News Corporation: Allegations of Phone Hacking

Author
Griffiths, B.
Region
North America
Topic
Strategy & General Management
Length
18 pages
Keywords
news
news corporation
crisis
Communications
scandal
Copyright Holder
Notre Dame
Student Price
$4.00
Target Audience
Graduate Students
Undergraduate Students

By July 2011, News Corporation and one of its UK newspapers, News of the World, faced mounting pressure over revelations that it hacked into cellphone voice mails of crime victims, war widows, celebrities, government officials, and even members of the Royal Family. This case examines the events leading up to the peak of the crisis, as well as the communications that News Corporation undertook to address stakeholder concerns throughout the emergence and escalation of the scandal.

Learning Outcomes
  1. To explore the challenges of managing corporate communications in a closely-held company is run by a dominant executive;
  2. To examine how company culture affects corporate communications;
  3. To analyze crisis communications in a fast-moving environment with multiple stakeholders;
  4. To explore the volatility of business scandals and their effects on larger-scale operations and investments;
  5. To examine “gray areas” in legal and regulatory environments, and the extent to which they make companies vulnerable to poor business decisions;
  6. To consider the obligations a business has with respect to its community and stakeholders, particularly relating to societal norms like an expectation of personal privacy.