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Faith-Based Shareholders Call for News Corp Board Shakeup March 1st, 2012
The Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility and Christian Brothers Investment Services are calling once again for a shakeup of the Board of Directors of News Corp and the resignation of James Murdoch, son of newspaper magnate Rupert Murdoch. The faith-based groups were part of an investor revolt , calling for reform of the News Corporation board at last year’s annual general meeting. Thirty five per cent of shareholders voted against James Murdoch’s re-election then, and the ICCR members are calling again for major changes on the Board.
Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI was quoted in several press stories about the need for James Murdoch’s resignation and a Board shakeup after it was announced that Murdoch was giving up his position as executive chairman of News International – the British publishing division hit by the phone-hacking scandal – and returning to New York. ” It seems to me that … either [the] Leveson enquiry or the internal enquiry from the company [may have] … turned over some new thing that has made James decide he is going to step down.” “This raises further concerns about the way this company is governed. … It is clear to us that there are too many conflicts of interest in the way this company is run.”
The shareholder campaign at NewsCorp is in keeping with investor campaigns for better governance, one element of which is separation of the Board Chair and CEO. Best practices, according to Julie Tanner of Christian Brothers, which is drafting a shareholder resolution against News Corp, is that 2/3 of Board Directors should be independent (not related by family or personal ties). Rupert Murdoch currently owns 40% of the company and is Board Chair and CEO.
Learn more…
Article in the Guardian Newspaper…
Interview on ABC News show “The World Today”…
Women religious, shareholders raise awareness about child sexual exploitation during the Super Bowl January 31st, 2012
Building off of last year’s successful campaign, Celebration without Exploitation, members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) are once again coordinating with local law enforcement to raise awareness of the risks of child sex trafficking during the Super Bowl.
While football fans pour into Indiana next week to cheer for their favorite teams, traffickers in the sex trade are gearing up for their most profitable weekend of the year. Because trafficking is reported to peak at large sporting events and hotels are the prime venue for prostitution, shareholders have initiated a multi-pronged campaign to keep hotels trafficking-free during Super Bowl weekend and beyond.
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Faith-Based Investors Call on House Leadership to Support Human Trafficking Legislation January 26th, 2012
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate joined members of US Social Investment Forum and The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) in a letter to The Honorable John Boehner (Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives) and The Honorable Eric Cantor (Majority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives) seeking their support on the Business Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act (HR 2759). The letter strongly encourages the House leadership to support investors, companies, workers and consumers by moving this important legislation forward in an expeditious manner.
This letter was drafted, reviewed and contributed to by a broad coalition of experts and members of US SIF and ICCR. Read the letter…
Faith-based Shareholders Explain their Work on CBS’s The Early Show December 12th, 2011
Rebecca Jarvis, of CBS’s The Early Show, talks with the Rev. Seamus Finn and Sister Pat Daly, from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, about how they help major corporations realize their social duties to make them better.
Faith-Based Investors Call on Pharmaceutical Companies to Join the Medicines Patent Pool November 30th, 2011
In honor of World AIDS Day and the United Nation’s theme, “Getting to Zero”, members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) reiterate their endorsement of the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) created by UNITAID, and call upon pharmaceutical companies to share their licenses for life-savings AIDS medicines.
“The ‘Getting to Zero’ theme has three main goals,” said Christina Herman of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate: “Zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths: The MPP is an effective and powerful strategy against all three. As investors in pharmaceutical companies who view access to medicines as a fundamental human right, we strongly encourage participation.”
Read the ICCR Press Release on the UNITAID Patent Pool…
