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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

In Britain, scandal has plagued the Murdoch family and its News Corp. media conglomerate. And today, another blow. Under pressure, Rupert Murdoch's son, James Murdoch, is stepping down as chairman of British Sky Broadcasting, also known as BSkyB. This occurs against the backdrop, of course, of the phone hacking and police bribery scandal that has focused heavily on two Murdoch tabloid newspapers. NPR's media correspondent David Folkenflik has been covering all of this and he joins us now to sort this out. Good morning, David.

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And that brings us to our last word in business, flying cars. Finally, they're here. Well, almost here. We're not exactly in Jetsons' territory quite yet. But a company in Massachusetts says its prototype flying car, called the Transition, completed its first flight and will be ready for sale within the next year.

The two-seat vehicle soared to 1,400 feet in its maiden voyage. The car - can we call it that - is expected to cost $279,000, and 100 buyers have already plunked down their deposits.

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Good morning, I'm David Greene. A Florida woman is putting her car in park after 576,000 miles. Rachel Veitch bought her Mercury Comet, new, in 1964. The car has been through 18 batteries and it's outlasted three marriages. Rachel even appeared on "The Tonight Show" with the vehicle. Now, her failing eyesight is forcing her to hang up her keys. She told Fox News she is not giving that car to her family, because they won't take care of it like she did. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

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Now a word about the media in China - it is heavily controlled by the government. That reality was clear on Saturday when new restrictions banning commenting were imposed on two Twitter-style websites. This followed online rumors about a military coup in Beijing. The government says the rumors aren't true. And today, the restrictions were finally lifted, but the government certainly made a point about who's in charge.