News Corp. eyes replacing Murdoch as CEO
Rupert Murdoch might be replaced as CEO of News Corp. Credit: Lionel Bonaventure
The board of News Corp. is considering replacing Rupert Murdoch as chief executive, according to Bloomberg News.
The financial news service said independent board directors were concerned about "the quality and quantity" of information they've received about the phone-hacking scandal that has rocked the media giant over the past two weeks.
Murdoch would remain chairman but would be replaced as CEO with Chase Carey, who has been the chief operating officer of the company since 2009.
Murdoch is scheduled to speak before British Parliament Tuesday and answer questions about the phone-hacking scandal. His son, James, and Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of Murdoch's UK newspaper arm, are also to appear before Parliament.
Board directors and some News Corp. executives were reportedly concerned at Murdoch's performance during rehearsals Monday for his Parliamentary appearance.
Carey is one of the few executives at the top of News Corp. who has had no connection with the phone-hacking scandal that has rocked the media giant over the past two weeks.
Carey first joined Fox in 1988 and went on to become COO of Fox Inc. and CEO of Fox Broadcasting. He was once co-COO of News Corp. with Peter Chernin, then left to become CEO of DirecTV, a company in which News Corp. once held an interest.
Reports about Carey being named CEO surfaced as Scotland Yard's assistant commissioner resigned yesterday, a day after his boss quit, and as fresh investigations of possible police wrongdoing spread from Murdoch's media empire to the British prime minister's office.
Prime Minister David Cameron called an emergency session of Parliament on the scandal and cut short his visit to Africa to try to contain the widening crisis.
In a further twist, Sean Hoare, a former News of the World reporter who helped blow the whistle on the scandal, was found dead yesterday in his home in Watford.
Police said the death was being treated as unexplained but not considered suspicious, according to Britain's Press Association.
Murdoch shut down the tabloid News of the World after it was accused of hacking into the voice mail of celebrities, politicians, other journalists and even murder victims.
The crisis has roiled the upper ranks of Britain's police, with the resignation of Assistant Commissioner John Yates, Scotland Yard's top anti-terrorist officer, following that on Sunday of police chief Paul Stephenson over their links to Neil Wallis, an arrested former executive from the shuttered Sunday tabloid whom police had employed as a media consultant.
The government quickly announced an inquiry into police-media relations and possible corruption.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
