News Corp board supports Murdoch
News Corporation’s board says it places “full confidence” in chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, despite MPs saying he is “unfit” to run the company.
In a statement the board said it based its vote of confidence on Murdoch’s “vision and leadership” in building News Corp.
It also remarked on his “demonstrated resolve” to address the mistakes of the company, as identified in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport select committee’s report published on 1 May.
The board’s backing, however, is not echoed by some US shareholders, such as Christian Brothers Investment Services (CBIS), who are calling for the company to distance itself from the News International phone hacking scandal.
CBIS says the select committee report demonstrates the “far reaching impact of News Corp’s corporate governance failures” and adds that “shareholders have endured enough”.
An activist group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew), has also called for regulators to revoke the broadcasting licence News Corp holds for Fox in the US, following the report.
The report was highly critical of Murdoch, his son James and other senior executives at News Corp and News International, saying the company had been guilty of “huge failings of corporate governance” with its handling of the News of the World phone hacking affair.
