News Corp Chairman Lachlan Murdoch says the real reason he is suing independent media outlet Crikey is so it bleeds dry, opening the way for his company to hack Crikey’s messages in search of a great scoop, as is the traditional practice at News.
In a statement today Murdoch said this was the preferred approach, as outlined in News Corp’s code of conduct. “We could hack their messages now, but traditionally we prefer to wait until there’s no sign of life. That’s the more ethical approach. By tying Crikey up in court using expensive lawyers, we think they’ll have a few months to live, and it’s at that point we’ll be able to get to work”.
He said he hoped the messages would reveal a number of stories which News could then publish as its own. “Given we only have around 20,000 people working at News, we only have the resources to republish conspiracy theories provided to us by Donald Trump. But the half a dozen or so journalists at Crikey apparently do this thing called investigative journalism, which we’re excited to ‘tap into’”.
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