Michael Wolff: How Bad Is News Corp.?
Michael Wolff on the state of the Murdoch empire and its Mob-like structure:
“Threats pervade the company’s basic view of the world. ‘We have stuff on him,’ Murdoch would mutter about various individuals who I mentioned during my interviews with him. ‘We have pictures.’
Rupert Murdoch | Illustration by Jason Seiler
In my biography of Rupert Murdoch, I referred to News Corporation as Mafia-like, provoking the annoyance of my publisher’s libel lawyers. I explained to them that I did not mean to suggest this was an organized crime family, but instead was using ‘mafia’ as a metaphor to imply that News Corp. saw itself as a state within a state, and that the company was built on a basic notion of extended family bonds and loyalty.
But just because it’s a metaphor doesn’t mean it isn’t the real thing, too.
Well-sourced information coming out of the Department of Justice and the FBI suggests a debate is going on that could result in the recently launched investigations of News Corp. falling under the RICO statutes.
RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, establishes a way to prosecute the leaders of organizations—and strike at the organizations themselves—for crimes company leaders may not have directly committed, but which were otherwise countenanced by the organization. Any two of a series of crimes that can be proven to have occurred within a 10-year period by members of the organization can establish a pattern of racketeering and result in draconian remedies.http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-bad-news-corp-133928?page=1