Daily Lessons from Life 25-26 April 2012 - Murdoch and Speaking Out in S'pore

"Murdoch admits 'cover-up' at News of the World - AFP Thursday, Apr 26, 2012 LONDON - Rupert Murdoch admitted Thursday there was a "cover-up" over phone hacking at Britain's News of the World tabloid but insisted he and other executives at his media empire were kept in the dark. In his second day as star witness at a press ethics inquiry in London, the News Corp. boss said he had "failed" by not sooner ordering an internal investigation into the scale of wrongdoing at the paper. "There's no question in my mind that, maybe even the editor but certainly beyond that, someone took charge of a cover-up which we were victim to, and I regret that," the 81-year-old told the Leveson Inquiry. "I think the senior executives were all... misinformed and shielded from anything that was going on there. And I do blame one or two people for that, whom perhaps I shouldn't name because for all I know they may be arrested yet." The News of the World's royal editor and a private investigator were jailed in 2007 for phone hacking but the industrial level of the practice at the paper did not emerge until a new police probe was launched in January 2011. Pressed by the judge leading the inquiry, Brian Leveson, about why he did not take further action over allegations against one of his biggest-selling newspapers, Murdoch added: "I also have to say that I failed." "It's going to be a blot on my reputation for the rest of my life," he said." Good to see the ALL powerful in the dock and admitting his shortcoming and that he failed! In Singapore, the recent controversy of 'Wage Shock Therapy' elicited another form of responses. That of the members of the establishment and the elites of society speaking out more about the need to have robust discussion on issues of national importance. Lessons for me are: 1. the powerful will be held accountable if he or she failed in ethical behaviours. It is a question of when it will be found out and not if it will have to account to somebody!; 2. it is vitally important for a developed country to have thinking citizens that engaged in dialogue with the authorities with the aims of NOT rubbishing each others' views but to enrich the discussion with different viewpoints and then come to some conclusion. NOT to rebut at the 1st chance but to listen for common grounds and narrow the differences; 3. the case in UK when the authority is putting heat on the powerful people is something for many developing and supposedly developed but with fairly 'thinned-skin' or dictatorial government to take note. Their days will come if they don't do right in the 1st place! Power to the people and justice is equal for ALL!!