http://yesbuthowever.com/two-murdoch-whistleblowers-dead-5000943Now Two Murdoch Whistleblowers Dead
Published on July 19th, 2011
By John Romano
(YBH) – First it was Big George Webley who relayed a fear of the Murdoch machine and wound up dead. Now it’s Sean Hoare. Two British media whistleblowers. Two untimely deaths.
Let’s assume that neither was killed by Rupert Murdoch (toxicology reports haven’t been made available; foul play isn’t suspected by British authorities in either case), but something happened that put the fear of God into both men. Neither was known as a lunatic before their demise, both simply told the truth to British authorities about what they knew of Mr. Murdoch’s enterprises and died afterward at a relatively young age.
Mr. Hoare’s role in the evolving scandal is obvious: he worked at News of the World and broke the scandal wide open by charging his former editor, and then Prime Minister David Cameron’s Communications Director Andy Coulson, with lying about his role in NOTW’s phone hacking. Big George, for his part, allegedly revealed in private testimony to British authorities the fact that the Sky TV show he worked on in the early 90′s ,”Jameson Tonight”, had routinely bugged the dressing rooms of guests looking for scoops. Mr Webley’s charge was relevant because News Corp.’s initial defense was that the hacking at NOTW was the work of a rogue reporter. Big George’s charge threw cold water on that defense by helping to establish a pattern of subterfuge over many years at Murdoch-owned enterprises.
At first, Big George’s April 29th frantic phone call to me (eight days before his death at age 53,
details here) didn’t make much sense. Now that the scandal has broken wide open a few things are much clearer:
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http://yesbuthowever.com/source-murdoch-bugged-late-night-show-green-room-5000931
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It is during this period that Mr. Webley alleged that Sky bugged the dressing rooms of guests in order to get candid off-air scoops, and, in a roundabout way, led to the emotionally charged phone call I received from Mr. Webley in late April. As detailed by YBH! earlier this week, Mr. Webley was quite concerned that he would suffer retribution from Mr. Murdoch’s organization for allegedly revealing this information to the British government during the BSkyB (Sky TV’s parent company) buyout review. Also, it was never fully detailed to me how Mr. Webley found out about the bugging during his years at Sky. In no way did he allege that he was in danger for his life, as was stated in my earlier piece. Mr. Webley had a heart attack in 1996 and likely suffered a fatal one this past May. A full coroner’s report is due to be released in August detailing an official cause of death. What is known is that the whole incident did worry Mr. Webley more than a little bit.
It has never been revealed publicly or proven that News Corp. listened in on the green room of Jameson Tonight or any other Sky or News Corp. television show. However, in light of the News of the World scandal, the allegation bears some examination and at least opens the door for more questions. Personally, I saw the strain the affair took on Mr. Webley (a personal friend) as the proposed buyout of BSkyB was coming to fruition and the deal came under regulatory review. Mr. Webley was clearly concerned. I for one would like to know the truth.
Note: This article replaces two earlier pieces that detailed a phone call John Romano had with Mr. Webley on April 29, 2011.
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