Murdoch memeber of Council on Foreign Relations
Excerpt:
Rupert Murdoch CFR
http://www.amazon.com/Media-Monopoly-Ben-H-Bagdikian/dp/0807061557
Excerpt:
This book completely cured me of activism. It explains all of societies problems so clearly that you will be dumbfounded as to the amazing simplicity of the solutions. With far less sophisticated and pervasive technology, Hitler was able to convince the so called aryans that Jews were infact rodents. How could this be? Media Molopoly explains it all very simply. People form opinions based on the information that they receive. Edward Bernays figured that out in the 20's and coined the term "Public Relations". Hitlers propaganda minister had all of Bernays books on his book shelf. The process is simple and effective. Our system of gov't is based on the transmission of misinformation. This book reveals things like that, and quite frankly, the book is just about as valuable as a 4 year college degree. It's the most important book i've ever read.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1469262
Excerpt:
Source: ProtectOurElections.Org
The government accountability group ProtectOurElections.org is urging the FBI and the SEC to launch parallel criminal and civil investigations into Rupert Murdoch's media empire in the United States for possible prosecution under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal in the United Kingdom.
The umbrella group, representing grassroots activists across the country, sent a letter today to both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Security and Exchange Commission asserting that the scandal overseas was in and of itself evidence of violation of the Act, because the company is headquartered in the United States, and urged both agencies to seek warrants to search the company's New York offices. It also pointed to evidence that phone hacking by News Corp journalists and editors may have spread across the Atlantic.
The letter, written by ProtectOurElections.org lawyer Kevin Zeese, described the extent of the phone hacking as "staggering" and pointed to recent revelations and admissions by News Corp executives that its employees have engaged in "widespread obstruction of justice, bribery and destruction of evidence." According to one British news report today, a private investigator in New York was approached by the company for help in tracking down the phone records of 9/11 victims so their voice mails could be illegally accessed.
--snip--
"It is clear that News Corp has violated the
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jill-sobule/murdoch-and-me_b_208201.html
Excerpt:
According to Estulin’s sources, which have been proven highly accurate in the past, Bilderberg is divided on whether to put into motion, “Either a prolonged, agonizing depression that dooms the world to decades of stagnation, decline and poverty … or an intense-but-shorter depression that paves the way for a new sustainable economic world order, with less sovereignty but more efficiency.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pravda_(play)
Excerpt:
Pravda is a play by David Hare and Howard Brenton. It was first produced at the Royal National Theatre on 2 May 1985, directed by David Hare starring Anthony Hopkins in the role of Lambert Le Roux. It is a satire on the mid-1980s newspaper industry, in particular the press baron Rupert Murdoch. Its title refers to the Russian Communist party paper Pravda.
The play won both the London Standard and City Limits Best Play award for 1985.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2005/oct/09/theatre1
Excerpt:
In the best Brechtian tradition, Brenton juxtaposes alternating modes of fantasy and realism. His biggest hit, Pravda, written in 1986 with David Hare, is a brilliant black comedy about a megalomaniac, right-wing newspaper magnate who bears a suspicious resemblance to Rupert Murdoch (Brenton has said they set out to write Richard III set in Fleet Street). The Churchill Play (1974) brutally deconstructs the patriotic myths Britain has spun about itself since the Second World War.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-01-15/features/8902250883_1_lambert-le-roux-pravda-staging
Excerpt:
`Pravda` Offers Compelling Tale Of Evil Power
He is Lambert Le Roux, a conniving capitalist of communications possessed with such towering egomania and all-consuming prejudice that he triumphantly entertains, even as his audience shudders at the horror of the mindless, hellish world he is bent on creating.
First introduced in London in 1985, when ``Pravda`` (which means
``truth`` in Russian) had its premiere at the National Theatre of Great Britain, Le Roux now has made a charismatic debut in the United States here at the Guthrie Theatre, where he will hold forth through Feb. 5.
He was always a fascinating fellow, but now, in an explosive staging of
``Pravda`` by director Robert Falls, he is even more of an alluring figure.
Falls, the artistic director of Goodman Theatre, has brought to this production a healthy supply of the roaring, rolling energy associated with Chicago theater at its most dynamic, and the Guthrie in turn has furnished him with the full technical force of the awesome playmaking machinery it is able to assemble on its large thrust stage.
In a staging that marks a new, high level in his gift for animating strong stage pictures, Falls also has been able to tighten and focus the show so that this very English drama is more vibrant in Minnesota than it was in London.
Working with a large cast of 28 actors, including several Chicagoans who have augmented the Guthrie`s resident company, Falls has drawn together an impressive ensemble effort.
He also has the benefit of a slam-bang, take-no-prisoners star turn by the American actor Daniel Davis in the key role of Le Roux.
Davis, a veteran of the resident theater circuit, was a brilliant
``Misanthrope`` for the Guthrie in Moliere`s classic comedy last season, and he is even more exciting as malevolence personified in this contemporary drama.
Le Roux, a character inspired in part by the real-life history of communications millionaire Rupert Murdoch, is single-minded in his insatiable drive for power.
Neither right nor truth can stand in his way; when he goes to war with them, he wipes them out, and, in this production`s most electric scene, their representatives literally must get down on their knees and beg him for mercy. Davis plays this mesmerizing monster with much of the same vocal force and physical thrust used by the English actor Anthony Hopkins in the original production, but he adds to it his own glowering menace and hypnotic charm. It`s a combination of Cary Grant and Jimmy Cagney, with a bit of Le Roux`s South African accent added.
In telling of the disastrous impact of Le Roux`s journalism on English society, Hare and Brenton have drawn several sharp, sardonic scenes of satire in the first half of their play.
http://articles.philly.com/1997-06-29/news/25526513_1_liberty-medal-page-freedom-fighters
Excerpt:
Rupert Murdoch Tells Piers Morgan His Chances of Success Are ‘Less Than Zero’
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/rupert-murdoch-tells-piers-morgan-72471
Excerpt:
"'Your chances are less than zero,'" Morgan quotes Murdoch as saying to him, according to the New York Times. "'I wish you good luck, but I do not wish you success.'"
``truth`` in Russian) had its premiere at the National Theatre of Great Britain, Le Roux now has made a charismatic debut in the United States here at the Guthrie Theatre, where he will hold forth through Feb. 5.
He was always a fascinating fellow, but now, in an explosive staging of
``Pravda`` by director Robert Falls, he is even more of an alluring figure.
Falls, the artistic director of Goodman Theatre, has brought to this production a healthy supply of the roaring, rolling energy associated with Chicago theater at its most dynamic, and the Guthrie in turn has furnished him with the full technical force of the awesome playmaking machinery it is able to assemble on its large thrust stage.
In a staging that marks a new, high level in his gift for animating strong stage pictures, Falls also has been able to tighten and focus the show so that this very English drama is more vibrant in Minnesota than it was in London.
Working with a large cast of 28 actors, including several Chicagoans who have augmented the Guthrie`s resident company, Falls has drawn together an impressive ensemble effort.
He also has the benefit of a slam-bang, take-no-prisoners star turn by the American actor Daniel Davis in the key role of Le Roux.
Davis, a veteran of the resident theater circuit, was a brilliant
``Misanthrope`` for the Guthrie in Moliere`s classic comedy last season, and he is even more exciting as malevolence personified in this contemporary drama.
Le Roux, a character inspired in part by the real-life history of communications millionaire Rupert Murdoch, is single-minded in his insatiable drive for power.
Neither right nor truth can stand in his way; when he goes to war with them, he wipes them out, and, in this production`s most electric scene, their representatives literally must get down on their knees and beg him for mercy. Davis plays this mesmerizing monster with much of the same vocal force and physical thrust used by the English actor Anthony Hopkins in the original production, but he adds to it his own glowering menace and hypnotic charm. It`s a combination of Cary Grant and Jimmy Cagney, with a bit of Le Roux`s South African accent added.
In telling of the disastrous impact of Le Roux`s journalism on English society, Hare and Brenton have drawn several sharp, sardonic scenes of satire in the first half of their play.
http://articles.philly.com/1997-06-29/news/25526513_1_liberty-medal-page-freedom-fighters
Excerpt:
Turner's Hope Is That Americans Will Return To World Of Real News
More than a decade ago, a play called Pravda on the London stage offered a cutting commentary on the newspaper barons of Fleet Street. The lead character was a ruthless, cynical, altogether despicable fellow named Lambert Le Roux, whose formula for a money-making newspaper I've long kept on a wall in my office, just for fun:
``Page one, a nice picture of the Prime Minister. Page two, something about actors. Page three, gossip . . . a rail crash if you're lucky. Four, high technology. Five, sex, sex crimes, court cases. A couple of filler pages, then it's editorials. Then letters. All pleasingly like-minded, all from Kent.
``Page one, a nice picture of the Prime Minister. Page two, something about actors. Page three, gossip . . . a rail crash if you're lucky. Four, high technology. Five, sex, sex crimes, court cases. A couple of filler pages, then it's editorials. Then letters. All pleasingly like-minded, all from Kent.
Rupert Murdoch Tells Piers Morgan His Chances of Success Are ‘Less Than Zero’
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/rupert-murdoch-tells-piers-morgan-72471
Excerpt:
"'Your chances are less than zero,'" Morgan quotes Murdoch as saying to him, according to the New York Times. "'I wish you good luck, but I do not wish you success.'"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1930957/posts
Excerpt:
Clinton Camp Angry at Rumours of Lesbian Affair with Aide
The First Post (UK) ^ | 10/26/2007 | Staff Writers
Posted on 11/26/2007 8:49:28 PM PST by ex-Texan
Hillary Clinton's campaign team are furious that an unsubstantiated rumour of a lesbian affair with her exotic aide de camp Huma Abedin, which has been doing the rounds of 'underground' blogs and websites in recent weeks, appears to have gone mainstream after reports in foreign papers addressed the subject of dirty tricks on the US presidential campaign trail.
The problem started with a report in the London Times on Thursday. 'Hillary Clinton has been accused of having an affair with Huma Abedin,' read the caption under a photograph of the two trouser-suited women (above left) striding across the tarmac to catch a plane. The next day, the Russian newspaper Pravda wrote a similar round-up which concluded: "Hillary and her aide, Huma Abedin, do live together at home and on the road, but the only way to nail Clinton would be to catch them together in a lesbian action."
The rumour of a lesbian love affair appears to have been been started in August 2007 by the New York freesheet, the Village Voice. Although neither the Times nor Pravda made any attempt to claim the story was true, some Americans have taken the reports in two of the world's most famous newspapers to heart. Not least Hillary's own team. "This does not even qualify as tabloid trash... it's ridiculous and reckless," a Clinton aide said at the weekend.
Abedin, who is the daughter of Indian and Pakistani parents and comes from Kalamazoo Michigan, has been an aide to Clinton for some years. The photograph in the Times was taken in 2000. She was recently photographed (above right) in Vogue's 'Age' issue, as an example of a glamorous woman in her 30s with good looks, insider influence and a fabulous address book. She chose two red dresses - by Vera Wang and Oscar de la Renta - for her Vogue photoshoot.
Although the Times, owned by Rupert Murdoch, appears to have caused her some heartache, Hillary Clinton was diplomatic when asked an awkward question in Iowa at the weekend about Murdoch's growing influence in America. The arch-conservative media baron Rupert Murdoch, who already owns Fox News, the New York Post (and its gossip section Page Six, which notoriously went after Clinton's husband Bill during his presidency) and will soon own the Wall Street Journal.
Did Clinton think, the questioner wanted to know, Americans would "lose out democracy" if one person controlled their media? Clinton answered: "There have been a lot of media consolidations in the last several years, and it is quite troubling. It's bad for consumers because you limit choice, it¹s bad for citizens because it limits the diversity we have." But she also made it clear that she wasn't singling out "any company in particular" for condemnation. "I just want to see more competition, especially in the same markets."
What she didn't tell the questioner was that, the Times article notwithstanding, she and Murdoch have developed a close if curious relationship since she became junior senator for New York in 2001. Murdoch even held a fundraiser last year for Clinton's senate campaign and recently bankrolled former nemesis Bill Clinton's global warming initiative.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times
Excerpt:
Turner Catledge, the top editor at The New York Times for almost two decades, wanted to hide the ownership influence. Sulzberger routinely wrote memos to his editor, each containing suggestions, instructions, complaints, and orders. When Catledge would receive these memos he would erase the publisher's identity before passing them to his subordinates. Catledge thought that if he removed the publisher's name from the memos it would protect reporters from feeling pressured by the owner.[41]
http://www.geek.com/articles/apple/apple-allies-with-rupert-murdoch-on-inexpensive-tv-downloads-20100831/
Excerpt:
Apple allies with Disney and Rupert Murdoch on inexpensive TV downloads
Aug. 31, 2010 (3:37 pm) By: Christian Zibreg
Even if only Disney and the Fox network initially offer low-priced TV content on iTunes, rival media companies will be keeping a close eye to join the bandwagon at the first sign of a sales surge.
http://www.slate.com/id/2170387/
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
In an oral history of the show published in the August Vanity Fair, cartoonist Art Spiegelman remembers that he begged show creator Matt Groening not to work for Murdoch's Fox network. "They're gangsters!" Spiegelman told Groening.
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/04/a_bancroft_calls_out_rupert_mu.html
Excerpt:
And at least one member of the Bancroft family, who sold Dow Jones to News Corp., is crying foul. "I'm not surprised," Jane Cox MacElree, who controlled 15 percent of the family's Dow Jones shares, told Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici. "This is why I was not in favor of selling the paper to that man. Words mean nothing to him, unless they're his." Ooh, snap. Not that we're particularly surprised either. "How long did it last?" she asked wryly. "A couple of months?" Just over six, actually. In Murdoch time, that's an eternity.
Bancroft Doyenne on 'WSJ' Editor's Ouster [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
Earlier: Know Your Bancrofts
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/04/a_bancroft_calls_out_rupert_mu.html
Excerpt:
And at least one member of the Bancroft family, who sold Dow Jones to News Corp., is crying foul. "I'm not surprised," Jane Cox MacElree, who controlled 15 percent of the family's Dow Jones shares, told Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici. "This is why I was not in favor of selling the paper to that man. Words mean nothing to him, unless they're his." Ooh, snap. Not that we're particularly surprised either. "How long did it last?" she asked wryly. "A couple of months?" Just over six, actually. In Murdoch time, that's an eternity.
Bancroft Doyenne on 'WSJ' Editor's Ouster [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
Earlier: Know Your Bancrofts
Excerpt:
Rupert Murdoch meets his match in 'Pravda'
TimeLine Theatre's "Pravda" is one of the more frustrating close calls in recent Chicago theater. The script by Howard Brenton and David Hare premiered in 1985 at London's National Theatre, with Anthony Hopkins playing a media mogul devouring all in his path. It is a big, challenging, often toxically funny comedy, raging at the state of modern journalism a full generation ago, before newspapers had much to worry about. Nonetheless, everything the play decries -- ownership consolidation, Orwellian notions of fairness and balance, lily-livered journalistic toadyism -- is no less pertinent today.
The TimeLine staging has a lot going for it. Director Louis Contey handled TimeLine's "Awake and Sing!" -- one of the best Chicago ensemble achievements of the past three years. His cast is peppered with sharp-witted character men and women. And as Lambert Le Roux, the carnivorous Rupert Murdochy wolf calling the shots in "Pravda," Contey has in his corner David Parkes, a smart and forceful actor.
http://www.articleinput.com/e/a/title/Sir-Anthony-Hopkins-played-theatre-before-acting-in-movies/
Excerpt:
After 10 years in America, Anthony Hopkins returned to the London stage in 1984, where he won rave notices in 1985 playing Lambert le Roux, the Rupert Murdoch–like publishing tycoon in the play Pravda, by David Hare and Howard Brenton. The play was such a hit that it was revived in 1986 with Anthony Hopkins still in the lead. But an even more demanding role awaited him in Hollywood, a role that would make him an unforgettable superstar.
Anthony Hopkins took the role of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs in 1992 and made it so thoroughly his own that most people forgot that it had been played differently by Brian Cox in Manhunter (1986).
http://www.wariscrime.com/2009/05/07/news/leaked-agenda-of-the-bilderberg-group-meeting-2009/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Corrupt_Practices_Act
Excerpt:
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2011/07/11/265932/murdoch-fcpa-record/
Excerpt:
Over the last several years, the United States Department of Justice has aggressively prosecuted U.S. companies involved with corrupt activities abroad, collecting billions in fines and sending executives to jail. These legal actions, pursued under the auspices of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, could spell trouble for Rupert Murdoch.
Among other corrupt practices, The News of The World, a subsidiary of Murdoch’s U.S.-based News Corp, is accused of bribing UK police officers for information on former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Here are just a few recent examples of the U.S. Government pursuing similar cases:
The U.K. Daily Telegraph reports that News Corp would have to foot the bill for any investigation, even if they are never prosecuted, which could cost more than $100 million. A global investigation into Avon Products, started in 2008 and still ongoing, has so far cost the cosmetics giant $154 million.
http://www.fcpablog.com/blog/2010/4/13/avons-bribery-investigation-grows.html
Excerpt:
Avon's Bribery Investigation Grows
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 8:40AM 
Beauty-products giant Avon Products Inc. reportedly suspended four employees pending its internal bribery investigation. Reuters and others today said the world's largest direct marketer put three executives in China and another in New York on administrative leave. The reports said the bribery investigation now involves "a dozen or more countries."
In October 2008, Avon launched an internal investigation into possible Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations in China. The investigation appeared to be linked to the payment of improper promotional expenses.
China imposed restrictions on direct selling in the late 1990s that forced Avon to market its products through shops and boutiques. But in 2006, the company convinced China's regulators to allow its traditional door-to-door sales model. Avon's FCPA disclosure referred to "certain travel, entertainment and other expenses" but didn't say if the investigation involved promotional expenses for Chinese regulators involved in that decision.
Foreign companies often feel pressure to sponsor trips by Chinese regulators, who aren't shy to ask for such perquisites. The FCPA includes an affirmative defense for payments to officials related directly to “the promotion, demonstration, or explanation of products or services" that are "reasonable and bona fide.” 15 U.S.C. §§ 78dd-1(c)(2)(A) and 78dd-2(c)(2)(A). That defense is loaded with uncertainty and very difficult for companies to safely use.
Avon hasn't provided further details about the employee suspensions or its ongoing bribery investigation.
It's original disclosure said:
http://tickergrail.blogspot.com/2011/03/secret-cabal-part-1.html
Excerpt:
Full article HERE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Bagdikian
Excerpt:
Ben Haig Bagdikian (born 1920, Maraş, Ottoman Empire; now in Turkey) is an American educator and journalist. Bagdikian has made journalism his profession since 1941. He is a significant American media critic and the dean emeritus of the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. In 1983, Bagdikian published The Media Monopoly, which revealed the fast-moving media conglomeration that was putting more and more media corporations in fewer and fewer hands with each new merger. This work has been updated through six editions (through 2000) before being renamed The New Media Monopoly and is considered a crucial resource for knowledge about media ownership. Bagdikian is credited with the observation that "Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average American newspaper is like trying to play Bach's 'St. Matthew Passion' on a ukulele."
In 1971, whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg gave Bagdikian — then an editor at the Washington Post — portions of the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret classified history of the Vietnam War. Bagdikian passed a copy of the documents to Senator Mike Gravel, who promptly read them into the Congressional Record.
The TimeLine staging has a lot going for it. Director Louis Contey handled TimeLine's "Awake and Sing!" -- one of the best Chicago ensemble achievements of the past three years. His cast is peppered with sharp-witted character men and women. And as Lambert Le Roux, the carnivorous Rupert Murdochy wolf calling the shots in "Pravda," Contey has in his corner David Parkes, a smart and forceful actor.
http://www.articleinput.com/e/a/title/Sir-Anthony-Hopkins-played-theatre-before-acting-in-movies/
Excerpt:
After 10 years in America, Anthony Hopkins returned to the London stage in 1984, where he won rave notices in 1985 playing Lambert le Roux, the Rupert Murdoch–like publishing tycoon in the play Pravda, by David Hare and Howard Brenton. The play was such a hit that it was revived in 1986 with Anthony Hopkins still in the lead. But an even more demanding role awaited him in Hollywood, a role that would make him an unforgettable superstar.
Anthony Hopkins took the role of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs in 1992 and made it so thoroughly his own that most people forgot that it had been played differently by Brian Cox in Manhunter (1986).
http://www.wariscrime.com/2009/05/07/news/leaked-agenda-of-the-bilderberg-group-meeting-2009/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Corrupt_Practices_Act
Excerpt:
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) (15 U.S.C. §§ 78dd-1, et seq.) is a United States federal law known primarily for two of its main provisions, one that addresses accounting transparency requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and another concerning bribery of foreign officials.[1]
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2011/07/11/265932/murdoch-fcpa-record/
Excerpt:
Trouble For Murdoch: Feds Collecting Billions In Fines, Sending Executives To Jail For Corruption Abroad
Over the last several years, the United States Department of Justice has aggressively prosecuted U.S. companies involved with corrupt activities abroad, collecting billions in fines and sending executives to jail. These legal actions, pursued under the auspices of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, could spell trouble for Rupert Murdoch. Among other corrupt practices, The News of The World, a subsidiary of Murdoch’s U.S.-based News Corp, is accused of bribing UK police officers for information on former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Here are just a few recent examples of the U.S. Government pursuing similar cases:
In 2008, Siemens paid over $1.6 billion in disgorgement and fines to settle alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act. The SEC complained alleged that “Between March 12, 2001 and September 30, 2007, Siemens violated the FCPA by engaging in a widespread and systematic practice of paying bribes to foreign government officials to obtain business.” [SEC]Individuals who have been found to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act have been sentenced to as much as 87 months in jail. Roger Witten and Jay Holtmeier, two attorneys that specialize in FCPA cases, note that “recent large settlements have set new standards for the government, and penalties are likely to be higher in the future than for comparable conduct in the past.”
Former KBR chairman and CEO Albert Stanley was accused of making illicit payments to Nigerian officials to obtain contracts. In 2008, Stanley pled guilty to “conspiracy to violate the FCPA” and other charges. He agreed to face up to seven years in jail and pay $10.8 million in restitution. [Department of Justice]
Last year, Filmmaker Gerald Green and his wife Patricia were sentenced to six months in prison and fined $250,000 after they were found guilty of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Greens bribed a Thai tourism official to secure a contract with the Bangkok film festival. [ABC News]
The U.K. Daily Telegraph reports that News Corp would have to foot the bill for any investigation, even if they are never prosecuted, which could cost more than $100 million. A global investigation into Avon Products, started in 2008 and still ongoing, has so far cost the cosmetics giant $154 million.
http://www.fcpablog.com/blog/2010/4/13/avons-bribery-investigation-grows.html
Excerpt:
Avon's Bribery Investigation Grows
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 8:40AM Beauty-products giant Avon Products Inc. reportedly suspended four employees pending its internal bribery investigation. Reuters and others today said the world's largest direct marketer put three executives in China and another in New York on administrative leave. The reports said the bribery investigation now involves "a dozen or more countries."In October 2008, Avon launched an internal investigation into possible Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations in China. The investigation appeared to be linked to the payment of improper promotional expenses.
China imposed restrictions on direct selling in the late 1990s that forced Avon to market its products through shops and boutiques. But in 2006, the company convinced China's regulators to allow its traditional door-to-door sales model. Avon's FCPA disclosure referred to "certain travel, entertainment and other expenses" but didn't say if the investigation involved promotional expenses for Chinese regulators involved in that decision.
Foreign companies often feel pressure to sponsor trips by Chinese regulators, who aren't shy to ask for such perquisites. The FCPA includes an affirmative defense for payments to officials related directly to “the promotion, demonstration, or explanation of products or services" that are "reasonable and bona fide.” 15 U.S.C. §§ 78dd-1(c)(2)(A) and 78dd-2(c)(2)(A). That defense is loaded with uncertainty and very difficult for companies to safely use.
Avon hasn't provided further details about the employee suspensions or its ongoing bribery investigation.
It's original disclosure said:
Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE: AVP) announced today, October 20, 2008, that it is voluntarily conducting an internal investigation of its China operations, focusing on compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"). The Company, under the oversight of the Audit Committee, commenced in June 2008 an internal investigation after it received an allegation that certain travel, entertainment and other expenses may have been improperly incurred in connection with the Company's China operations. The company has voluntarily contacted the Securities and Exchange Commission and the United States Department of Justice to advise both agencies that an internal investigation is underway. The internal investigation is in its early stage and no conclusion can be drawn at this time as to its outcome.
http://tickergrail.blogspot.com/2011/03/secret-cabal-part-1.html
Excerpt:
If you would like to verify the fact that most of the major media outlets are owned by "front organizations" affiliated with the secret cabal; i.e. the Trilateral Commission, the CFR, and the Bilderbergs, you should read Professor Ben Bagdikian's book, "The New Media Monopoly" because it identifies the five (or six) international corporations that control 90% of the major media outlets in the United States, [5] and you should also read "The Membership List of the Brotherhood of Darkness," compiled by Radio Liberty, or Robert Gaylon Ross's book, "Who's Who of the Elite." [6] The major corporations are:
Times Warner (AOL) (Trilateral Commission)
Bertelsmann (Trilateral Commission)
Viacom (CBS) (Council on Foreign Relations) (CFR)
Disney (ABC) (CFR)
GE-Comcast (NBC) (CFR)
Fox News: Ruppert Murdoch (CFR)
What is the Trilateral Commission? What is the CFR? Who controls the organizations? Where did they come from? What is their goal? We’ll discuss the answers to these questions in future articles.Bertelsmann (Trilateral Commission)
Viacom (CBS) (Council on Foreign Relations) (CFR)
Disney (ABC) (CFR)
GE-Comcast (NBC) (CFR)
Fox News: Ruppert Murdoch (CFR)
Full article HERE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Bagdikian
Excerpt:
Ben Haig Bagdikian (born 1920, Maraş, Ottoman Empire; now in Turkey) is an American educator and journalist. Bagdikian has made journalism his profession since 1941. He is a significant American media critic and the dean emeritus of the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. In 1983, Bagdikian published The Media Monopoly, which revealed the fast-moving media conglomeration that was putting more and more media corporations in fewer and fewer hands with each new merger. This work has been updated through six editions (through 2000) before being renamed The New Media Monopoly and is considered a crucial resource for knowledge about media ownership. Bagdikian is credited with the observation that "Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average American newspaper is like trying to play Bach's 'St. Matthew Passion' on a ukulele."
In 1971, whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg gave Bagdikian — then an editor at the Washington Post — portions of the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret classified history of the Vietnam War. Bagdikian passed a copy of the documents to Senator Mike Gravel, who promptly read them into the Congressional Record.
No comments:
Post a Comment