Fishburn Hedges

11.11.2011

It’s been a bad week for Italian exports, literal and symbolic. The financial crisis was one thing; the thrashing has been severe but not surprising. But Berlusconi wasn’t the only dark global media overlord forced to face the white heat of negative press and impending doom. So too was James Murdoch, Chairman of News International, who was once more dragged before parliament to endure another grilling about News International’s role in ‘hackgate’. Enough ink (and its digital equivalent) has already been spilt about how he fared to spare you yet another critique of his performance. The key comment, picked up and splashed on by every national outlet – except, predictably The Sun – concerned his comparison to that popular but pejorative incarnation of Italian muscle, Godfather mob boss  Don Corleone. The link came from Labour MP, Tom Watson, who it’s fair to say is not Mr Murdoch’s greatest fan. Watson likened the alleged culture of convenient silence at News International to the mafia code of Omerta, and said Murdoch must be the ‘first mafia boss in history that didn’t know he was running a criminal enterprise’. (Perhaps also the first Harvard film grad not to know the phrase made famous by Marlon Brando, pointed out The Week, who have helpfully offered some ‘further reading’.) Which wasn’t a very nice thing to say, and James Murdoch had the presence of mind to say so. Divided comment is still currently raging on the pros and cons, aptness and inexactness, of this mafia moniker. With the Guardian slapping it down as ‘silly’ (ouch) while the Scotsman appears to be fizzing with excitement over the ‘savaging’ remark.

Which brings us neatly on the nub of this blog. What will be the impacts of such a mauling on one of the UK’s – and indeed, the world’s – most influential media organisations? Speculation is already swirling around the fate of The Sun, which Mr Murdoch ‘refused’ to guarantee, should it too be dragged into to the fray. The fact that Murdoch claims he signed off half a million in damages to Gordon Taylor without asking for the details has also called his competence as Chairman into question. ‘It may not be the mafia, but it doesn’t sound like Management Today’, quipped MP Damien Collins.

But whilst News International’s share price may have taken a slight hit, it’s not the kind of drive-by you might expect. People seem to have been impressed by don Murdoch’s performance. Not least among them, the FT, who applauded his ‘unbreached defences’ against pugnacious political challengers. But perhaps most tellingly, the episode doesn’t appear to have put too great spanner in the project of resurrecting the NotW under a new guise. Almost in parallel with the press-and-parliamentary Punch and Judy, leaks – possibly less than coincidental – emerged about the much-touted The Sun on Sunday. If true, and Guardian Media makes a compelling case, there seems little prospect of NI swimming with the fishes any time soon.