Suddenly, members of the political establishment are horrified

Shyam 

To date, members of the political establishment have generally shown little, or no, interest in the fact that the leadership of various criminogenic organizations like,'Scientology' and 'Amway,' have been enslaving the minds and destroying the lives of countless ordinary folk around the world, but hiding their criminal objectives behind labyrinths of corporate structures in order to obstruct investigation and isolate themselves from liability. At the same time, these wealthy crime bosses have been gathering compromising information about their victims, in order to prevent them from complaining. Yet, suddenly, members of the political establishment are horrified when intelligence is acquired about them. Former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has stated that he was reduced to tears when he discovered that journalists, working for 'News international,' had published details of his baby son's tragic medical condition  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14119225   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14030051

Your free-thinking readers might have been following recent events in the UK concerning the (now-defunct) weekly tabloid publication which was known as 'The News Of The World' (or 'NoW' ), but which was actually only one small part of the vast multi-national corporation, 'News International,' controlled by the elderly, billionaire, Australian, media-tycoon, Rupert Murdoch (Chief Executive) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14078128, his son, James Murdoch (current Chairman) and Rebekah Brooks (current Chief Executive) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13117456 . 

Britain has a tradition of scandal, gossip, celebrity, sex, crime and sport - filled newspapers (particularly, Sunday editions), which have competed to present the news in ever-more sensationalist, simplistic, and ethnocentric terms, in order to maintain mass-circulation. In recent years, these warring tabloid publications (a.k.a. 'Red -Tops,' due to their brightly-coloured titles) have seen their sales drop dramatically (partly due to their own free-availability on the Net.), but their advertising revenue, and perceived influence over public opinion, has remained high. At one time, 'NoW' boasted that it was the world's greatest and largest-circulation, English-language, weekly-newspaper with more than 8 millions regular customers. Up until its final edition last Sunday, 'NoW' was still declaring huge annual profits and selling more than 3 millions copies each week. For decades, the success of 'NoW' was built on its reputation for being the highest payer for juicy stories and photos. However, British tabloid journalists and paparazzi photographers have always operated in a competitive, and self-righteous, system where obtaining the front page is the Holy Grail, and where almost any means of achieving this well-paid end, is justified. 

The British political establishment once ignored the 'Red-Top' brand of demogoguery, but during the closing decades of the 20th century leading UK politicians have recruited their own media advisors from amongst the previously-unfrequented ranks of cheque-book journalists and editors. Indeed, the current UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, chose a former editor of 'NoW,' Andy Coulson. That was, until January 2011, when, after denying that he had ever authorised illegal phone-tapping whilst editor of 'NoW' 2002-2007,  Mr. Coulson felt obliged to resign from his shiney new political post.  However, last week, Mr. Coulson was arrested on suspicion of secretly authorising illegal phone-tapping, and of secretly authorising the bribing of police officers, during his time as editor of 'NoW.'  Laughably, he had previously felt obliged to resign from 'NoW' when its former royal editor, Clive Goodman, and a private investigator employed by 'NoW', Glenn Mulcaire, were sent to prison for secretly authorising, and carrying out, illegal phone-tapping. 

In 2005, after receiving complaints from representatives of the British royal family that confidential information had been published by the UK tabloid press which could only have come via illegal activity, the Anti-Terrorist Branch of the London Metropolitan Police was ordered to launch an enquiry. This extraordinary step was taken, because, at the time, it was considered that this was an urgent question of national security and that the royal family's lives might possibly be in danger. Despite the Anti-Terrorist Branch being already stretched to the limit, with the co-operation of telephone companies, a team of 12 detectives quickly discovered that various members of the British royal family had actually been targetted by 'NoW' in the shape of Mr. Mulcaire who, with access to illegally-obtained confidential phone numbers and pin-codes, had  then illegally acquired further intelligence from portable telephone voice-mail services which he'd passed to Mr. Goodman at 'NoW'  in return for substantial payments. Eleven thousand pages of evidence was seized from Mr. Mulcair, and from the offices of 'NoW,' by the Metropolitan Police, despite the fact that the senior UK corporate officers, and UK legal representatives, of 'News International' had refused to co-operate. 

Goodman and Mulcaire were subsequently charged and convicted, under the Regulation of Investigative Powers Act (RIPA).  Interestingly, part of this legislation talks about consent, connivance and neglect on the part of company directors who are deemed to have a responsibility to know what is happening within their own companies. Consequently, senior company officers can be prosecuted under RIPA even if they claim to have been ignorant of the fact that their employees were carrying out , or authorising, illegal investigations .  However, should Rupert, and/or James, Murdoch, and/or Rebekah Brooks, be charged under RIPA on the grounds that they had the ultimate responsibility to know that employees of 'News International' were committing crimes in the UK (including the bribing of police officers), then they could also be charged under the US federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14111966 .

Rupert Murdoch's unprecedented decision to close the highly-profitable 'NoW' has come in the wake of yet more revelations, ongoing investigations and possible prosecutions concerning the criminal methods which employees of 'News International' have habitually used for years in order to obtain intelligence about thousands of individuals, including members of the British royal family, politicians, celebtities, the relatives of crime victims, the relatives of members of the British armed services killed in action, etc. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12296392 . 

Six years ago, although senior London Metropolitan Police officers already had access to substantial documentary evidence proving that illegal phone-tapping, and the bribery of police officers, was rife at 'NoW', these same officers decided not to pursue anyone other than Messrs. Goodman and Mulcaire. This extraordinary failure of the British authorities to challenge a multi-billion dollar multi-national corporation engaged in widespread criminal activity, is now the subject of an internal enquiry. 

David Brear (Copyright 2011)