High noon

The American left is revelling in Rupert Murdoch’s British troubles – and it’s America that has the power to really hurt him

Washington DC

Let’s start, first, with the bare facts: a British newspaper has been found to have broken British law. The proprietor has closed the paper and apologised profusely. Some British policemen have resigned. Some British journalists have been arrested.

While all of this is happening, wars are being fought in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan. The baseball season is progressing. Goldman Sachs has reported a disappointing $1 billion profit. The US Congress is wrangling over the national debt and, as a result, the American government may be about to default. And yet the story we all want to talk about here in Washington this week is the story of the British paper breaking British law. About Rupert Murdoch giving evidence to a House of Commons committee. And, of course, about Wendi Murdoch and her astonishing right hook.

Most popular

James Tidmarsh

The African cardinal who terrifies Macron

How to explain it? The News International meltdown has been on the front pages of America’s most prestigious newspapers every day since it began. It has led the evening news, dominated the blogs, come up on every chat show and in many private conversations. I went to see a friend about the prospects for Egyptian democracy, and he wound up quizzing me closely about the prospects of a Murdoch resignation. Another friend keeps me up to date with gossip about the high-powered Washington law firms (there are several) that Murdoch has consulted to prepare his potential defence. 

This interest is not idle: it is political. In the suburbs of Washington and on the island of Manhattan there are many, many people who blame Murdoch for the rightward shift of the American media, for tabloidising television, for lowering the tone of public debate, for bringing a British note of viciousness into a once-civilised public debate.