Two U.S. senators have written a letter to the panel that oversees Dow Jones & Co.’s editorial integrity to request they investigate former CEO Les Hinton’s role in the News Corp. phone hacking scandal.
Ed Pilkington of The Guardian writes, “Barbara Boxer of California and John Rockefeller of West Virginia have written to the special committee of Dow Jones and company demanding that they set up an inquiry into whether senior Dow Jones executives, Hinton especially, had any knowledge or role of alleged criminal activity at News Corporation.
“They wrote: ‘Allegations of illegal phone hacking and bribery in the UK at properties owned by News Corporation, a US-based company, have outraged people around the world. The American people need to be reassured that this kind of misconduct has not occurred in the US and that senior executives at News Corporation properties in our country were not aware of, or complicit in, any wrongdoing.’
“The special committee of Dow Jones was set up at the time of the company’s sale to Rupert Murdoch in 2007 in order to assuage fears that the media tycoon would affect its journalistic integrity. The committee was tasked with ensuring the ‘continued journalistic and editorial integrity and independence of Dow Jones’ publications and services.’
“Dow Jones is the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, the most prized possession within Murdoch’s newspaper holdings.”
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