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Loading...UPDATED: @RupertMurdoch Verified, @Wendi_Deng Is a Fake
As of December 31, it seems that Rupert Murdoch has gotten himself a Twitter account, @RupertMurdoch. He has (as of the writing of this post) over 71,000 followers; has expressed support for Rick Santorum; has gotten a Twitter tutorial from no one less than his own wife, @Wendi_Deng.
@RupertMurdoch bears the blue and white check mark that indicates the account is “verified.” His “top spokeswoman,” Teri Everett, answered “oh, yes” when asked if Murdoch was indeed on Twitter, according to the New York Times. Some including CNN’s @PiersMorgan (and former News of the World editor) seem to be going along with the News Corp. chair and CEO’s new presence in the Twittersphere. “Now this is going to be fascinating … welcome to Twitter my old boss @RupertMurdoch,” Morgan tweeted. Highly mindful of the phone hacking scandal that dogged Murdoch’s media empire for much of 2011, the Guardian notes that others such as former deputy prime minister John Prescott welcomed @RupertMurdoch with reference to, indeed, the scandal: “”I’ve left you a Happy New Year message on my voicemail!” tweeted Prescott.
The alleged Twitter tutorials by @Wendi_Deng evoke a chuckle. As The Atlantic Wire points out:
Since starting his tweeting adventures, Murdoch already had a social media scandal, as we noted this morning. In short: He sent an offensive tweet, he then deleted said tweet, but not before people noticed, producing the anti-murdoch hashtag #murdochsdeletedtweets.
@Wendi_Deng (which also has the blue check of Twitter verification) had gotten Rupert to delete the offensive tweet (“RUPERT!!! delete tweet!”) after which she informed @RupertMurdoch “about being careful with humor on line. sometimes it comes out as rude!”
Will the truth out whether the fingers typing tweets for @RupertMurdoch and @Wendi_Deng are actually them? Or is someone(s) having a good laugh at the misinformation she/he/they’re broadcasting to over 70,000 followers, just as whoever was tweeting as the cobra who escaped from the Bronx Zoo did?
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, whose holdings include a stake in News Corp., did just invest $300 million in Twitter last week.
Perhaps the authenticity of @RupertMurdoch and of the account allegedly belonging to his wife is beside the point. After all, we need to remember who this Tweeter is (is alleged to be), the man who has given us fact-challenged Fox News; the man whose News Corp. is known for publishing ye standard tabloid fare (The New York Post and the now defunct — by his own call — News of the World); the man whose media empire has been sullied by the phone hacking scandal which began with the revelation that NoW staff had hacked the voice mail of a murdered 13-year-old British school girl, Milly Dowler. Could it be possible that someone has covertly gotten hold of @RupertMurdoch and is now impersonating the voice of Murdoch?
Or if @RupertMurdoch does turn out to be the work of Murdoch himself, is this his way of trying to make amends for the phone hacking mess, by offering the world (or at least his 70,000+ followers) his honest, unmediated Tweets?
UPDATE, 10:30 am, January 3, 2011: The @Wendi_Deng Twitter account is a fake. The Verified status on her account was removed on Monday night and @Wendi_Deng has admitted to being an impostor. As The Atlantic Wire notes,
Fake Wendi Deng also raised some questions about News Corp., who reportedly confirmed the authenticity of the account, and Twitter, who verified it. “It might be only a small matter, but you have to worry about the management of News International and Twitter if…” reads another tweet. “…they can both readily confirm, for a while at least, that this was the account of a very noted personality.”
The Guardian had reported on Monday that “A News Corporation spokesman confirmed the authenticity of the @wendi_deng twitter account.”
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Read more: 9/11, fox news, hacking, james-murdoch, media, milly dowler, piers morgan, rebekah brooks, rupert murdoch, social media, tabloids, twitter, wendi-deng
Photo of reactions on Twitter on the Guardian's website during the Parliamentary hearing when Murdoch got a pie thrown at him by ursonate
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19 comments
+ add your ownThere goes the twitter
Kinda downgrades the currency of the twittersphere, doesn't it?
Like Sue H said ...
Miserable, Greedy Bastard.
And yes, I would accept that death, in the case of Kim Jong II, is a valid defence.
You can't accurately limit Murdoch's degree of evil to just 140 characters. It would take an encyclopedia.
OH boy tweeters can now get the opinion of an old man in a scandal. That should be interesting.
I can't believe anyone one would want to follow his tweets!
So, is this like when the dark clouds suddenly gather over Gotham City?
Boycott Murdock / Fox / WSJ / GOP!
The regressive Republican Party of No is obstructionist, mean-spirited, thuggish, religiously fanatical, scientifically ignorant, corrupt, hypocritical, xenophobic, racist, sexist, homophobic, evolution and global warming denying, oily, anti-environment, anti-consumer, anti-choice, anti-education, anti-99%, union busting, Medicare and Social Security slashing, fiscally irresponsible, authoritarian, selfish, greedy, out-of-touch, lacking compassion, warmongering, and otherwise dangerous.
NEVER vote for Republicans.
That's the kiss of death for twitter given Rupert Murdoch social skills are somewhere on a par Kim Jung Il's bowel movements, he just doesn't have any, on Kim Jung Il's defense he is dead which sort of excuses him. Still, I do wonder what star crossed lovers like Old Rupert & Wendy will be tweeting about but then I prefer to wonder if someone took them out and shot them in the back of the head, there would be a brighter future for us all.
he's a thief and he owns a ton of media -.-
What's it gonna take to get rid of this guy? If Murdoch is even mentioned in the same sentence with an organization, it makes me nervous. He is one scary dude - no ethics or scuples at all - just unadulterated greed.
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