O'Reilly Claims There Is No “Intrusion” Of The Hacking Story Into U.S. News Corp. Properties

O'Reilly: “There's Not One American Employee Of The News Corporation Implicated In Any Of This.” From The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: So, I mentioned to Amy -- and, you know, look, people are exploiting this situation. It is a bad situation. Anybody who broke the law should be held responsible. Everybody knows that. Journalists are citizens, too. We break the law, we should be held responsible for it.

But here in the United States, there isn't any intrusion of this story thus far on News Corp. properties. None. Yet, you have the New York Times absolutely running wild with the story. Front page, front page, front page, column, column, column. Vicious stuff, vicious stuff. And it's all ideological, is it not?

NILE GARDINER (Heritage Foundation senior fellow): You know, I think we are seeing, Bill, the beginnings of a witch hunt against Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation here in the United States. We now have the rumblings of several congressional committees threatening to hold hearings into allegations of phone hacking, into the accounts of the American citizens. I have to say, there's not a shred of--

O'REILLY: But that was -- let me just say, that was allegedly done by the News of the World British people. Not any American people.

GARDINER: Yes. That's the -- yeah. Yeah.

O'REILLY: Correct me if I'm wrong, Doctor. There's not one American employee of the News Corporation implicated in any of this.

GARDINER: Yeah. That's absolutely right. There's not a shred of evidence whatsoever that the U.S. side of News Corporation has been involved in any of these scandals hitting Britain at this time. An allegation has been made by the Daily Mirror that the journalists of the News of the World may have hacked into the phone accounts of some U.S. citizens. Again, that is a claim made against the News of the World. There is no real evidence to back that up, either. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 7/19/11]

Hinton, Former Head Of News International And An American Citizen, Resigned From Dow Jones As A Result Of Scandal

WSJ: Hinton Resigned In An Attempt To “Contain The Damage From The Company's British Tabloid Scandal, Which Began While He Oversaw The Company's U.K. Newspaper Operations.” From The Wall Street Journal:

Dow Jones & Co. Chief Executive Les Hinton resigned late Friday, as the top executive at News Corp.'s financial publishing unit sought to contain the damage from the company's British tabloid scandal, which began while he oversaw the company's U.K. newspaper operations.

Mr. Hinton said that he was “ignorant of what apparently happened” at the company's tabloid newspapers earlier in the decade. He characterized his lack of knowledge as “irrelevant” and said it was “proper” for him to step down. [The Wall Street Journal, 7/16/11]

WSJ: Hinton Worked At U.S. Arms Of News Corp. For 20 Years Before Overseeing Its U.K. Newspapers. From The Wall Street Journal's biography page for Hinton:

Before his appointment as Dow Jones CEO in December 2007, Mr. Hinton served for 12 years as executive chairman of News International, the U.K. arm of News Corp. and that country's largest publisher of national newspapers. News International's publications include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, The News of the World, The Times Literary Supplement, and thelondonpaper, the metropolitan London free newspaper.

Earlier, Mr. Hinton worked in the U.S. for 20 years, first as correspondent for the company's newspapers in the U.K. and Australia and later in a series of senior management positions in News Corp's publishing and television divisions. He was president and chief executive of News America Publishing, responsible for the company's U.S. publishing operations, and chairman and chief executive of Fox Television Stations. [Les Hinton biography, topics.wsj.com, accessed 7/20/11]

AP: Hinton Has Been An American Citizen Since 1985. From an Associated Press biography of Hinton:

NATIONALITY: Born near Liverpool in the U.K., he became a U.S. citizen in 1985. [The Associated Press, 7/15/11]