In the wake of its announcement that it will cleave its business into two separate publicly traded entities, News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch shot back at critics who said the split was motivated by a desire to ease political pressure from the months-long phone hacking scandal at its U.K. newspapers.
News Corp. has weathered a firestorm of criticism over the phone hacking scandal, where editors and reporters at its former News of the World tabloid were accused of illegally intercepting voice mails from celebrities and political figures. The most egregious of the charges against the paper, which News Corp shuttered last year, was that employees hacked into the voice mail of 13-year old murder victim Milly Dowler. News Corp. has cooperated with officials throughout the investigation.
The scandal has caused some U.K. regulators to look into other aspects of News Corp.'s business - with some questioning whether the company was fit to hold licenses for its British Sky Broadcasting satellite TV service.
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