Rupert Murdoch has been making headlines all over the place simply for his tweets, and now Murdoch has used the social networking platform to weigh in on one of the more controversial pieces of legislation currently under consideration by Congress: the Stop Online Piracy Act. As the head of a large company whose subsidiaries act as content providers, Murdoch is naturally in favor of the legislation, but yesterday he was none too happy about the Obama administration coming out saying they would not support any anti-piracy bill that curbs freedom of speech.

Congress is set to return later this month, and one of the most hotly contested pieces of legislation it will be facing is the Stop Online Piracy Act. The bill was authored by Republican Lamar Smith, and has received bipartisan support and opposition in the House. There has been a lot of talk about internet- and technology-based companies that support the bill, including GoDaddy (up until recently) and the video game industry.

In perhaps the biggest lapse in Twitter’s verification history, the Wendi_Deng Twitter account, purporting to be News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch‘s wife, has been confirmed as a fake. “It’s time to confirm that yes, this is a fake account,” revealed the impostor in a tweet. “I’m not Wendi.”

After joining the unwashed masses of the Twitterati just this past weekend, media mogul Rupert Murdoch discovered the downsides of telling the whole world what’s on your mind on a moment’s whim. Murdoch slammed Brits for taking too many holidays despite the poor economy: “Maybe Brits have too many holidays for broke country!” RELATED: Rupert [...]

CEO of News Corporation and global media titan Rupert Murdoch rang in the New Year by finally joining Twitter, tweeting via his iPad. The media mogul has fast drawn hundreds of followers in the span of only a few hours, and the first people he has has personally chosen to follow are Jack Dorsey, the creator of Twitter and Mark Pincus, the founder/CEO of Zynga, the online game company best known for Farmville. According to his tweets, he appears to be celebrating with Dorsey at a “huge NY eve do”.

CNN host Piers Morgan is scheduled to testify via videolink to Parliament this week over his potential involvement in any journalistic misconduct that took place when he worked at tabloids such as The Daily Mirror and former Rupert Murdoch publication News of the World. Inquiries into phone hacking have been going on for the past several months, ever since it was reported in July that News of the World reporters were hacking phones of civilians and celebrities for stories.

On Thursday’s show, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow recounted the British press’ role (specifically, Rupert Murdoch‘s role) in Tony Blair‘s political success, a phenomenon she and others refer to today as “The Murdoch Primary.” Here in the U.S., she said, we have a similar phenomenon occurring with other media properties owned by Murdoch, including The Wall Street Journal and, of course, Fox News Channel.

James Murdoch, son of News Corp head Rupert Murdoch, has resigned as director of News International’s News Group Newspapers Limited (which publishes The Sun) and Times Newspapers Limited, (which oversees both The Times and Sunday Times). The younger Murdoch has also faced pressure to step down as chairman of satellite broadcasting company BSkyB, in which [...]

On Wednesday’s The Factor, Bill O’Reilly brought on author and columnist Ann Coulter to discuss Barack Obama being in “full campaign mode.”

The new biography on late Apple co-founder and chairman Steve Jobs offers an interesting look at one of Jobs more high-profile and possibly unexpected friendships — that with News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch.

Not even the wealthiest 1% is safe from the wrath of Socially Conscious Elmo. News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch was delivering a speech on technology and public education in San Francisco (of course) today when he was repeatedly interrupted, despite being the keynote, by various members of what is being called the “Occupy Sesame Street” movement, whose demands are better public education and the halting of privatization in the education industry.

Fred Karger, man. We don’t hear too much about him in most mainstream outlets, but, if you follow him on Twitter, you’ll know that he’s been intently watching the Republican debates right along with all of us — and that he’s not too thrilled about not having been able to participate. In his new campaign [...]

The News of the World / News International phone hacking scandal — like any good scandal, really — has been bolstered by the inclusion of celebrities like the Royal Family, former tabloid editor Piers Morgan, and actor Hugh Grant. Now, Grant (who had previously sued UK police over their handling of the hacking and told the Today show that politicians in the UK are “terrified” of News International head Rupert Murdoch) is speaking out about the scandal yet again, telling The Independent that the ongoing investigation into various instances of phone-hacking has “only just scratched surface.”

Warren Buffett has challenged Rupert Murdoch to tax return disclosure-off. Last week the Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal ran an editorial asking Buffet, the namesake of a proposed guideline that would ensure that those who make more than $1 million pay proportional tax rates, to make public his tax returns. “No doubt the millions of Americans who could end up paying more because of this claim would love to see the details,” they wrote, urging the Berkshire Hathaway CEO to consider the disclosure an “opportunity to educate the public” on “his secret of tax avoidance.”

The News of the World phone hacking scandal is making its way to the U.S. as lawyers representing the hacking victims are going after the now-defunct paper’s parent company, News Corp., claiming that the allegation brought against the tabloid broke U.S. law in additional to laws in the UK.

According to Sky News, court proceedings will be taking place in New York City… and could mean bad news for company head Rupert Murdoch, given that, “as a US-based organization, News Corp and its directors could be held responsible.”

Bloomberg TV’s Betty Liu recently spoke with billionaire media mogul Ted Turner about a number of things he’s probably been mulling over the last few days: President Obama’s new plans to raise taxes for the very wealthy and what the future may hold for fellow very wealthy people Rupert Murdoch. Basically: Very wealthy people things.

“Nobody likes to pay more taxes,” said Turner. “At least, except Warren Buffett likes to pay more taxes. He’s the only one.”

Bad news for Emmy viewers who were hoping to catch Alec Baldwin tonight– an off-color phone hacking joke seems to have prompted the actor of abandon the project, leaving a trail of angry tweets behind him. The drama started last Thursday, when Baldwin was notified that a joke about the Murdoch phone hacking scandal may have been cut from an introductory comedy bit. With that rumor confirmed tonight, the actor is boycotting the Emmys and, apparently, spending the night at his trusty keyboard instead.

News Corp executive James Murdoch has officially turned down a $6 million bonus given to him by the company, saying it would be inappropriate to accept it in the midst of continuing investigations into the widespread phone hacking scandal.

New evidence that the News of the World covered up phone hacking at the paper has been brought to light in the form of a letter sent from a former editor at the paper to a human resources director at News International, contesting his firing from the paper by claiming “other members of staff were carrying out the same legal procedures.”

Shares of News Corp. rose Thursday–up nearly 17 percent by 1 p.m.–as traders reacted to Rupert Murdoch’s quarterly earnings conference call Wednesday afternoon. On the call, Murdoch vowed to remain in place as CEO despite the ongoing investigation into the company’s involvement in phone hacking, and reported a healthy profit. “We have the most robust balance sheet in our history,” Mr. Murdoch said, reporting 2.7 billion dollars in earnings for the fiscal year that ended June 30, up from 2.5 billion the year before.

News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch wants you to know his Fox Business Network’s not losing money anymore. On an earnings call Wednesday, Murdoch described the four-year old business channel as reaching “cash break even” status–not losing money, but not making money either. At the time of FBN’s 2007 launch, the network projected breaking even within five years, so executives see the milestone as a victory even as CNBC continues to dominate the cable business news niche. “Fox Business has made great strides,” News Corp. president Chase Carey said on the earnings call.

On Time‘s Swampland blog today, Massimo Calabresi reveals something interesting about Viet Dinh, the man handpicked by Rupert Murdoch to oversee News Corp.’s internal probe into allegations of phone hacking. During his first week at Harvard, Dinh began a long, ongoing friendship with Preet Bharara — who just so happens to be the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the person leading the U.S.’s investigation into News Corp.

Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of embattled mogul Rupert Murdoch, has announced she will not be joining the board of her father’s News Corp. company at this time. Her father had originally announced his daughter’s plans to seek a position on the board following the sale of her company, Shine Group, to News Corp. back in March. Her brother Lachlan and James Murdoch are both currently on the company’s board. Unlike her father and brother James, Elisabeth has not been a focus in the ongoing investigations into the family’s part in an alleged phone hacking scheme to obtain information about story subjects.

Adweek‘s Michael Wolff, who has previously used organized crime as a metaphor to explain Rupert Murdoch‘s News Corp., expands on the “mafia” metaphor in a new article that portrays Murdoch as the ultimate boss around whom the entire corporate structure has been built. “It’s an organization all about doing what Rupert wants you to do, or doing what you imagine Rupert wants you to do, or doing what you imagine your boss imagines Rupert wants done. There are few companies as large as News Corp. that are so devoted and in thrall to one man.”

Justice, friends, flies swiftly, like a shaving cream pie through space or Wendi Deng‘s fist through a smug expression. Unless you are the family of a murdered teen girl who was given false hope that she might still be living, of course. In which case: Not so swift!

In any case, Jonathan “Jonnie Marbles” May-Bowles — possibly better known as “the guy who threw a pie at Rupert Murdoch” — has been sentenced to jail for his actions. May-Bowles had pleaded guilty to having assualted Murdoch during his hearing. He will spend three weeks of his six week-long sentence in prison and will have to pay $407 in costs, as well as a $25 “victim’s fee.”