ACTOR STEVE Coogan has compared the Murdoch empire’s News International to a “protection racket” that uses the threat of intrusion to ensure it is allowed to “conduct business unencumbered by scrutiny or regulation”.
The actor, who will give evidence to the Leveson inquiry into phone hacking next week, is one of dozens of people suing the erstwhile owner of the defunct News of the Worldfor allegedly hacking into their mobile-phone messages.
In an article for the Guardian,Coogan writes that Britain's most powerful newspaper group employs the prospect of negative coverage "as a weapon against those who get in the way of News International".
“Its behaviour is not unlike a protection racket: be nice to us – that is, let us conduct our business unencumbered by scrutiny or indeed regulation – and we will return the favour. Be nasty to us – ie subject us to too many checks and balances, or curtail our plans to expand our empire – and you will feel our wrath,” he said.
Coogan added that the reputations of those who fail to do News International’s bidding are damaged if they do not co-operate with the company.
"History teaches us that it doesn't matter how plainly wrong something is; if you do it systematically, unblinkingly and for long enough then it becomes accepted, part of the zeitgeist. That is Rupert Murdoch's toxic legacy," Coogan said. – ( Guardianservice)