MUMBAI: News Corp cannot just be a profitable company but also must be a principled one, said chairman Rupert Murdoch during the 2011 annual meeting of stockholders amid tough questions aimed at him following the phone hacking controversies.

Reports indicate that 150 protesters carried signs critical of
management?s handling of the controversy outside the venue of the meeting. News Corp said that all 15 directors were elected at the meeting, while a proposal to split Murdoch?s role as chairman and CEO was rejected. The results will be filed with regulators early next week.

In his address Murdoch said, "We simply can?t deliver on our
commitment to engage, entertain, and inform if our 50,000 employees aren?t beacons for good professional and ethical behaviour. That is why we must admit to, and confront our mistakes, and establish rigorous and vigorous procedures to put things right. Over the past few months, we have been the subject of much attention over allegations that a number of our journalists in Britain had broken the law by hacking personal telephone voicemails. There is simply no
excuse for unethical behaviour."

Murdoch went on to elaborate on the phone hacking controversies. "We closed "The News of the World" at financial cost to our company and to the many fine and innocent journalists who played by the rules and broke no law... the only thing they broke were great stories. They launched important campaigns, uncovered political scandals and held the powerful to account. Still, closing "The News of the World" was the right thing to do," he said.

If News Corp holds others to account, then it must hold itself to account. ?That is why we have devoted so many resources to get to the heart of this matter... and why I am personally determined to right whatever wrong has been committed and to ensure that it does not happen again anywhere in our company. Our directors, too, are playing an important role. They have been engaged in our processes and progress, and I thank them for their diligence during a period in which the company has been the subject of both understandable scrutiny and unfair attack. I am particularly grateful to two of our directors, both former deputy attorneys general of the United States. Joel Klein has hired and supervised many of the world?s finest lawyers here and
in Britain, while Viet Dinh, on behalf of the Independent directors, has watched carefully over the process on a daily basis, and kept his colleagues fully informed and engaged. These two men have earned over their long careers reputations for integrity, effectiveness, and the highest ethics. I am grateful they are the ones leading the effort for
News Corp to put things right."

News Corp is cooperating very closely with London?s Metropolitan Police, and the cases are in their thorough and competent hands. Murdoch said that while there are great challenges ahead, there are even greater opportunities. He spoke about the progress that various divisions of the company have been making.

"Behind the headline initiatives, such as the production of Avatar, the building of a revolutionary, and profitable, educational division, and the launching of a purely digital original newspaper, The Daily, there is the outstanding but steady growth of our world-class franchises. The Wall Street Journal, now the leading national newspaper in the U.S., has not only shown month-after-month, quarter-after-quarter, increases in circulation revenue... it is recording double digit growth in advertising revenue... while its main competitor is in decline. And the Journal is increasingly a digital platform, with a global monthly digital audience of more than 50 million lucrative readers, stretching across borders and languages."

The Times, Sunday Times and Sun in Britain and the newspapers in Australia, all of which are developing digital personalities on the web and on mobile devices, are doing well. And advertising remains surprisingly strong in Britain.

"Today, our most important growth driver and our fastest growing business segment is our group of news and entertainment cable channels. In Fiscal 2011, our cable channels accounted for more than half of the company?s total adjusted segment operating income. In film and television, Fox News and the FBC network continue to increase their long-term leadership and revenue, leaving the competition far behind... and launching programs that are creative and remunerative. Other cable channels, such as FX, are vaulting in viewership, and building flourishing franchises.Great programmes and films, and more and ever better ones, are our insurance for the future," Murdoch said.

BSkyB now has ten million homes as subscribers; Sky in Italy has just passed the five million mark; Sky in Germany has made significant strides this year; and Tata Sky has grown to 4.5 million in India.

"These are only a few of our world-leading franchises and give a sense of the opportunities that await us... and they are eloquent evidence of the truly remarkable journey that we have taken together... and of the profitable path ahead. Visibility into advertising levels for 2012 is uncertain, although advance bookings are holding very steady, and our mix of businesses gives us a firm foundation for short and long-term growth. Our broad, diverse group of businesses across the globe is extremely strong, and we have no intention of resting on our laurels."

MUMBAI: The shareholder meeting of US media conglomerate News Corp takes place on Friday. If reports are to be believed, the Murdochs could be in for a tough time.

There has been talk that shareholders might use the opportunity to put some pressure on Rupert Murdoch and his family to loosen their grip on the company. 

The Murdochs control about 40 per cent of voting stock and a Saudi prince that supports them controls seven per cent. So a vote will not work to get the family to cede control of the company. However, shareholders could send a signal by voting against long-standing board members including James and Lachlan Murdoch.

The meting comes after the phone hacking scandal which led to the closure of ?News Of The World?. Saying the scandal "laid bare a striking lack of stewardship and failure of independence" by the board, shareholder advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services has recommended that stockholders withhold their votes from most company directors standing for re-election, including Rupert Murdoch and his sons James and Lachlan. Another shareholder advisory firm, Glass Lewis & Co., has recommended a vote against some directors, including Murdoch?s sons.

Two California state employee pension funds will vote their shares against re-appointing Rupert Murdoch to the board. At the same time some analysts feel that since the company?s fundamentals are still solid, to overthrow the management team would be a drastic step at this juncture. What could pose a bigger problem, though, is if there is a rift between father and son James. Reports indicate that this is happening due to a difference in vision between them.

MUMBAI: Media conglomerate Rupert Murdoch?s troubles are far from over. Australia‘s competition watchdog has questioned the bid by Murdoch‘s cable television operation, FOXTEL, to buy out rival operator, Austar.

Murdoch‘s News Limited, a subsidiary of News Corp, has significant stakes in Australian media, and also controls the country‘s largest subscription television provider, FOXTEL, which has 1.63 million subscribers.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission told Friday that the cable agreement would create "a near monopoly" in the pay-TV service market.

The ACCC‘s statement is only its initial finding. The contract cannot go through without its consent.