Will James Murdoch be Arrested?

The NewsCorp empire appears to be crumbling at breakneck speed. Both Rupert and his son, James, will be in front of British Parliament today to explain what they knew and when they knew it. Rupert is likely to come off as the older, top guy who was quite removed from the details of the hacking scandal. James, on the other hand, is in charge of NewsCorp's Europe division and appears to have been intricately involved, even signing checks made out to victims of the hacking scandal, checks that ostensibly were to buy those victims' silence. The pen James used to sign them may be a smoking gun.

Via ABC News:

The Murdoch dynasty may be coming to an end.

James Murdoch, considered the heir apparent to his father Rupert Murdoch's media empire, may be forced to resign or, worse, could face arrest as News Corp's phone hacking scandal continues to unravel.

"I don't see how he can survive," Howell Raines, former executive editor of The New York Times told ABCNews.com. "Seems to me that the movement both politically and legally is ominous."

As for Rupert Murdoch, Raines said, "I think he's seriously wounded."

Raines resigned from the New York Times in 2003 amid the newspaper's own scandal after a reporter, Jayson Blair, had committed plagiarism and fabricated stories.

Father and son are expected to appear before a committee in the British parliament today to tell what they knew about News of the World employees illegally eavesdropping on the phone messages of celebrities, politicians, royal staffers and, as recently revealed, terror and murder victims.

By all accounts, James is a leftwing ideologue who has a cozy relationship with Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Those things don't seem to be getting any media attention.