As the UK phone-tapping scandal envelops News Corporation — an imbroglio deftly summarised by Guy Rundle yesterday in Crikey — there’s one highly conspicuous missing element: any kind of public utterance by the company’s proprietor and conscience-in-chief, Rupert Murdoch, about the editorial practice of paying private investigators to illegally hack into the mobile phone voicemails of public figures.

Not once has Murdoch disowned the practice.

Not once has he stated that it is an appalling way to do journalism.

Not once has he promised to hunt down and sack the journalists in his organisation who paid six-figure retainers to spivs who illicitly hacked into the voicemails of prominent British politicians and celebrities.

Not once has he vowed to reassure shareholders he will cleanse his company of such repugnant behavior.

Not once has he claimed News Corp is an ethical organisation that regards illegal acquisition of information as an abomination to be weeded out.

Sometimes silence says so much more than any words can ever say.