News Limited chairman John Hartigan sat contrite and conflicted at a press conference yesterday announcing that the rugby league team he owns had cheated to win its two premierships:
“I regret we have probably not yet uncovered the full extent of this fraud … make no mistake, News does not tolerate this behaviour.”
He meant the club, but he might as well have been talking about his journalists and his organisation.
Hartigan is pleading ignorance: the Melbourne Storm were providing quarterly statements to News that it was meeting its salary cap obligations; assurances that were “given but they were not true”.
In this emerging scandal — and it’s hard to think of a bigger one in recent sporting memory — News Limited owns the club, half the league, most of the daily newspapers covering the story and a big chunk of broadcasting rights it must now protect. It owns the story. The conflict is inherent and insidious.
Media companies should stick to media. If, like News, they don’t, they can’t complain when no one trusts them to cover their own dirty washing.
Like the rest of the country, Crikey will honour our fallen diggers in the best way we know how — not showing up to work on Monday. Normal transmission will resume on Tuesday.
It seems that the Melbourne management also put one over the management of the league as well…if you’ve got two sets of books, by definition you’re being deceitful, and News was in the dark as was Gallop…in your never ending quest to beat up on News, you’re seeming a little conflicted yourselves, had News not covered this story what would be the reaction then?
News Limited might keep campaigning against News Limited instead of campaigning against the Rudd Government for the rest of the year.
“News Limited does not tolerate getting caught doing this sort of behaviour” – would be more accurate.
> it’s hard to think of a bigger [scandal] in recent sporting memory
Except of course: gang rape, off field violence, on field violence, abuse of illegal drugs, abuse of legal drugs, …?
The whole Storm rort stinks of News LTD trying to wash their hands before they sell the Storm and the Independent Commission takes over the News LTD run NRL. Better to get it out in the open and cop the punishment while they are still in control of the club and have significant influence in the investigation by the NRL. News LTD is a global company worth billions and the ramifications if they were caught up in the rort would be massive. Also, wasn’t Foxtel a major contributor to the rort and who is a 25% share holder? News LTD.