Six years ago, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation was almost brought down by a massive phone hacking scandal involving one of its then-flagship titles in the United Kingdom, News of the World–a scandal that ultimately forced that paper to shut down. Well, it looks like the crown jewel of the American side of Murdoch’s empire didn’t get the memo. As the nation went home for Labor Day weekend, word got out that Fox News Channel’s effort to get dirt on anyone who dared criticize it crossed the line into hacking the phones of critical journalists.
Gabriel Sherman of New York magazine has covered the events that led to the downfall of Fox News founder Roger Ailes almost from the beginning. On Friday morning, he rushed out with a new story on how Gretchen Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Andrea Tantaros, and others blew the whistle on Ailes’ rampant pattern of sexual harassment. But NewsHounds, the longtime Fox News watchdogs, noticed that one of the most damning anecdotes has nothing to do with sexual harassment.
Sherman revealed that back in 2010, Fox News general counsel Dianne Brandi, one of Ailes’ top hatchet women, hired a private investigator to obtain the landline and cell phone records of Joe Strupp, a reporter for Media Matters. Strupp had written a number of articles quoting anonymous sources at the fair and balanced network, and Brandi wanted to find out who they were.
The timing of this move couldn’t possibly have been worse. The Guardian of the UK had spent most of 2010 churning out articles detailing the extent of the phone hacking scandal at News of the World. With the hot lights squarely on Murdoch at the time, he should count himself extremely lucky that this wasn’t unmasked sooner.
When Media Matters president Bradley Beychock learned this, he rushed out with a burning statement calling for “an immediate investigation” of anyone and everyone who may have been involved in “this illegal practice.” He also gave an ominous warning to Fox News and Ailes–they may have to answer for this under oath.
“Roger Ailes and Fox News broke the law by hacking into the phone records of Media Matters employees. Anyone involved in the illegal hacking should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and we are considering all legal options.”
Later, Beychock told The Daily Beast that he believes Strupp wasn’t the only target. He said that Media Matters has already learned about “allegations of email and phone records being obtained,” but don’t know how Fox News pulled it off. One thing is beyond doubt, though–the methods they most likely used were almost certainly illegal, since it is extremely difficult for someone not in law enforcement to legally obtain a third party’s phone records without their consent.
Two weeks ago, Tantaros’ attorney claimed that he has evidence the “Black Room” operation on the 14th floor of 1212 Avenue of the Americas broke the law in its effort to get the goods on those who dared attack Fox News. And now we learn that Fox News took a page from News of the World and hacked the phones of an organization that has been one of its most prominent tormentors for two decades.
I had hoped that Ailes’ ouster would open the door to Fox News being reformed into a real news organization, rather than the Republican agitprop machine it has been for most of its existence. But if it does turn out that Fox News stooped this low, then we’re not just talking about a propaganda machine. We’re talking about a criminal organization. For that reason, if it does turn out that Fox News engaged in phone hacking, it should get the same treatment that News of the World got. That is, it must be driven out of existence by all legal means possible.
If I were Alan Colmes, Juan Williams, or any other prominent liberal on Fox News and I learn about this, I would seriously consider resigning. You may be lending credence to a criminal organization masquerading as a news network. And if I were Ailes, Brandi, or any other senior executive at Fox News at the time this took place, I’d have a lawyer on speed dial.
