Douglas Caddy

Leveson inquiry: Ian Hislop claims PCC would not give him a fair hearing Private Eye editor explains why he is reluctant to let the satirical title join Press Complaints Commission By Dan Sabbagh guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 17 January 2012 07.53 EST The editor of Private Eye has told the Leveson inquiry that he was reluctant to let the satirical title join the Press Complaints Commission because he did not expect a fair hearing from newspaper editors unhappy with its Street of Shame column. Ian Hislop also appeared to extract a statement from Lord Justice Leveson that he is not considering recommending the introduction of mandatory "pre-notification" of subjects of stories about them – while in turn conceding there was merit in creating a libel and privacy tribunal to adjudicate on cases before they reach court. The editor said Private Eye gives over "two pages a week attacking individual [journalists] and [national] newspapers" and that he would not anticipate getting a "fair hearing" at the PCC, a body whose membership is partly comprised of national newspaper editors. Private Eye has been edited by Hislop since 1986. The fortnightly magazine runs Street of Shame, a two-page column devoted to stories about journalistic hypocrisy, misbehaviour and examples of editorial or proprietorial influence in news. Hislop, who gave evidence for an hour, also said he had "some issues" with the number of tabloid editors sitting on the press regulator – and "the amount of influence that News International has had on the PCC". Although Hislop said it was "a bit embarrassing" that Private Eye was in the company of Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell in not being a member of the PCC, he said he did not see a need for a separate regulator. "I believe in a free press and I don't think it should be regulated, but it should abide by the law," Hislop said. Hislop told Leveson that activities in focus such as phone hacking, contempt of court and "police taking money" are already illegal and questioned the need for a press regulation system, adding that what was required was enforcement of existing laws. Later he added: "A reasonable editor could not have thought 'I must hack into a murdered girl's phone' … those things seem to me self-evidently unreasonable." Hislop expressed a wariness of statutory regulation, noting: "If the state regulates the press then the press no longer regulates the state… an unfortunate state of affairs." The Private Eye editor, who also is a long-serving team captain on Have I Got News For You, kept Leveson entertained with a series of pithy and humorous observations about the conduct of the press. Easily the most entertaining of all the editors giving evidence, Hislop was the top trend on Twitter for most of the period while he was speaking. On phone hacking, Hislop pointed the finger of blame at a network of close relationships between News International bosses, top politicians and the police. "News International thought it could get away with whatever it liked, because the Murdoch family was deeply embedded in our political top class," Hislop said. He added that the inquiry needed to hear from David Cameron, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to explain how they interacted with the Murdochs. Hislop said that phone hacking was initially brushed aside because "the fact these laws were not rigorously enforced is due to the … interaction of the police and News International". The editor also said Private Eye did not need to use private investigators because most of its stories were sourced from readers. Street of Shame, for example, was filled with the help of tips and information from newspaper reporters, it being "a loyal profession". He added: "That is Paul Foot's view – the secret of investigative journalism is people ring you and tell you things." Hislop said he been a target of private investigator Steve Whittamore, who obtained the phone numbers of himself, his friends, family and bank manager – although he did not know who commissioned him. He added that his bins had been opened by Benjamin Pell – "Benjy the Binman" – who was seen doing so on a camera set up by Private Eye. Hislop said that Pell was working for Mohamed Al Fayed. When challenged on whether he had evidence to support the claim by Robert Jay QC, the editor chuckled and said that information from his bins "appeared in Al Fayed's Punch".

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/25/donald-trump-roger-stone_n_828507.html

Daily Mirror editor Richard Wallace The Independent By Ella Pickover, Jessica Nightingale Monday, 16 January 2012 The editors of the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Mirror have conceded that phone hacking might have occurred at their newspapers. The Leveson Inquiry into press standards heard that the interception of voicemail messages could have taken place in the newsrooms of both of the tabloids. Richard Wallace, who has edited the Daily Mirror since 2004, said the practice might have taken place in the newsroom without his knowledge. But he insisted that there are "significant positives" in tabloid journalism and he was confident that reporters who work at the newspaper act within the code of practice. Counsel to the inquiry David Barr asked Mr Wallace if he knew about hacking at the paper. "Not to my knowledge," replied Mr Wallace. Mr Barr asked if it might have occurred without his knowledge. "It might well have," said Mr Wallace. He said it was possible that a story the newspaper ran about Sven Goran Eriksson's affair with Ulrika Jonsson in 2002 might have come from the interception of voicemail messages. Mr Wallace, who has worked at the paper for more than two decades, said the tip about the story came from the showbusiness department, adding: "I can't even recall who actually put the story forward, to be honest." Mr Barr asked: "Is it possible, even if you weren't told, that it was phone hacking?" Mr Wallace replied: "It's possible, yes." Piers Morgan, who was editor of the paper at the time, flatly denied intercepting Jonsson's messages when he appeared before the inquiry. Sunday Mirror editor Tina Weaver told the hearing she was not aware of phone hacking at her newspaper but there was no guarantee that it had not occurred. Ms Weaver was asked about a BBC article which claimed there was routine phone hacking in the newsroom of the Sunday Mirror. She said her organisation was "not happy" about the story which contained "anonymous allegations from seven years ago". Mr Barr asked her if it was her position that there was "no guarantee" that phone hacking had not occurred at the newspaper. She replied: "That is correct." Ms Weaver told the inquiry that the story the Daily Mirror published about Cherie Blair's pregnancy in 1999 came from public relations guru Max Clifford. The inquiry previously heard from Tony Blair's former communications director Alastair Campbell, who said he believed the story might have been obtained from phone hacking. Mr Campbell admitted that he had "no evidence" that journalists intercepted the voicemails of either Mrs Blair or her lifestyle consultant Carole Caplin, but queried the source of a number of articles about the former prime minister's wife. "I do not know if her (Ms Caplin's) phone was hacked, or if Cherie's was, but knowing what we do now about hacking and the extent of it, I think it is at least possible this is how the stories got out," he said in the statement. But today, Ms Weaver told Lord Justice Leveson: "The information came in to the then editor, Piers Morgan, and I was his deputy and he asked me to write it. "He purchased it from Max Clifford, I think that's a matter of record, and he told Mr Morgan where he received the original information from, I believe." Mr Wallace also used his platform at the inquiry to apologise to Chris Jefferies, who was wrongfully arrested on suspicion of the murder of landscape architect Jo Yeates. He said: "I wish to express my sincerest regret to Mr Jefferies, his family and friends who had to see this unfold. "We obviously caused him and his nearest and dearest great distress which I regret, personally, greatly and I regard it as a black mark on my editing record." Mr Jefferies, Miss Yeates's former landlord, previously told the inquiry that the national press "shamelessly vilified" him. One Daily Mirror front page carried the headline "Jo Suspect is Peeping Tom" beneath a photograph of Mr Jefferies, and another front-page headline read "Was Killer Waiting In Jo's Flat?", with sub-headings below reading "Police seize bedding for tests" and "Landlord held until Tuesday". Sly Bailey, the chief executive of Trinity Mirror, which runs five national titles and more than 140 regional newspapers, said she was unaware of hacking at any of her papers and that she promoted ethics as a "general source of business". "I have seen no evidence to show me that phone hacking has ever taken place at Trinity Mirror," she said. In her witness statement, she added: "With regard to the print media, I believe ethics to mean that our journalism has truth, accuracy and fairness at its heart, with no tolerance of bullying, or harassment, unlawful activity or corruption in our newspapers and websites. "I see high standards of ethics being critical to our success." Mrs Bailey added that she had not launched an investigation into phone hacking at her company because she had seen no evidence of it. She said the BBC Newsnight article about hacking at the Sunday Mirror was "terrible journalism". "They were running unsubstantiated allegations as if they were fact and I think that is terrible journalism," she said. She added that following the closure of the News of the World, she instigated a review of editorial controls and procedures. Mrs Bailey also spoke about Mr Morgan, who lost his job as editor of the Daily Mirror in 2004 after he published fake Iraqi abuse photographs. She said it was a "catastrophic editorial error" that lost a lot of readers for the title. "Frankly it was not so much the publishing, which I do believe that Mr Morgan did in good faith, but what happened in the intervening period, the board lost confidence in him as editor and that is why we fired him." The People editor Lloyd Embley categorically denied that hacking had occurred at the Sunday tabloid. Mr Embley, who has held the position since November 2007, told the inquiry: "I do not believe that hacking has ever occurred at my newspaper. "I have never asked anyone to hack a telephone, I have never seen anyone hack a telephone." Tomorrow the inquiry will hear from broadcaster and editor of Private Eye Ian Hislop and executives from The Times and The Guardian.

Rupert Murdoch rant claims are untrue, says Gordon Brown Former PM denies allegation at Leveson inquiry that he said he would destroy mogul after he switched papers' support to Tories By Lisa O'Carroll guardian.co.uk, Monday 16 January 2012 10.07 EST Article Gordon Brown has made a dramatic intervention in the Leveson inquiry into press ethics, categorically denying he had phoned Rupert Murdoch threatening to "destroy" him after the Sun switched allegiance from the Labour party to the Conservatives in 2009. The former prime minister denied claims that he had phoned Murdoch and "roared" at him for 20 minutes, allegedly telling the media mogul: "You are trying to destroy me and my party. I will destroy you and your company" after he pulled the plug on Labour. Brown's lawyers, Reed Smith, have written to Lord Justice Leveson saying "the story is completely untrue", adding that "it was important that it does not become accepted as fact" as it had received coverage in the national press following claims at the inquiry earlier in January by former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie. Last week, the former Sun editor told Leveson that Murdoch had personally disclosed the contents of this conversation including the claim that Brown had said he would destroy him and his company. "Yes, that's waht Mr Murdoch told me," he told Leveson. Brown's lawyers refute this. "Mr Brown has a clear recollection of the calls he had with Mr Murdoch when he was prime minister. He had no such conversation with him," said the letter from his lawyers read out by the junior counsel to the inquiry, David Barr, on Monday. "The account is not an accurate reflection of events. The words attributed to him by Mr MacKenzie were not said by him." The intervention by Brown now sets the stage for an interesting discussion with Murdoch, who is expected to be called as a witness in the third module of the inquiry, when Leveson will examine the relationship between the press and politicians. Behind-the-scenes relations between politicians and newspaper editors came under the spotlight for a second time at the inquiry on Monday when the Daily Mirror editor Richard Wallace gave evidence. He told Leveson that Tony Blair had asked him to fire one of his journalists who was critical of him. The journalist Blair wanted sacked, although not named at the inquiry, has been confirmed to the Guardian as Daily Mirror political columnist Paul Routledge. Wallace said he was invited to meet Blair when he became editor in 2004. "The first thing he did was ask me when I was going to sack one of my journalists who had been a constant critic of the government and Mr Blair in particular. Of course I did not react to it," Wallace said in his written statement. Wallace also told the inquiry the journalist in question was still working for the Daily Mirror, adding that he viewed Blair's intervention in this case "as an aberration" and that he normally "went with the flow" in terms of media coverage. The Leveson inquiry also heard how close the Mirror editor was to the current leader of the labour party – Ed Miliband and David Miliband attended his 50th birthday party. When Leveson queried whether it was normal for politicians to attend editors' birthday parties, Wallace said it was not uncommon, that he had known "these individuals quite well" but there was nothing untoward about it. "I think we cross over from time to time but we don't go around in a sort of big gang," Wallace told Leveson. The origin of the Daily Mirror's exclusive revelations back in 2000 that Cherie Blair was pregnant with her fourth child were also the subject of dispute at the inquiry. Tina Weaver, the then deputy editor of the paper, told the inquiry that the story had come into the then editor Piers Morgan. "He purchased it from Max Clifford. I think that's a matter of record." This counters the suggestion by Tony Blair's spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, to the inquiry that the Mirror obtained the story through illegitimate means. Weaver could not give a "guarantee" that phone hacking had not occurred at the Sunday Mirror in the past. She said the paper had not complained the BBC after it reported an anonymous source alleging that they had seen someone hacking Liz Hurley's phone in the paper's newsroom. However, she added: "I think they know we are unhappy about unsubstantiated, non-specific, anonymous allegations from seven years ago being presented as unearthing evidence." When asked if it was correct that she was "not in a position to give a guarantee" that phone hacking did not take place, she replied: "That's correct." Weaver also said she had not heard an alleged voicemail left on Heather Mills's phone and heard by Piers Morgan when he was editor of the Sunday Mirror's sister title the Daily Mirror, nor did she have any discussion with him about

Rupert Murdoch squares off with Obama over online piracy legislation News Corp chief accuses White House of siding with 'Silicon Valley paymasters' as two bills go through US Congress By Ed Pilkington in New York guardian.co.uk, Sunday 15 January 2012 11.46 EST The gathering storm over online piracy legislation being debated in the US Congress has sucked two more heavy hitters into the fray, with the Obama administration and Rupert Murdoch lining up on opposite sides of the argument. The controversy over the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) going through the House of Representatives and its Senate equivalent, the Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa), has intensified. Websites including Reddit and possibly Wikipedia are planning to "go dark" on Wednesday in protest at the proposals, which they say will lead to government censorship of the internet and be disastrous for innovation. On Saturday, the Obama administration made clear that it would not tolerate several of the more controversial aspects of the two bills, particularly the power to interfere with the architecture of the web by tampering with its Domain Name System (DNS). "We will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet," said three of Obama's top technology advisers in a statement. The authors said manipulating the DNS by forcing service providers to block access to pirating sites could damage cybersecurity by driving users to much more unscrupulous servers. Just before the White House statement was issued, a sponsor of Sopa – the Texan congressman Lamar Smith – said the DNS blocking provision in the bill would be dropped. Under the two bills, the US department of justice would have the power to censor foreign websites engaging in piracy by requiring search engines, payment portals and online advertising networks to desist from carrying them. Murdoch – whose News Corporation includes the Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox, which is among the companies calling for a legislative clampdown against piracy of films, music and other copyrighted material – launched a tirade against the Obama administration for its criticism of Sopa. "So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery," he wrote in a series of five tweets, accusing Google of hosting pirated material and selling advertising against it. The White House statement was not a simple denunciation of Sopa and Pipa. It also makes clear that the administration is in favour of new legislation to combat online piracy, though the authors say it must be narrowly targeted. "Online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response," they say. The two bills have led to an outpouring of criticism from proponents of a free internet, Silicon Valley giants such as Google and Facebook, and start-up entrepreneurs.

This column contrasts what is happening to Iran today with what happened to Japan in the days before Pearl Harbor was attacked. http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/01/13/war-on-iran-it%e2%80%99s-not-a-matter-of-%e2%80%9cif%e2%80%9d/

Federal Contractor Monitored Social Network Sites The New York Times By CHARLIE SAVAGE January 13, 2012 WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security paid a contractor in 2009 to monitor social networking sites — like Facebook, blogs and reader comments on a news article — to see how the residents of Standish, Mich., were reacting to a proposal to move detainees from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to a local prison there, according to newly disclosed documents. While it has long been known that the department monitors the Internet for information about emerging threats to public safety like a natural disaster or a terrorist attack, the documents show that its Social Networking/Media Capability program, at least in an early stage, was also focused on “public reaction to major governmental proposals with homeland security implications.” A department official said Friday that the social network monitoring program did not produce reports about public opinion, but instead focused exclusively on monitoring crises like hazardous material spills, shooting incidents and natural disasters. Still, the newly disclosed documents show that in August 2009, during an early test of the program, a contractor compiled reactions among residents of Standish, Mich., to the short-lived detainee proposal. It found that most people “were opposed to the plan,” arguing it could make the community a terrorist target, but that others characterized these concerns as “hysteria.” To produce the report about Standish, the contractor used “Facebook, Twitter, three different blogs and reader comments” on an article on The Washington Post’s Web site, highlighting “public sentiments in extensive detail,” according to a summary of the report that was included as an example in a “Social Networking/Media Capability Analyst Handbook” dated February 2010. Asked about the Standish report on Friday, department officials provided a series of explanations. After initially accepting it as something produced by the program, an official later said the report was instead created by a contractor as a sample during a period when the social networking component of its media monitoring program was still being designed. It started on a small scale in January 2010 and expanded the following June. Chris Ortman, a department spokesman, acknowledged that the report was included in the February 2010 handbook, but he said it was there “only as an example of a weekly report format.” No such report on public sentiment was ever distributed as a working document of the department’s National Operations Center, which runs the monitoring program, he said. He added that the handbook had since been revised and no longer included that example because it “does not meet our operational requirements or privacy standards,” which “expressly prohibit reporting on individuals’ First Amendment activities.” The report about Standish residents was part of nearly 300 pages of documents about the monitoring program obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a nonprofit advocacy group. Ginger McCall, director of the group’s Open Government Program, said it was appropriate for the department to use the Internet to search for emerging threats to public safety. But, she said, monitoring what people are saying about government policies went too far and could chill free speech. “The Department of Homeland Security’s monitoring of political dissent has no legal basis and is contrary to core First Amendment principles,” she said. She also pointed out that while other sample reports in the February 2010 handbook discuss content that is inappropriate and should be removed, the Standish one does not. “This Standish report is being held up, as is, as an example that should be emulated,” she said. While the names of blog and mainstream news sources are logged in the sample reports, the documents show that such reports — whatever their topic — are not to include personally identifying information; for example, a quotation taken from Twitter would say it came from “a Twitter user” rather than citing a specific Twitter account. In an interview on Friday, John Cohen, the department’s principal deputy counterterrorism coordinator, said the broader media-monitoring program dated to 2006 and had evolved over time. He said that it had extensive privacy protections and that policy makers had decided that they did not want reports like Standish because they were not helpful. “Today this capability is focused solely on rapidly identifying and obtaining information regarding events that are ongoing, and providing information that can help inform an effective response to that event,” he said, describing the reports as covering only topics like “major traffic accidents, haz-mat spills, reports regarding suspicious packages, shootings, etc.” This week, Reuters reported on a department privacy review related to the monitoring efforts that described the news media channels the program covers. The Reuters report received significant attention after The Drudge Report, a popular news aggregation Web site, highlighted that Drudge was on the list. Many of the newly disclosed documents relate to the department’s efforts to outsource some of its “media monitoring and social media/networking support services.” In early 2010, for example, companies seeking the contract had to spend 24 hours monitoring news media coverage. They were asked to produce short reports about threats and hazards, as well as “any media reports that reflect adversely on the U.S. Government and the Department of Homeland Security (D.H.S.) ability to prevent, protect and respond, to recovery efforts or activities related to any crisis or events which impact National Planning Scenarios.” The documents indicate that in May 2010 a procurement official awarded an $11.3 million contract to General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems. One passage in the documents raised another question. It says the program should also compile reports about the department and other federal agencies, including “both positive and negative reports on FEMA, C.I.A., C.B.P., ICE, etc., as well as organizations outside of D.H.S.” While most of the acronyms stand for agencies dealing with emergencies, border security and the like, “C.I.A.” usually refers to the Central Intelligence Agency. However, Mr. Ortman said it was a typo — intended as “C.I.S.,” the department’s Citizenship and Immigration Services bureau.

http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2012/02/rebekah-brooks-201202

Mail on Sunday paid private investigator after his arrest Editor tells the Leveson Inquiry paper paid Steve Whittamore 'substantial sum of money' The Independent By James Cusick Thursday 12 January 2012 The Mail on Sunday continued to pay for the potentially illegal services of a private investigator after he was arrested and charged with illegally trading in people's personal information. The editor of the Associated Newspapers title, Peter Wright, admitted to the Leveson Inquiry yesterday that the paper had continued to commission searches by Steve Whittamore long after the Operation Motorman police investigation resulted in his arrest in March 2003. Mr Wright told the inquiry that his newspaper was using the services of Mr Whittamore's agency until September 2004. He had been charged in February of that year and was later given a conditional discharge when the Motorman case came to court in 2005. The Mail on Sunday editor claimed that "a substantial sum on money" had been paid to Mr Whittamore during the years he worked for the Mail titles. He estimated the total payment to be around £20,000. However, Mr Wright said that after Mr Whittamore was charged, the paper had used him only rarely and only when it was sure he would be acting legitimately. The inquiry was told: * The top payment the paper made for a major interview in the past year was £50,000; * A similar sum was paid to the former mistress of Lord Triesman, who revealed his allegations of bribes paid to football World Cup referees; * The paper made a recent cash payment of £3,500; * Payments had been made to public officials, mostly "people in the armed forces", for stories they wanted brought to public attention. Mr Wright said payments had not been made to police officers, to his knowledge. It was also revealed that the Daily Mail picture desk receives 400 photographs a day of Pippa Middleton, the sister of the Duchess of Cambridge. Mr Wright denied that journalists on his paper had concealed their use of Mr Whittamore, but admitted that when an internal audit was eventually ordered, it found that payments for the potentially illegal searches had been filed under the headings "taxis" and "accommodation". Asked by Robert Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, why he had not taken steps to identify the journalists who regularly used Mr Whittamore, Mr Wright said that although they had been dealing with someone acting in ways "which we were not entirely aware of" he had hoped a public interest defence would be possible. The legal manager of Associated Newspapers, Liz Hartley, was later questioned about the Mail's response to evidence given earlier in the inquiry by the actor Hugh Grant. Following his appearance before Lord Justice Leveson, the Daily Mail published a statement which read: "Mr Grant's allegations are mendacious smears driven by his hatred of the media." The draft statement, she said, included the input of Paul Dacre, the paper's editor. David Sherborne, counsel for Mr Grant and other victims of press wrongdoing, said he expected Mr Dacre to address the issue when he gives evidence to the inquiry in February. Mail exclusives: Public figures in the firing line Lord Mandelson The Mail on Sunday revealed that the former cabinet minister and European commissioner had bought an £8m house. How could he afford such a palace? the paper asked. Lord Mandelson threatened to register a complaint with the PCC but the action was not pursued. Lord Triesman Melissa Jacobs, mistress of the former Football Association chairman, revealed to the Mail on Sunday that she had secretly taped Lord Triesman talking about Spain and Russia colluding to bribe Fifa referees. Pippa Middleton Since her sister Kate's wedding to Prince William, Ms Middleton has been a serial target for the paparazzi. The Mail's picture editor said he was offered 400 pictures a day of her not doing very much. Bob Crowe During a transport strike, the MoS revealed that Mr Crowe, the rail union boss, had been using a borrowed scooter. Police later learned that Steve Whittamore's agency supplied the name of the vehicle's owner. Hugh Grant The actor told the inquiry in its opening week that he believed The Mail had hacked his phone to obtain stories. The Mail responded saying it was a "mendacious smear" by someone who hated the media. The issue is still unresolved.

Google has a number of items on this. I typed into Google's box "National Operations Center (NOC)'s Media Monitoring Initiative." http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=htsf&oq=&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS409US409&q=National+Operations+Center+%28NOC%29%e2%80%99s+Media+Monitoring+Initiative#q=National+Operations+Center+(NOC)%E2%80%99s+Media+Monitoring+Initiative&hl=en&rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS409US409&prmd=imvns&ei=QMcNT6SFCqS62wXniOTOBw&start=0&sa=N&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=fbb7e7053b0ad6ea&biw=1336&bih=554 I meant some sort of reliable source, all I saw on Google was blogs, forums and obscure newssites most of which quoted the RT article. News article from Reuters: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/homeland-security-watches-twitter-social-media-183721483.html

Google has a number of items on this. I typed into Google's box "National Operations Center (NOC)'s Media Monitoring Initiative." http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=htsf&oq=&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS409US409&q=National+Operations+Center+%28NOC%29%e2%80%99s+Media+Monitoring+Initiative#q=National+Operations+Center+(NOC)%E2%80%99s+Media+Monitoring+Initiative&hl=en&rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS409US409&prmd=imvns&ei=QMcNT6SFCqS62wXniOTOBw&start=0&sa=N&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=fbb7e7053b0ad6ea&biw=1336&bih=554

Homeland Security monitors journalists http://rt.com/usa/news/homeland-security-journalists-monitoring-321/print/ Published: 7 January, 2012, 01:56 Edited: 7 January, 2012, 01:56 Freedom of speech might allow journalists to get away with a lot in America, but the Department of Homeland Security is on the ready to make sure that the government is keeping dibs on who is saying what. Under the National Operations Center (NOC)’s Media Monitoring Initiative that came out of DHS headquarters in November, Washington has the written permission to retain data on users of social media and online networking platforms. Specifically, the DHS announced the NCO and its Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (OPS) can collect personal information from news anchors, journalists, reporters or anyone who may use “traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed.” According to the Department of Homeland Security’s own definition of personal identifiable information, or PII, such data could consist of any intellect “that permits the identity of an individual to be directly or indirectly inferred, including any information which is linked or linkable to that individual.” Previously established guidelines within the administration say that data could only be collected under authorization set forth by written code, but the new provisions in the NOC’s write-up means that any reporter, whether someone along the lines of Walter Cronkite or a budding blogger, can be victimized by the agency. Also included in the roster of those subjected to the spying are government officials, domestic or not, who make public statements, private sector employees that do the same and “persons known to have been involved in major crimes of Homeland Security interest,” which to itself opens up the possibilities even wider. The department says that they will only scour publically-made info available while retaining data, but it doesn’t help but raise suspicion as to why the government is going out of their way to spend time, money and resources on watching over those that helped bring news to the masses. The development out of the DHS comes at the same time that U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady denied pleas from supporters of WikiLeaks who had tried to prevent account information pertaining to their Twitter accounts from being provided to federal prosecutors. Jacob Applebaum and others advocates of Julian Assange’s whistleblower site were fighting to keep the government from subpoenaing information on their personal accounts that were collected from Twitter. Last month the Boston Police Department and the Suffolk Massachusetts District Attorney subpoenaed Twitter over details pertaining to recent tweets involving the Occupy Boston protests. The website Fast Company reports that the intel collected by the Department of Homeland Security under the NOC Monitoring Initiative has been happening since as early as 2010 and the data is being shared with both private sector businesses and international third parties.

Leveson Inquiry: David Cameron could be called to give evidence Daily Telegraph 7:45AM GMT 10 Jan 2012 David Cameron, the Prime Minister, is expected to be called to give evidence at the Leveson Inquiry. Downing Street last night said the Prime Minister would attend if he was summoned. Former PM Gordon Brown and Labour's current leader Ed Miliband are also expected to appear when the inquiry focuses on relations between the media and politicians, The Times said. Responding to reports that Lord Justice Leveson is ''99.9%'' certain to call Mr Cameron for questioning under oath about his dealings with senior media executives and press baron Rupert Murdoch, a Number 10 spokeswoman said last night: ''A request has not yet been received. If asked, the Prime Minister would of course attend.'' A Leveson Inquiry source told the newspaper the final decision on which politicians to invite had not yet been made but added: ''I can't see how you can look at the relationship between the press and politicians without talking to top politicians, including the Prime Minister, the previous prime minister and the Leader of the Opposition.'' The newspaper suggests Mr Cameron is likely to be called after the local elections in May. It is expected questioning will focus on his decision to employ Andy Coulson, the former editor of the defunct News of the World, who quit as Downing Street's director of communications amid continued pressure about phone hacking. The inquiry heard yesterday from executives and senior reporters at The Sun, Britain's top-selling daily newspaper. Editor Dominic Mohan said the paper could be a ''powerful force for good'' through its campaigns, support for charities and ability to explain complicated stories in a clear way. Mr Mohan, a former showbusiness reporter who took on the editorship of The Sun in 2009, appealed for there to be a ''level playing field'' between the press and internet publications. ''I do think it could be a potentially mortal blow to the newspaper industry that's already wounded,'' he said. ''I think the combination of an over-regulated press with an unregulated internet is a very, very worrying thought.'' Mr Mohan said he was joking when he used a speech at an awards ceremony in 2002 to thank ''Vodafone's lack of security'' for the showbusiness exclusives in rival paper the Daily Mirror. Former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie yesterday defended his ''bullish'' approach to running the paper as he acknowledged that his successors have been ''more cautious'' than he was. He told the inquiry he did not spend much time worrying about journalistic ethics or which stories would sell more copies, leaving it to his readers to decide whether his decisions were right. Prime Minister David Cameron set up the inquiry last July in response to revelations that the NotW commissioned a private detective to hack murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone after she disappeared in 2002. The revelation comes as three editors of broadsheet national newspapers will today face questioning at the official probe, ordered by the Prime Minister following the exposure of illegal phone hacking at the News of the World. Lionel Barber of the Financial Times, the Independent's Chris Blackhurst and The Daily Telegraph's Tony Gallagher are expected to be asked about their papers' approaches to ethics, fact-checking and complaints. The first part of the inquiry, sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, is looking at the culture, practices and ethics of the press in general and is due to produce a report by September. It began taking evidence in November, and has heard a series of complaints about media intrusion from celebrities and the families of murdered and abducted children. The inquiry's second part, examining the extent of unlawful activities by journalists, will not begin until detectives have completed their investigation into alleged phone hacking and corrupt payments to police, and any prosecutions have been concluded

Leveson Inquiry: Gordon Brown 'told Rupert Murdoch he would destroy his company' Daily Telegraph By Andy Bloxham 4:39PM GMT 09 Jan 2012 Rupert Murdoch said a “furious” Gordon Brown threatened to destroy his empire after The Sun switched its support to the Tories, Kelvin MacKenzie, the former editor of the paper, has told the Leveson Inquiry. Mr MacKenzie said Mr Murdoch told him that he had received a phone call in which the former Prime Minister “roared” at him “for 20 minutes”. The former editor also told the inquiry into press standards that News International, Mr Murdoch’s company, had lied to the Press Complaints Commission and recommended that newspapers be fined for such actions in future. He also referred to the phone hacking scandal and said The Guardian had “got away” with falsely reporting that News of the World journalists had deleted Milly Dowler’s voicemails. Had such an error been made by The Sun, he said, the newspaper might have been forced to close. Mr MacKenzie said he had worked closely with Mr Murdoch for 13 years in which he had spoken to him almost daily. He told the inquiry that it was Mr Murdoch who disclosed Mr Brown’s alleged threat, something which the former Labour leader has repeatedly denied. Although Mr MacKenzie was not at the meeting between the two men in late 2009, nor was he the newspaper's editor, he gave an account of the conversation as reported to him by Mr Murdoch. The evidence, which first came during seminars at an early stage of the inquiry, was read to the hearing by its counsel Robert Jay QC and it refers to a speech by Mr Brown which did not get as much prominence as a story about the paper’s shift of allegiance to the Tories. Mr MacKenzie had said: “Of course the endorsement blew away Brown’s speech off the front page. “That night a furious Brown called Murdoch and in Rupert’s words “roared at me for 20 minutes”... Asked at today's hearing who the source for the story was, Mr MacKenzie replied: “It was Mr Murdoch.” Mr MacKenzie’s submission continued: “At the end, Brown said: “You are trying to destroy me and my party. I will destroy you and your company”.” When reports of a conversation between the former Prime Minister and Mr Murdoch first surfaced, Mr Brown claimed to have numerous witnesses who could attest to its not having taken place. After Mr MacKenzie’s evidence, a spokeswoman for Mr Brown said: “It has already been pointed out that there was no such phone call nor communication between Mr Brown and Mr Murdoch.” News International declined to comment. The inquiry heard further details of Mr Murdoch’s behaviour. Mr MacKenzie refuted the broadcaster Anne Diamond’s previous claims to the inquiry that she had been singled out for negative treatment by his papers. He said he had “never heard Rupert Murdoch say we should 'go after' anybody”. Mr Murdoch was furious when he found out The Sun was to pay £1 million in damages to Elton John after a story falsely claimed the singer had hired rent boys, the inquiry heard. Mr MacKenzie recalled sending the media mogul a fax then receiving a 40-minute phone call of "non-stop abuse". He told the hearing: "Let's put it this way, he wasn't pleased." On hacking and the way stories are perceived differently according to the newspaper in which they appear, Mr MacKenzie said: “Take the Milly Dowler deletions of those calls. Had that been The Sun, The Sun would have come very, very close to being shut down had they got that story wrong. The Guardian sticks the story on page 10 and they get away with it.”

Leveson Inquiry: Daily Telegraph expenses investigation was justified and worthy of praise Daily Telegraph 2:49PM GMT 10 Jan 2012 The Daily Telegraph’s investigation into the scandal of MPs’ expenses was justified due to its significant public interest journalism, according to Lionel Barber, the editor of the Financial Times. Mr Barber told the inquiry into press standards that the revelations that culminated in the News of the World's closure in July amounted to a 'shocking episode' Photo: Getty2:49PM GMT 10 Jan 2012 Mr Barber told the Leveson Inquiry into journalistic standards that the newspaper was within its rights to pay for a controversial disc containing the relevant data because of the criminal behaviour it had illuminated. The FT’s editor lauded the Telegraph’s investigation and the multiple stories which it generated, which led the news agenda for months and transformed British politics. Mr Barber said: “Yes they paid for the disc but the journalism and series of articles they did clearly met the public interest test. “I have absolutely nothing but praise for that particular story.” The editor also said that the phone-hacking scandal was a "wake-up call" that made British newspaper executives realise they must change how the industry is regulated, the Financial Times's editor said today. Mr Barber told the inquiry into press standards that the revelations that culminated in the News of the World's closure in July amounted to a "shocking episode". He called for the formation of a new independent press regulator with powers to impose fines, require corrections to be published prominently and launch investigations. Mr Barber told the hearing: "This has been a real shock, what happened at the News of the World, not just in terms of the extent, the industrial scale of phone hacking, but the pattern of lies. "But also the result, which was shocking: the closure of a national newspaper with a circulation of several million, and a newspaper actually that has done in its own way over the years some very good stories - I am thinking of the fixing in the Test match. "This was a shocking episode. All of us, I speak for myself, believe that as a result we need to change the way we do business. "If this isn't a wake-up call, I'm not sure what is." Mr Barber, who became Financial Times editor in 2005, said the new press regulator had to be compulsory and should be something that online news sites such as the Huffington Post would want to join. "It is incumbent on the industry to produce new credible proposals for independent regulation," he said. "That's the lesson of the phone-hacking scandal, and to a degree it's the lesson of what's already come out in this inquiry." But he told the inquiry that any change to oversight of the media must take in the whole “news ecosystem”, including websites, bloggers, and sites which collect other people’s material. He said: “It would be a huge mistake for the inquiry to focus just on the press.” Mr Barber’s comments echoed those of Dominic Mohan, the editor of The Sun, who yesterday urged the inquiry to help ensure a “level playing field” for what could be reported. He claimed that the FT was the “gold standard” of journalism but acknowledged that it did not always pursue the same stories as other papers. He added that, in his personal view, it was wrong for the Telegraph to use journalists to pose as constituents in exposing the views of Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, who disclosed that he had “declared war” on Rupert Murdoch’s bid to take over the television firm BSkyB.

MPs divided over calling on Brooks to clarify Clifford payout evidence The Independent By Jonathan Brown Monday, 9 January 2012 Showdown imminent over whether MPs need to hear new testimony from former NI boss A meeting between members of the parliamentary inquiry investigating phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's News International will take place this week amid mounting tensions over its future direction. Members of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee hold conflicting views of the scandal, with some MPs seeking fresh evidence from at least one senior Wapping figure – the News International former chief executive Rebekah Brooks. A first draft of the MPs' long-awaited report was produced before Christmas. There will be calls tomorrow for Ms Brooks to be asked to explain her role in authorising a £1m payment to the publicist Max Clifford in 2010 for having his phone messages intercepted. The money was paid at a time when the company was still insisting hacking was limited to a single royal reporter. While it is unlikely that Ms Brooks, who is currently the subject of a police investigation into the affair, will be recalled as a witness, MPs are expected to seek written clarification of what she knew about the payment. She gave evidence to the committee in July immediately after Rupert and James Murdoch. Operation Weeting detectives investigating phone hacking arrested Ms Brooks's former assistant at her home in Essex last week. Allegations of phone hacking will again be centre stage today when the editor of The Sun, Dominic Mohan, and one of his most famous predecessors at the tabloid, Kelvin MacKenzie, who has since defected to the Daily Mail, give evidence to Lord Leveson's inquiry into press standards. Two of the senior figures from the committee, Labour's Tom Watson and the Conservative MP Louise Mensch, have denied they are clashing in a so-called "Beauty versus the Beast" row over how much blame should be apportioned to James Murdoch in the final report. In his second appearance before MPs in November, Mr Watson compared the News International chairman to a "Mafia boss" while Mrs Mensch has praised the consistency of Mr Murdoch's evidence. Mr Watson said he would be reviewing the written and oral evidence today before deciding whether to press for more witnesses to be called. While there is a growing consensus among the committee to move towards a conclusion, Mr Watson said there was a "distinct possibility" of fresh hearings. This is despite the suggestion by the Conservative chairman of the committee, John Whittingdale, who has previously indicated that enough testimony had been heard. Among the other key issues likely to dominate MPs' discussions tomorrow are the credibility of Mr Murdoch and the former News of the World executives the former editor Colin Myler and legal manager Tom Crone, who dispute his testimony about how much he knew before he sanctioned a £700,000 payout to the phone-hacking victim Gordon Taylor. New emails emerged last month which appeared to question James Murdoch's assertion that he received little briefing from News of the World executives prior to authorising the settlement to Mr Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association. News International said the emails were consistent with Mr Murdoch's testimony. The Labour MP Paul Farrelly, who sits on the committee, said it was important that the final report was not hurried: "The first draft of the report appeared just before Christmas and it will need lengthy discussion. This is in order to get it right, and make sure it stands the test of time, given that the police and judicial inquiries are likely to unearth further evidence."

Jan 9,2012, 2:09 PM EST Reporters defend tabloids at UK media inquiry By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) -- Reporters and editors from Britain's Sun tabloid painted their newspaper as a moral paragon Monday, saying accuracy was paramount and privacy always a consideration, while the paper's legal counsel insisted he had seen no evidence of phone hacking. Lawyer Justin Walford, counsel to Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers, told Britain's media ethics inquiry that he would be surprised and shocked to learn that The Sun was guilty of illegal eavesdropping like its now-defunct sister paper, the News of the World. "I've never seen anything at The Sun which has made me think that it has been happening," Walford said. The phone-hacking scandal has engulfed the News of the World - shut down by Murdoch in July - but some alleged victims have accused other newspapers of wrongdoing, too. The Sun, Britain's best-selling newspaper, faces a lawsuit from actor Jude Law for allegedly listening to his voice mails. The Sun's current editor, Dominic Mohan, said in a written statement to the inquiry that he had "always been determined to foster a culture of honesty, integrity and high ethical standards at the Sun." Showbiz editor Gordon Smart said Sun staff "act ethically and we act responsibly at all times." But an outspoken former Sun editor said standards had been looser in his day. Kelvin MacKenzie, who ran the newspaper between 1981 and 1994, said he never considered privacy, and stood by his earlier description of his fact-checking policy as "if it sounded right, it was probably right and therefore we should lob it in." MacKenzie, the first in a string of past and present newspaper editors due to appear this week, gave a robust defense of media muckraking, saying tabloids are the victim of snobbery and double standards in the media. "There is a tremendous amount of snobbery involved in journalism," MacKenzie told the inquiry, arguing that a tabloid would be punished for using underhanded investigative techniques, while a more highbrow paper would not. He gave the hypothetical example of "if you had Tony Blair's mobile number and you hacked into it and discovered that he was circumventing the Cabinet in order to go to war." "If you publish it in The Sun, you get six months in jail," MacKenzie said. "If you publish it in The Guardian, you get a Pulitzer." Prime Minister David Cameron set up the judge-led inquiry last year after evidence emerged that the News of the World tabloid eavesdropped on the cell phone voice mail messages of celebrities, politicians and crime victims to get stories. The case has triggered soul-searching about the balance between media freedom and individual privacy. MacKenzie said that he had not given much thought to privacy when he was The Sun's editor. He said he took "the First Amendment approach, the American approach" to journalism. "I basically took the view that most things as far as I could see should be published," MacKenzie said. Britain does not have the same constitutional free-speech protection as the United States, and the U.K.'s libel laws are more weighted in favor of plaintiffs than those of many countries. Britain's tabloids regularly pay out substantial sums to settle libel suits from celebrities. MacKenzie presided over one of The Sun's most colorful periods, a time of celebrity scandal and credibility-stretching headlines including "Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster," which made an unlikely allegation against a British comedian. He acknowledged the newspaper sometimes got things wrong, as when it had to pay 1 million pounds and make a front-page apology to Elton John in 1988 for stories about his personal life. "Journalists try to get things right," he said. "People tell you lies." The hacking scandal exploded after The Guardian reported in July that the News of the World had eavesdropped on the voice mails of missing 13-year-old Milly Dowler in 2002, and may have hampered the police search for her by deleting messages. She was later found murdered. It has spawned a huge police investigation and seen top police officers, media executives and the prime minister's communications chief - an ex-News of The World editor - all resign their posts. But rumors of voice mail eavesdropping circulated in the media for years before the Dowler case made them front-page news. Testifying to the inquiry Monday, Mohan confirmed that at a 2002 awards ceremony he thanked "Vodafone's lack of security" for exclusive stories obtained by the Daily Mirror, a rival paper edited by Piers Morgan. Mohan said the quip referred to the reputed ease of hacking into voice mails using factory-set passcodes. "I think it was well known," he said, adding that he had made the remark "as a joke to undermine the Mirror's journalism." Inquiry chief Lord Justice Brian Leveson said Monday that he was expecting the results of a police review into one of the most shocking details in the hacking saga - the deletion of messages from Dowler's phone. Last month a police lawyer said one element of The Guardian's story had been wrong - it was unlikely anyone from the tabloid had deleted Dowler's messages. Since then the Murdoch-owned press has been sharply critical of The Guardian, saying the error showed that the News of the World was shut down for a crime it did not commit. The Guardian says its allegations about phone hacking were largely correct. The judge said his inquiry into media malpractice would continue whatever the police review showed. "Whatever the outcome of this new evidence I have no intention of suggesting either to the home secretary or to the secretary of state for culture, media and sport that as a result this inquiry is no longer justified," he said. --- Online: http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://twitter.com/JillLawless

I have just signed a contract with Trine Day Publishers to write my autobiography. In general scope, it will cover my role with William F. Buckley, David Franke, Marvin Liebman and Gov. Charles Edison in founding the modern conservative movement in the 1950’s and early 1960’s; the JFK assassination-Watergate linkage; the crimes of LBJ; key events in subsequent years; and how and when I concluded that the conservative movement had been hijacked by sociopaths and opportunists. Publication date: early 2013.

I have just signed a contract with Trine Day Publishers to write my autobiography. In general scope, it will cover my role with William F. Buckley, David Franke, Marvin Liebman and Gov. Charles Edison in founding the modern conservative movement in the 1950’s and early 1960’s; the JFK assassination-Watergate linkage; the crimes of LBJ; key events in subsequent years; and how and when I concluded that the conservative movement had been hijacked by sociopaths and opportunists. Publication date: early 2013.

Latest Hacking Scandal Arrest Suggests Focus on Cover-Up The New York Times By JOHN F. BURNS January 8, 2012 LONDON — Scotland Yard’s arrest of a former personal assistant to Rebekah Brooks, a former chief executive of the British newspaper arm of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, appears to reflect the investigators’ intensifying focus on the possibility of a cover-up by executives, editors and others of the extent of illegal phone hacking and other criminal wrongdoing at the The News of the World, which is now defunct. After 10 hours of questioning on Friday, detectives assigned to a special unit investigating the affair released the assistant, Cheryl Carter, 47, on police bail pending further questioning. She was arrested at dawn at her home in Billericay, 25 miles east of London. Efforts to reach her for comment on Saturday were not successful. Scotland Yard said she was the 17th person, most of them former employees of the The News of the World, to be arrested by officers assigned to Operation Weeting, established last year under special provisions intended to ensure the independence of the investigators. The creation of that task force followed several years of faltering inquiries by Scotland Yard that upheld, until a torrent of disclosures last year, denials by News International that more than two people on the News of the World’s newsroom staff had been involved in the illegal interception of the cellphone voicemails of crime victims, politicians and celebrities. As the scandal grew last year, dominating headlines in Britain for months, the police inquiry, and hearings by a parliamentary committee, began to focus on allegations that executives, editors and others involved had conspired to cover up the extent of the wrongdoing, which Scotland Yard said last month had involved the hacking of the cellphones of at least 800 people. One of the executives who has been under pressure is James Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch’s son, who leads News Corporation’s European and Asian operations, and has long been considered a candidate to succeed his father as head of the company. The police investigation and testimony before a parliamentary committee identified a 2009 meeting in London attended by James Murdoch as crucial to unraveling the issue of whether senior executives conspired in the cover-up. Under questioning at two sessions before the committee last year, James Murdoch denied having approved an out-of-court settlement of more than $1.4 million to buy the silence of a British soccer union executive who was suing News International and threatening to go public with documents pointing to a wider use of phone hacking than the company had then admitted. Two other senior Murdoch employees contested Mr. Murdoch’s denial, saying that they had informed Mr. Murdoch of the extent of the phone hacking, and cited that as a reason for approving the settlement. One of the two, Colin Myler, the former editor of the The News of the World, was appointed editor last week of The Daily News in New York, a rival of the Murdoch-owned New York Post. Ms. Carter’s arrest drew attention for several reasons, including a Scotland Yard statement that said that she had been questioned on suspicion of trying to pervert the course of justice, a line of inquiry that has not been specified in police statements on most of the other arrests in Operation Weeting. In addition, Ms. Carter appeared to have had a close personal and professional relationship with Ms. Brooks, the most senior executive in the Murdoch hierarchy to have been arrested in the affair. Former News of the World employees who spoke on condition of anonymity said Ms. Carter had worked as a personal assistant to Ms. Brooks for 19 years, starting when Ms. Brooks was deputy editor of The Sun, another Murdoch-owned tabloid in London, and continuing as Ms. Brooks became editor of the The News of the World, editor of The Sun, and later chief executive of News International, overseeing all of the Murdoch titles in Britain. Ms. Brooks’s resignation in July followed closely the News Corporation’s abrupt decision to close News of the World, Britain’s highest-circulation Sunday newspaper, after 168 years of continuous publication. Ms. Carter, who was described by those who worked with her as Ms. Brooks’s “gatekeeper,” with close knowledge of Ms. Brooks’s schedule, e-mails and meetings, lost her job as personal assistant amid the storm of recriminations after the disclosure that one of those whose cellphones had been hacked was Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered in an outer London suburb in 2002. News International’s acknowledgment that the The News of the World had hacked into the teenager’s phone at a time when there was still hope that she remained alive, and deleted messages left by her family and friends so as to make room for others, was a watershed in the scandal. Ms. Carter’s departure from News International closely followed that of Ms. Brooks, but Ms. Carter continued to write a weekly beauty column for The Sun until that, too, was discontinued in December. One of the issues under investigation by Scotland Yard is whether any documents or e-mails pertinent to the inquiry were deleted or destroyed as part of a cover-up. Although News International has provided investigators with an archive of 300 million e-mails, the company has been accused of having deleted e-mails and of providing former employees with lavish payouts on the condition of their silence. It has also been accused of making selective leaks to other sections of the news media that Scotland Yard suggested constituted a “deliberate campaign to undermine the investigation.” According to two former staff members who did not want to be named because they were discussing a topic that was the subject of an active police investigation, Ms. Carter was fiercely loyal to Ms. Brooks. A person who claimed to have been present on the day that Ms. Brooks cleared out her office at News International’s headquarters, and who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the two women were seen carrying items to a parked car.

Poster's note: This is an outrage! ----------------------------------------------------- Yard chiefs who quit over phone hacking 'are given £500,000 in secret cash pay outs' By Chris Greenwood Daily Mail Last updated at 8:59 AM on 7th January 2012 Two of Britain’s most senior police officers pocketed substantial pay-offs after resigning over the phone-hacking scandal, the Daily Mail can reveal. Former Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and his colleague John Yates are thought to have received up to £500,000 between them. The cash was handed out after the pair signed gagging orders which bar them from suing the Metropolitan Police or speaking about their treatment. The exact size of the payments, at a time of savage cuts to police budgets, was a closely guarded secret. But speculation was mounting that the total cost to the taxpayer, including fees racked up during weeks of legal wrangling, could be as much as half a million pounds. The pay-offs underline how the scandal plunged the Met leadership into chaos amid a flurry of revelations about their close links to News International. The force is now braced for further criticism after the Audit Commission, a public spending watchdog, ordered a review of how the pay-offs were agreed. Critics highlighted how both officers appeared to have been handsomely rewarded despite choosing to leave as a result of their own failings. But supporters said the payments reflected the shambolic way in which they were treated as the force’s political leaders panicked. Jenny Jones, a member of the MPA, said the payments were ‘completely wrong’. She added: ‘When people resign they should just go, there is no question of a severance package or settlement deal. ‘They went because of their mistakes and should accept that. ‘It is wrong for any public organisation to be so secretive about something that is in the public interest and involves public money.’ The payments were agreed by lawyers at the soon-to-be-abolished MPA, which is a separate organisation from the Met. At first officials there insisted that as both officers made a ‘personal decision’ to resign they were entitled only to their pensions. But after being confronted with evidence of ‘termination payments’ by the Mail, they were forced to admit money had been paid. The MPA refused to reveal how much the deals were worth but said the amount will be published in its annual accounts later this year. Sir Paul, who earned £276,000 a year, resigned after admitting taking a £12,000 five-week freebie at a luxury health spa while he recovered from a cancer scare. Difficult questions were raised after it emerged that the spa was promoted by former News of the World executive and hacking suspect Neil Wallis. Mr Wallis was also hired as a consultant by the Met’s communications director, who remains on ‘extended leave’ over the £24,000 contract. Mr Yates resigned from his post as Britain’s top anti-terrorism officer, with a £200,000 salary, several weeks later. He admitted being a close friend of Mr Wallis amid claims he improperly helped to secure a civilian job for the journalist’s 27-year-old daughter at Scotland Yard. Both officers were later cleared of any misconduct after an inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). Mr Yates is now preparing to move to Bahrain where he will advise the Government on police reform. A Metropolitan Police Authority spokesman said: ‘Both Sir Paul Stephenson and John Yates signed compromise agreements at the request of the Authority to prevent any future disputes. ‘Payments made and recorded in those compromise agreements were based on their contractual entitlements.’ Sir Paul and Mr Yates declined to comment. A Met spokesman said: ‘This is entirely a matter for the Police Authority.’ Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2083276/Scotland-Yard-chiefs-quit-phone-hacking-given-500k-secret-cash-pay-outs.html#ixzz1infq0yax

Investors brush off News Corp hacking saga Financial Times January 6, 2012 By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York and Ben Fenton in London In the six months since the revelation that the News of the World accessed a murdered teenager’s voicemail messages, the scandal has cost Rupert Murdoch the British tabloid he bought in 1969 his bid for full control of British Sky Broadcasting, some of his closest executives and, perhaps, his dream of family succession. Yet, in Wall Street’s eyes, it is as though nothing happened. This week, shares in News Corp hit a 52-week high, edging past the peak at which they stood before the Milly Dowler report upended Britain’s media, police and political establishment. “It’s a very straightforward stock right now,” says Michael Nathanson, media analyst with Nomura. Of the hacking scandal, he says: “The Street is looking through it. There are legal costs, potential payments and obviously a huge controversy, but it’s seen as a one-off.” Analysts cite four reasons why the scandal has not had a bigger impact on the stock: generous share buy-backs, hopes that newspapers will become a smaller part of the group’s future, robust growth in the rest of the business and faith in the non-family member first in line to succeed Mr Murdoch, Chase Carey. Just days after the Milly Dowler story broke, News Corp added $3.2bn to its buy-back programme, lifting the target for repurchases to $5bn. Investors had pressed Mr Murdoch for several years to spend more on buy-backs, fearing that News Corp’s plentiful cash would otherwise be spent on unexpected deals such as MySpace and Dow Jones, some of which led to heavy losses. Acquisitions remain a possibility, as News Corp has been eyeing deals in areas as diverse as Formula 1 motor racing and education. But much of the stock’s rally can be explained by the fact that News Corp has now spent $2.5bn buying back 151.07m class A shares between $14.73 and $18.39, just below $18.49 Thursday close. Analysts are already hoping for more. Morgan Stanley expects another $5.5bn of repurchases in 2012, equivalent to 11 per cent of the current market capitalisation, and Mr Nathanson says: “They’re not going to let cash build up on the balance sheet. They’re half way through the buy-back, and everyone’s going to wait and see if there’s a phase two.” Investors had welcomed News Corp’s bid for the 60.9 per cent of BSkyB it does not already own, as the group has been unable to reflect the UK satellite broadcaster’s prodigious cash flow fully in its accounts, but saw buy-backs as even better use of cash. The scandal over allegations of phone hacking and payments to police has resulted in the demise of the News of the World and forced News Corp to withdraw its bid for full control of BSkyB. In addition, with the News of the World’s closure, “you got a decreased emphasis on newspapers and a change of regime in the UK newspapers with Tom Mockridge coming in [from Sky Italia] with a fresh pair of eyes to look at the business structure”, Mr Nathanson says. For every negative headline on newspapers, investors have found a positive story elsewhere. In its first fiscal quarter, strength in cable networks such as FX and Fox News and rising fees from cable and satellite distributors for the Fox broadcast network drove operating income up 21 per cent to $1.39bn. Fox News should enjoy further growth in an election year, and the return of American Idol for an 11th season this month is keeping hopes for the Fox broadcast network high. The performance of the television assets has bolstered the positions of Roger Ailes, president of Fox News, and Mr Carey, News Corp’s chief operating officer. Investors would rather see Mr Carey, a well-regarded operator, succeed Mr Murdoch than one of his family, and the hacking scandal has shaken expectations that James Murdoch, deputy chief operating officer and head of News Corp’s European and Asian operations, was first in line to the throne. The younger Mr Murdoch is waiting for a parliamentary report, due in early February, about what he knew and when he knew about how widespread voicemail interception had been at the News of the World. He told MPs in July he had not been briefed on the settlement of a phone-hacking suit in 2008 that kept the scandal buried for another year, but his position has been challenged by two former senior colleagues. Mr Murdoch has twice had to inform the MPs’ committee of new evidence that suggests he could have known more than he first told them, although he denies misleading the committee and remains adamant that he did not read an email trail that would have given him much more knowledge. He has survived protest votes at BSkyB and News Corp, but a damning report from MPs could put him under further pressure to stand down as chairman of the satellite company. From investors’ viewpoint, the future of News Corp’s 39.1 per cent stake in BSkyB is the bigger issue. Having abandoned the bid amid a political uproar, News Corp’s ability to renew its pursuit looks highly limited, raising the question of whether it might sell the prized asset. “There will be no bid for at least two years,” said Claire Enders, UK media analyst. “[in] the current political climate, the coalition [government of the UK] will just not let this happen. But I don’t think News Corp will ever give up on total ownership of Sky.” Analysts agree it is reluctant to sell, but Mr Carey said in December that the issue is one “we need to continue to figure out” as News Corp was not getting “a fraction of the credit for that $15bn” stake. The group preferred to own assets outright or “monetise” them, he said pointedly. Questions also remain as to how long News Corp will maintain its UK newspapers, with circulation dwindling even at the profitable Sun and both The Times and Sunday Times struggling to replace decreasing circulation and advertising revenues with digital subscriptions. People close to the company see little appetite for spinning off newspapers, but the question is not the taboo it once was. The UK hacking saga remains an unpredictable risk, however. More than 20 people have been arrested under two UK police investigations, the latest of them on Friday morning. With a series of police, parliamentary, judicial and regulatory reports due out in the UK this year, and uncertainty about whether the scandal could yet pull in US authorities, investors would be rash to assume that 2012 will be free of the damaging headlines that dominated 2011.

Phone hacking: police arrest Rebekah Brooks's PA Daily Telegraph 12:22PM GMT 06 Jan 2012 Police investigating the hacking of mobile phones at the News of the World have arrested Cheryl Carter, the long-serving personal assistant to former editor Rebekah Brooks. Ms Carter, 47, is being investigated over allegations emails at News International were deleted and is being held at an Essex police station. She was arrested at her home on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Ms Carter has worked as beauty editor at The Sun and launched a cosmetics line, Famous, with colleague Sue Moxley. Her most recent column for the newspaper was written in early November 2011. Ms Carter was a secretary to Rebekah Brooks when she was the deputy editor of The Sun and editor of the News of the World. She moved with her when Ms Brooks was promoted to chief executive of News International. She is understood to also have worked for Neil Wallis, the former executive editor of the News of the World, and Stuart Kuttner, the tabloid's managing editor of 22 years. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "The woman was arrested at approximately 6.55am. She is currently in custody at an Essex police station." She is the seventeenth person arrested under Operation Weeting's probe into mobile phone interceptions, Scotland Yard said. She is the first Weeting arrest since private investigator Glenn Mulcaire was released on bail until March over allegations of phone hacking and perverting the course of justice. Phone-hacking detectives working their way through 300 million emails from News International have arrested a series of high-profile figures, including former Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson. Ms Brooks was arrested in July over allegations of phone hacking and of bribing police officers