Rupert Murdoch 'could close UK newspapers" if hacking charges brought The media chief is known to be deeply attached to his British titles, which include The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun. However, lawyers claim he could end up shutting down the entire British newspaper operation to help preserve the rest of his empire, in the event that the police press charges against the company. Anil Rajani, a white collar crime specialist at IBB Law, said: "News UK can't be charged as a corporate entity if it doesn't exist as a corporation. And if a company is in the process of being wound up, it also counts as a factor against prosecution. It has been reported that News Corp said in an internal report that criminal charges against News UK would "kill the company and put 46,000 jobs in jeopardy." Shutting or selling the UK newspapers would be a drastic move, but it would not be the first time News Corp has taken bold steps to prevent the phone-hacking scandal from contaminating the rest of the company. In 2011 it shut down the News of the World newspaper - once the biggest-selling weekly title in Britain - and earlier this summer it split the News Corp business into two, cleaving its damaged newspaper and publishing business from its much more profitable film and television operations. News Corp executives would have to weigh the potential benefits of keeping the prestigious UK newspapers going against the potential risks of News UK losing a criminal lawsuit. Separating the companies has isolated the problem to some degree, but the publishing business and the film and entertainment business - now News Corp and 21st Century Fox respectively - still have a number of directors in common. Analysts fear that a guilty verdict could prompt Ofcom to reassess whether BSkyB, the satellite broadcaster 39pc owned by Mr Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, is "fit and proper" to hold a broadcasting licence.