Renowned journalists and media figures have been eager to voice their concerns for the future of journalism and to expound its importance while the police adopt a seemingly more hostile stance towards the media and News Corporation is beset by yet more allegations of wrong doing.

Defendants of investigative journalism have been speaking out, following what many regard as alarming attempts by the Metropolitan Police to invoke the official secrets act against The Guardian. The director General of the BBC Mark Thompson has voiced his concern for the future of the craft of investigative journalism in what he described as a "dangerous period" for the profession.

The cries to protect the freedom of journalists to investigate thoroughly risk being lost amid the overwhelming atmosphere of public reproach and resentment felt toward one particular journalistic organisation: News International.

There have been fresh revelations this weekend about the investigation into the News of The World phone-hacking enquiry and the influence of the Murdoch family within the British political elite.

Former prime minister Tony Blair, who will be the subject of much discussion as the anniversary of 9/11 approaches, will also have to confront speculations that his links to the Murdoch family were even closer than had been previously assumed.

Wendi Deng, Rupert Murdoch's wife, revealed in a forthcoming interview with Vogue magazine, that Tony Blair had been made godfather to Murdoch's 9-year-old daughter Grace. Blair is described in the article as "one of Murdoch's closest friends".

Ivan Lewis, the shadow culture secretary, has publically stated that his party was too close with the Murdoch's media empire and feels 'Labour would probably not support any deal that brought together the largest newspaper group (News Corp) with the largest broadcaster by turnover (BSkyB)'.

The repercussions of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal continue to reverberate in the U.K. and Australia this week.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is experiencing renewed political troubles as it was revealed by the BBC's Robert Peston, that Andy Coulson, the PM's former Communications Director, supposedly received payment from News International whilst working for the Conservative Party. What is more, if these allegations are proved to be true, then not only David Cameron himself but his entire party could be facing some tough questions.

Not only does this mean that Mr Cameron may knowingly have employed someone in the pay of Rupert Murdoch, but if these fees are interpreted as donations in kind to the Conservative Party then the part will have broken electoral law, as any donations must be disclosed, as The Guardian outlines.

The phrase "I don't have direct knowledge" has been thrown around often in today's Parliament hearings with Rupert and James Murdoch.

In the conference, British lawmakers grilled the Murdochs on financial details of settlements, facts about earlier phone hacking cases, political influence, and who exactly was responsible for the illegal phone hacking. Rupert Murdoch prefaced the questions with the statement, "This is the humblest day of my life."

He then distanced himself from responsibility, saying that News of the World represented just one percent of his company and that he was not told by editors about large payments to settle phone hacking cases out of court. His answers were slow and he appeared to have trouble remembering details. His son, James, kept trying to jump in and answer questions, but one Parliament member kept redirecting corporate responsibility questions back to Murdoch senior.

When asked, Rupert Murdoch said that he was "not really in touch". He claimed to talk to his senior editors about once a week, but later revised the answer to once a month. According to him, the conversations remained informal, opening with his question, "What's doing?" and stayed on topics of news stories. He insisted that he did not influence the stories. He later revised his account again, saying that he would not normally pay that much attention to British newspapers that make up just 1 percent of his business.