Hacked Off In The UK, Part 9

And the Rupert Murdoch phone hacking story just won't quit, as the inquiry from an increasingly guilty-looking British Parliament now zeros in on son James Murdoch and his role.

James Murdoch knew more than three years ago that phone-hacking at News Corp's News of the World went beyond one "rogue" reporter, the newspaper's former legal chief said on Tuesday, contradicting repeated denials by Murdoch.

As the two-month crisis that has gripped News Corp and Britain's political establishment deepened, Tom Crone also said he had seen evidence that the company had recently hired freelance reporters to spy on hacking victims' lawyers.

In a statement, James Murdoch stuck to his denial that he had known at the time that hacking was more widespread but Crone's repeated allegations, and the mention of recent spying, cast doubt on Murdoch's effectiveness in weeding out wrongdoing.

News Corp has been engulfed by the scandal since July when it was revealed that the phone hacking extended beyond celebrities and politicians to murder victims including schoolgirl Milly Dowler, and British war dead.

The crisis has already wiped billions of dollars off News Corp's market value, cost it two senior executives, forced it to drop a $12 billion bid for BSkyB and to shut down the 168-year-old News of the World tabloid.

So far plenty of ugly eurozone financial news, Libya's liberation, and GOP Clown Car antics have kept the Murdochs off the front page here in the states, but this story is getting increasingly ugly for the Murdochs and the News Corp. empire.  If Murdoch the son knew about the phone hacking nonsense three years ago, and knew it was widespread, he's pretty much toast.

One has to wonder if Rupert is throwing his own son to the wolves to save his own leathery ass, nor would that surprise me one bit.  We'll see where the focus on James Murdoch goes, but something tells me we're going to be hearing a lot more about what James knew and when he knew it.