A U.S. connection to Britain's tabloid scandal?

Rupert Murdoch is an attractive target for politicians on both sides of the Atlantic. Allegations that investigators for his flagship London tabloid, the News of the World, hacked into telephones — including one belonging to a missing girl later found dead — are appalling. So are allegations that News of the World staffers paid the police for confidential information.

But does the scandal have an American angle? Some members of Congress think so, and they succeeded in persuading the FBI to open a preliminary probe. But they may find themselves disappointed. "Americanizing" the scandal may prove a difficult task.

One supposed connection between the scandal and the United States is that News of the World employees reportedly sought the phone records of 9/11 victims and survivors in this country. Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) said he was aware of reports that they had solicited a New York police officer "to gain access to the content of private phone records" of 9/11 victims. But for the moment at least, there is scant evidence that such activity took place.

Another attempt to create a connection with the United States involves the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a law that forbids U.S. businesses to bribe foreigners. The theory is that because Murdoch's parent company is located in the United States, British reporters might have run afoul of the act if they bribed British police. It's an ingenious but unpersuasive idea.

On Friday, another tenuous tie to the U.S. seemed to emerge when Les Hinton, chief executive of the Murdoch-owned Dow Jones & Co. and publisher of the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, stepped down. His resignation was not the result of activity that took place in the U.S., however, but because of his longtime role as head of Murdoch's British publishing subsidiary.

The final tie between the scandal and the United States is Murdoch himself. Some of his American detractors object not only to what allegedly happened at the News of the World but also to Murdoch's politics or the extent of his empire. The scandal provides them with an opportunity to accuse him of illegality as well as arrogance.

If the practices that allegedly occurred at the News of the World also took place at Murdoch's operations in this country, then of course a thorough federal investigation and prosecution would be necessary. But some of the outrage in Congress over a British scandal is a case of "everybody's gotta get into the act."

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