Fox News is apparently confused about the technology behind the News of the World hacking fiasco sparking headlines across the world. In a video clip making rounds on the Web, Doocy and his guest Bob Dilenschneider dismissed the scandal by repeatedly stressing the more important cybersecurity stories worth mentioning, such as data breaches at banks and online companies.
But Doocy and Dilenschneider are mixing up two different crimes: voicemail hacking and data hacking. As it’s been revealed, News of the World journalists accessed voicemail messages of celebrities and families of 9/11 victims; hacker groups such as Anonymous attacked banks and other institutions, in order to highlight the weak security systems set up by these large companies. The two incidents are not related.
Note Fox News is run by News Corp, where Rupert Murdoch is CEO. News Corp also published the now-defunct News of the World.
Referring to the News Corp scandal, Dilenschneider said, “We know it’s a hacking scandal, should we get beyond it…we’ve got a serious hacking problem in this country.” He reiterated how the public “should be concerned about their privacy” but he wasn’t referring to voicemail hacking central to the story he was speaking on.
The three-minute clip also pointed out how News Corp rebounded from the recent devastating news. Dilenschneider and Doocy defended their parent company’s actions, with the PR CEO saying, “All the right things everything has been done from a crisis point of view…It should really get put behind us.”
