelievable. But why are the police behaving in this way? It's the biggest inquiry ever, over next to nothing. "And now they're arresting their own, who never even took money... They're going to put all newspapers out of business".
After this video was leaked to Channel 4, News UK released the following statement: "No other company has done as much to identify what went wrong, compensate the victims, and ensure the same mistakes do not happen again. The unprecedented co-operation granted by News Corp was agreed unanimously by senior management and the board, and the MSC continues to co-operate under the supervision of the courts. Rupert Murdoch has shown understandable empathy with the staff and families affected and will assume they are innocent until and unless proven guilty."