News Corp PR disaster similar to BP catastrophe

While News Corp attempts to recover from an ongoing 'PR disaster', we can almost compare today's news to the huge challenges BP faced in its publicity downfall.

Both companies are hugely influential in two different spectrums, the media and the oil industry. Both are backed by high stake investors, politicians and public figures. While News Corp faces the gauntlet of a 'united' British Press, defending the values of privacy and universally condemning News International's wrongdoings, BP faced similar treatment in the eyes of the US media just a year ago.

While BP faced a grilling from the US Congress which saw its CEO, Tony Hayward forced out of a job, Rupert Murdoch will have to go public with the image of his company on Tuesday at the Parliamentary committee. He will attend along with his son James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks to respond to questions about the hacking scandal and other allegations.

BP Apology Video

Should Murdoch make one too?

This all feels like a 'deja vu', with high political stakes, thousands of jobs at risk, and millions of innocent people some how drawn into the scandal. Although this time the British government wont have to face an environmental clean up, the media environment will certainly need a huge 'washing'.

So what will be the outcome of Tuesday's grilling? Will it create sympathy for News Corp, or will the British people be further enraged by its conclusion? How will this very public, and highly anticipated event affect News Corp by the end of the week?