Eric Boehler: Sometimes It's What They Don't Cover That Counts

Turns out internal Fox News talking points about what NOT to discuss on the air might be just as influential as the guidelines that coach hosts on which stories to push each day. What else could explain the fact that it's been 52 weeks since Rupert Murdoch's News Corp phone hacking scandal broke big, yet Sean Hannity has never addressed the story on his show, according to a search of Nexis. And Hannity's prime time partner Bill O'Reilly isn't much better. To date, he's committed just seven minutes to the story, and during his single segment on the story, O'Reilly falsely claimed there hadn't been any "intrusion of this story thus far on News Corp. properties" in the United States. There had. Les Hinton, CEO of News Corp's Dow Jones division, was forced to resign as a result of the widening scandal. The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity have aired more than 500 hours of programming in the last year, but set aside just a few minutes for the hacking story. Amazing. This week marks the one year anniversary of the shocking Guardian scoop about how Murdoch's News of The World tabloid hacked into the voice-mails of an abducted schoolgirl who was later found murdered. The ghoulish revelation catapulted the News Corp's long simmering British phone hacking scandal into the news stratosphere and uncorked a twelve month ride that has been brutal for CEO Murdoch at every turn, as allegations have tumbled out about rampant phone hacking and the paying off of public officials, and there is no end in sight to his woes. Since that scoop, the hacking story has arguably been the biggest media business news story of the year, as the controversy has completely roiled Rupert Murdoch's company, causing him to close an entire newspaper and jettison top lieutenants, including his own son, who became tainted by the scandal.