Murdoch's wife leaps to his defense at hearing

NY Times:

The Murdoch who may have emerged best from the gruelling question-and-answer session in the British parliament on Tuesday was not Rupert Murdoch or his son, James, but his wife, Wendi Deng Murdoch.

It was Mrs. Murdoch, 42, who lunged across the hearing room to defend her husband when after about two hours of intense questioning a protester stormed the witness table, attempting to hit Mr. Murdoch, 80, with a shaving cream pie on a paper plate.

Even as James Murdoch seemed frozen to his seat, shock written across his face at the sight of the intruder, Mrs. Murdoch leapt quickly to her feet from her chair just behind her husband, swung her arm in a great arch and punched the protester.

The speed of her reactions left even a policeman in the committee room trailing as he ambled over cumbersomely to sort out the melee.

Her actions brought immediate praise even from those lawmakers who had directed the toughest questions at Mr. Murdoch.

“Mr. Murdoch, your wife has a very good left hook,” said Tom Watson, a Labour member of Parliament.

And it made her an instant hero among the millions of television viewers who had tuned in to watch the face-off between the Murdochs and their parliamentary interrogators.

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Some reports in the British press suggested that following the thwarted attack she even picked up the paper plate from the witness table and shoved it into the protester’s face, screaming as she did so.

The protester — identified in reports here as Jonny Marbles, aka Jonathan May-Bowles, a comedian — was later led away by the police with his face covered in white cream.

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Way to go Wendi.

One other thing of note about the proceedings. They were much classier than many Congressional hearings where members spend most of their time haranguing the witnesses rather than asking questions. Congressional hearings have become a giant posturing bore. And, Code Pink better watch its step when Wendi Murdoch is around.

What I also found compelling was it was fact based. If the testimony was accurate it appears that reporters have been talking with sources who have given unsupported leads in an attempt to denigrate Mr. Murdoch.

Perhaps the US media can pull back from its inside baseball look at the Murdoch empire and go back to reporting news of relevance to US citizens instead of reveling what it seems to hope is the misery of a hated business rival.