Ofcom Investigation Concludes Sky Not Involved With Murdoch’s Phone Hacking Scandal

Ofcom have concluded that no evidence has been found to suggest that Sky was in any way linked with the News Corp phone hacking outrage. The British media regulator questioned the satellite broadcasting company’s involvement in the scandal, given that Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp empire held 40 per cent in shares and Murdoch’s son James (who runs the shamed British News Corp newspapers) is the former chairman of Sky. Ofcom concluded that the pay TV company was ‘fit and proper’ to hold their broadcasting licence and made no suggestion that News Corp should relinquish its shares. ‘There is no evidence that Sky was directly or indirectly involved in any of the wrongdoing either admitted or alleged to have taken place at News of the World or The Sun’, they said.

However, they have strongly reprimanded James Murdoch for not choosing to investigate the allegations of criminal activity happening within his company that ultimately brought down British paper News of the World when it was found that they hacked into the voicemails of politicians, celebrities and victims of crime including a murdered school girl and also hacked into computers and made illegal payments to officials. Ofcom described his decision (or lack of) as ‘both difficult to comprehend and ill-judged’.

News Corps response was that they are happy that Sky have been found not guilty of any crime, but opposed the idea that James Murdoch should be criticised for his conduct given that he has been a strong figure in bringing about Sky’s success.