Eight challenges facing News Corp

News Corporation's Rupert and James Murdoch have agreed to appear before MPs to answer questions on the phone-hacking scandal. What other challenges do the bosses of the global media empire face?




 

The tests facing the Murdoch empire
Action	Details	Time scale
Judicial inquiry: part 1	The judicial inquiry, led by Lord Justice Leveson, will be in two parts. The first will focus on "the culture, practices, and ethics" of the UK media. It will look at relationships between newspapers, politicians and the police as well as media regulation	Report expected within 12 months
Judicial inquiry: part 2	The second part of the inquiry will focus on the extent of unlawful or improper conduct within News International (NI) and other newspaper groups. It will also look at the original police investigation into phone hacking and consider whether there were management failures at NI	Report dependant on police probe
Scotland Yard investigations	Operation Weeting, led by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, is looking at alleged phone hacking at the News of the World (NoW). A number of people have been arrested. A second investigation - Operation Elvedon - is looking at e-mails received from NI that allegedly show payments made to police by the NoW	Ongoing
MPs' inquiry into press standards	The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee - which previously conducted an inquiry into press standards - has called Rebekah Brooks, Rupert Murdoch and his son James to appear before MPs to answer questions on the phone-hacking scandal. MPs say questions have arisen about the evidence Mrs Brooks and Andy Coulson - both ex-NoW editors - gave at a hearing in 2003	Rupert and James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks will answer the committee's questions on Tuesday 19 July
MPs' inquiry into police investigation	The Commons Home Affairs Select Committee launched an inquiry into phone hacking last year following new claims the NoW intercepted messages of public figures. It is looking into the original 2006 police investigation, as well as Scotland Yard's 2009 review. Senior officers - including Former Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman - have been questioned by MPs	Ongoing
Hacking civil action	A number of high-profile figures have launched legal action against NI over hacking claims. Some have already been awarded out-of-court settlements. Four test cases of alleged victims - including actor Jude Law - are due to be heard at the High Court next year	Ongoing
Shareholders' lawsuit	News Corporation is being sued by a group of shareholders who allege a failure of corporate governance. The lawsuit was filed in the US and is an updated version of a previous action, amended to include claims relating to the hacking scandal	Ongoing
Possible FBI investigation	US politicians have called for the FBI to investigate whether UK journalists broke US wiretap laws by targeting the phones of Americans. The call follows reports the NoW approached a police officer to buy the phone records of people killed on 9/11. There are also calls for a US investigation into alleged payments to UK police, which could expose News Corp to charges under US anti-corruption laws	Not launched

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