The problem at Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation isn't about phone hacking. The real ethical issue is Murdoch and his board believing that their only fiduciary duty is to themselves. And his performance at this week's annual general meeting in Los Angeles confirmed that. The meeting was switched to the locked down Fox movie studio, where security guards inside and out outnumbered the 40 or so shareholders by 10 to one. There were demonstrations outside the building.
The Financial Times reports that Murdoch was openly contemptuous of shareholder critics, after he and his board were voted back in (largely thanks to the 40 per cent control that he has over the company's shares). Murdoch tried to limit the number of questions each shareholder could ask for the entire meeting. He dictated the amount of time that would be spent on each question to be considered at the meeting. Critics were regularly reminded when they exceeded the one minute time limit on speaking.
The Guardian provides a blow by blow description of the events at the AGM.
At the meeting, Stephen Mayne, director of the Australian Shareholder Association, said Murdoch's attempt to close the debate down, was "anti-democratic and embarrassing." "I think we can stand our embarrassment," said Murdoch showing his complete contempt. Murdoch then made a joke of the idea there was any need to take shareholder concerns seriously, pointing that one of the critics present, British MP Tom Watson, had appeared on Fox News that morning. "That's fair and balanced," Murdoch said. That drew a laugh from board members.
Writing in Forbes, specialists Michelle and Dennis Reina say Murdoch just doesn't get what trust is all about. "The alleged phone hacking at Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World doesn't represent a single breach of trust. It represents a pervasive pattern of intentional and unintentional betrayals by leadership-and, in kind, by employees. We get what we give."
The real ethical issue here is the contempt that Murdoch and his board show for his shareholders. News Corporation is a publicly owned company that's not publicly owned.
no comment untill now