Lawyers for both News Corp. and phone-hacking victims on Friday estimated in court that the media company will ultimately face about 500 civil claims related to illegal voice-mail interception by the now-closed News of the World tabloid.
That is about 400 more cases than have been filed or settle so far.
TPM
That is a very busy single rogue reporter, don't you think?
In other news, the British PM, David Cameron, asked Jeremy Hunt, Minister for Culture, Media, and Sport, to make an "impartial" decision as to whether or not News Corp should be permitted to purchase British Sky Broadcasting. Except that Hunt had very cozy ties to James Murdoch, who would have been the head of the merged companies, and Cameron was well aware of that fact. In fact, the very day that Cameron appointed Hunt to adjudicate the deal, Hunt sent James Murdoch a congratulatory text about the deal passing European regulatory oversight.
Hunt is resisting calls to resign, which would throw a monkey wrench into the London Olympics, for which he has government responsibility.
PM Cameron is expected to have to give testimony to the Parliamentary ethics committee looking into this matter. Imagine that - even though his party is in charge of the House of Commons, he is still being asked to give testimony. Imagine what President Bush would have had to do in order to get called before the House Ethics committee when the Republicans were running the House.
Another day, another couple of stories about how the House of Murdoch totters.