The recently publicized scandal at News International — about hacking phones and bribing police — has drawn an official letter of apology from News Corporation's Chairman and CEO, Rupert Murdoch.
But his apology falls short. An apology requires certain technical aspects. (For those, read here.)
What's Missing?
Mr. Murdoch doesn't take the step to the first-person singular. He's apologizes on behalf of the corporation, which is appropriate, but like Oedipus, he seems unaware of his own actions.
Perhaps he's avoiding legal exposure. O.K. But, until he apologizes for his personal actions — encouraging phone hacking and bribing police — he hasn't fully apologized.
And he certainly hasn't demonstrated that he's not currently continuing the same behavior.
Oh, he's sorry, all right.
He's sorry. And his ethics — manifest during decades of tasteless, blindly ambitious media, encouraged to break stories at any cost — are especially sorry.
But he seems only sorry that his flunkies were caught.