News Corp Needs an Internal Investigation by Eliot Spitzer

Once upon a time, a TV anchor named Dan Rather ran a story about George W. Bush's desertion from the Texas Air National Guard after just four years - two short of his obligation.

While Rather's chronology was correct, his story relied on a document that turned out to be forged. (The substance of the document has never been refuted. The identity and motive of the forger has never be revealed.) Although Rather did not write the story, he was blamed for failing to vet the document sufficiently, and was soon fired.

CBS was determined to punish everyone who had any responsibility for the editorial error. They brought in Bush family consiglieri, Richard Thornburgh, to conduct a thorough investigation of top executives, which was released in full to the public.

Compare how CBS handled "Rathergate" with how News Corp is handling "Hackgate."

Dan Rather committed no crime; hackgate is about thousands of crimes, including repeatedly hacking voicemails, repeatedly bribing police, and repeatedly lying to Parliament.

CBS editor Rather took responsibility and apologized quickly. News of the World editors still refuse to take responsibility, nine years after the hacking began.

Most importantly, CBS brought in an outside investigator who was loyal to the victim and hostile to both Rather and CBS, and gave him full power to investigate and expose everything publicly. News Corp has conducted a series internal "investigations" which have proven to be jokes at best - and criminal coverups at worst, possibly including perjury, obstruction of justice, and millions of dollars in hush money.

Those investigations were conducted within News Corp's British subsidiary, News International. As the scandal widened, News Corp itself has taken charge, through board members like Joel Klein and internal review committees (like the Wall Street Journal's). But all of the reviewers are Murdoch cronies on the company payroll.

There is only one credible action for News Corp to take. It must appoint an outside investigator who is sympathetic to the victims and hostile to the perpetrators, and give him full power to investigate and report.

And the best person for the job would be Eliot Spitzer.