The Rupergate

The News International phone-hacking scandal — dubbed "Hackgate", "Rupertgate", or "Murdochgate" by the press — is a controversy involving the now defunct News of the World and other British newspapers published by News International, a subsidiary of the then-News Corporation. Employees of the newspaper were accused of engaging in phone hacking, police bribery, and exercising improper influence in the pursuit of publishing stories. Investigations conducted from 2005 to 2007 concluded that the paper's phone hacking activities were limited to celebrities, politicians and members of the British Royal Family. In July 2011, it was revealed that the phones of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, relatives of deceased British soldiers, and victims of the 7/7 London bombings were also accessed, resulting in a public outcry against News Corporation and owner Rupert Murdoch. Advertiser boycotts contributed to the closure of the News of the World on 10 July, ending 168 years of publication.[1] Continued public pressure later forced News Corporation to cancel its proposed takeover of the British telecommunications company BSkyB.

British prime minister David Cameron announced on 6 July 2011 that a public inquiry would look into the affair after police investigations had ended. On 13 July 2011, Cameron named Lord Justice Leveson as chairman of the inquiry, with a remit to look into phone hacking and police bribery by the News of the World, while a separate inquiry would consider the culture and ethics of the wider British media.[2] He also said the Press Complaints Commission would be replaced "entirely".[1] The inquiries led to several high-profile resignations, including Dow Jones chief executive Les Hinton; News International legal manager Tom Crone; and chief executive Rebekah Brooks. The commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police Service, Sir Paul Stephenson, also resigned his post. FormerNews of the World managing editor Andy Coulson, former executive editor Neil Wallis, and Brooks were all arrested. Murdoch and his son, James, were summoned to give evidence before the Leveson Inquiry.

The negative attention garnered by the scandal eventually reached the United States, where News Corporation is headquartered and operates multiple media outlets. The Federal Bureau of Investigationlaunched a probe on 14 July 2011, to determine whether News Corporation accessed voicemails of victims of the 9/11 attacks. On 15 July, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced an additional investigation by the Department of Justice, looking into whether the company had violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Over the course of his testimony before the Leveson Inquiry, Rupert Murdoch admitted that a cover-up had taken place within the News of the World to hide the scope of the phone hacking.[3] On 1 May 2012, a parliamentary select committee released a report concluding that Murdoch "exhibited wilful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications," and stated that he was "not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company."[4] On 3 July 2013, Channel 4 News broadcast a secret tape in which Murdoch dismissively claims that investigators were "totally incompetent" and acted over "next to nothing", and excuses his papers' actions as "part of the culture of Fleet Street."[5]

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