-By Warner Todd Huston
James Murdoch, son of famed media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is poised to take over News Corp’s U.S. Television holdings just as a new report in Britain criticizes his stewardship of holdings in the UK.
It has been reported that James Murdoch is about to take over full responsibility of Fox Networks Group, which includes the Fox broadcast TV network, and cable channels such as FX and National Geographic, but not the Fox News Channel.
But as news of possible new responsibilities in America broke, James was criticized heavily by a report put out by Ofcam, an independent agency responsible to set regulations for the communications industry in the UK.
The Ofcom report said Murdoch’s “conduct in relation to events at News Group Newspapers repeatedly fell short of the conduct to be expected of him as a chief executive officer and chairman.”
Despite the criticism, the report ultimately determined that James did not deliberately engage in any wrongdoing. The report also cleared the Murdochs ownership in the UK’s broadcasting holdings saying the licenses were “fit and proper.”
While the Ofcam report was a victory for News Corp, the Murdochs still await the outcome of an investigation into wiretapping allegations and other charges being conducted by the Metropolitan Police.
There has been some resistance within News Corp over James’ elevation in the U.S. A vote protesting James having any new duties in America was held at last year’s shareholder meeting.
News Corp has made no formal announcement of exactly what James Murdoch’s duties in the U.S. will be.
____________
“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.