The Church of England has sold its shares in News Corporation because it fears Rupert Murdoch’s media empire has failed to learn lessons from the phone-hacking scandal.
The church first raised concerns about the News of the World’s “reprehensible and unethical” conduct more than a year ago, and had been trying to force News Corp into improving its corporate governance.
However, the CofE yesterday said it was “not satisfied that News Corporation had shown . . . a commitment to implement necessary corporate governance reform”. The church’s investment bodies, the Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board, announced the sale of their £1.9 million holding, representing 0.005 per cent of News Corp’s publicly traded stock.
Andrew Brown, secretary of the church commissioners, said: “Last year’s phone-hacking allegations raised some serious concerns . . . Our decision to disinvest was not one taken lightly and . . . the church’s ethical investment advisory group . . . does not feel that the company has brought about sufficient change.” – (Guardian service)