Murdoch’s Cleanup Effort Draws Criticism

News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch told British lawmakers he’s the “best person” to clean up the company after a phone-hacking scandal. Fifteen days later, it isn't clear how he'll accomplish that.

The committee the New York-based media company set up to address the allegations isn't sufficiently independent and lacks a clear mandate to investigate wrongdoing, said corporate governance experts and investors. News Corp., led by Murdoch, has structured the new “management and standards committee” around too many insiders, said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at Yale University’s School of Management. “There really should be outside investigators doing all of this,” Sonnenfeld said in an interview. “News Corp. has a history, obviously, of disappointing internal reviews.” Two members were executives at News International, the unit that included the tabloid where the hacking took place, until they resigned to work on the committee. Though attorney Anthony Grabiner was hired as independent chairman to oversee the committee’s work, he reports to Joel Klein, a News Corp. executive vice president and board member.