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Panorama allegations on Rupert Murdoch to screen on SBS

In an Australian exclusive, Dateline will be showing the report that has triggered a media storm around the world.

SBS international current affairs show Dateline will feature the recent BBC Panorama report that has revealed fresh hacking allegations and misconduct by News Corporation.

In an Australian exclusive, Dateline will be showing the report that has triggered a media storm around the world, in its entirety.

A BBC statement says: “We stand by the Panorama investigation. We have received NDS’s correspondence and are aware of News Corp.’s rejection of Panorama‘s revelations. However, the emails shown in the program were not manipulated, as NDS claims, and nothing in the correspondence undermines the evidence presented in the program.”

In an Australian exclusive, SBS’s Dateline will show in full the recent BBC Panorama investigation that has caused a worldwide media storm.

Still reeling from accusations of hacking and corruption at his British tabloid newspapers, Rupert Murdoch is facing fresh allegations, but this time his hugely profitable pay TV business is in the firing line.

News Corp stands accused of contributing to the downfall of rival British pay TV business, ITV’s On Digital. The story claims that NDS, a subsidiary of News Corp, employed computer hackers and was involved in promoting the piracy of On Digital’s smart card. The publication of the digital codes used to crack the smart card resulted in a flood of pirated copies being released into the market, and was a major contributing factor to the company’s demise, costing its shareholders more than a billion pounds and resulting 1,500 people losing their jobs. The hacker at the centre of the once secret operation has now broken his silence and the impact of his revelations is being felt at the very core of the Murdoch empire.

Locally, similar allegations have surfaced claiming a secret unit within News Corp promoted a wave of high-tech piracy in Australia that damaged competitors Austar, Optus and Foxtel, in a bid to control the local pay TV industry. Austar refutes the allegations while News Corp has vehemently denied the pay TV claims, accusing BBC of ‘gross misrepresentation’. Rupert Murdoch has himself even taken to Twitter saying “seems every competitor and enemy piling on with lies and libels.”

The BBC are standing by their claim that they have uncovered the ‘biggest hacking scandal of all’ despite the second largest multinational media conglomerate, and one of the world’s most influential companies, continuing to adamantly deny the accusations made in the report. Mark Davis presents Dateline live at 9.30pm, Tuesday 3 April on SBS ONE.

9:30pm Tuesday on SBS ONE

4 Responses

  1. Thanks David for the answer to part of the question asked the other day. Now all I wonder about is the PBS Frontline documentary about the UK Tabloid tactics owned by Murdoch and others.

    I’m glad it’s on at a sensible time too. So I might see what the fuss is about.

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