Rupert Murdoch and the Corruption of the British Media

[Douglas Caddy]

Rupert Murdoch and his son, James, are to be questioned about the phone hacking scandal under oath in the High Court

Telegraph

By Christopher Hope, Whitehall Editor

11:56PM BST 29 Aug 2011

Rupert Murdoch and his son, James, are to be questioned about the phone hacking scandal under oath in the High Court.

Lord Justice Leveson, the man who prosecuted Rose West, will hold his inquiry at the Royal Courts of Justice.

David Cameron and other senior politicians are also likely to be questioned over their links to News International, the parent company of the News of the World.

The proceedings will be held in the same court as the official inquiry into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Lord Justice Leveson is thought to be keen for the proceedings to be broadcast live to ensure they are seen to be transparent.

The prospect of courtroom evidence will increase the impression that the Leveson inquiry is an unofficial “trial” of key players in the phone hacking scandal.

Over the summer, a handful of officials from the Cabinet Office and Treasury Solicitor’s Office have been planning how the inquiry will be run.

The team will set up a full-time office in the Royal Courts of Justice before the formal start of proceedings in October. The focus of the inquiry is “the culture, practices and ethics of the press in the context of the latter’s relationship with the public, police and politicians”.

It was ordered by Mr Cameron in the wake of the phone hacking scandal that led to the closure of the News of the World and held out the possibility of tougher press regulation in future.

Lord Justice Leveson has powers firstly to invite witnesses to give evidence, and then to compel them under the Inquiries Act 2005.

Sources close to the inquiry said Lord Justice Leveson would not be constrained in who he asked to testify, adding that

the judge “will go where the evidence takes him”.

Dozens of letters have been sent to potential witnesses asking if they will help the inquiry. The deadline for submissions to the inquiry is tomorrow.

The Murdochs, as well as Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, both former editors of the News of the World, are likely to be called.

Mr Cameron, who subsequently hired Mr Coulson to work for the Conservative Party and then in 10 Downing Street, could also be asked to give evidence. A source close to Downing Street said the Prime Minister would be happy to give evidence if asked.

The inquiry will begin with a series of seminars at the end of next month, attended by senior journalists and other interested parties. They will examine topics including the law, ethics of journalism and the “practice and pressures of investigative journalism”.

They will also look at how press regulation will protect the integrity, freedom and independence of the press, while ensuring the highest standards.

The hacking inquiry might not be complete by next summer after Mr Cameron expanded it to include broadcasters and bloggers.

Opening the inquiry, Lord Justice Leveson said he would “strive” to complete his inquiry after 12 months but said this would not happen “at all cost”.

The inquiry team, which includes George Jones, the former political editor of The Daily Telegraph, and Shami

Chakrabarti, the director of the civil liberties group Liberty, would have to “exercise very considerable discipline and, where appropriate, restraint” to deliver the report on time

[John Dolva]

Is it known what format this questioning will have? Will they be under oath, testify separately and who will question them?

[Douglas Caddy]

Former NOTW managing editor is re-arrested

He is one of a dozen former Murdoch executives under police investigation for suspected involvement in phone-hacking

The Independent

By Andy McSmith

Wednesday, 31 August 2011

Stuart Kuttner, the former managing editor of the News of the World, faced more questions from police investigating the phone-hacking scandal last night. Mr Kuttner, 71, who retired in 2009, was arrested earlier this month "on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications". Yesterday, he was called in for more questioning and re-bailed until September.

Mr Kuttner is one of a dozen former executives of Rupert Murdoch's News International under police investigation for suspected involvement in phone hacking. Others include the former Downing Street director of communications Andy Coulson.

The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee wants Mr Kuttner to say whether he would like to reconsider evidence he gave in an earlier session of the committee, in light of a letter sent to him and two other executives by the paper's former royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, who received a jail sentence in January 2007 for phone hacking.

Mr Goodman alleged that others were involved in a practice "widely discussed" in the newsroom, while the company claimed Mr Goodman acted alone. Though Mr Coulson resigned as editor of the Sunday paper in January 2007, he denied knowing that any of its journalists had been breaking the law.

Yesterday, the Electoral Commission threw out a suggestion that Mr Coulson was implicated in secret funding of the Conservative Party. MP Tom Watson had asked the commission to look into the severance package Mr Coulson received from News International, which was still being paid after he started work for the Conservatives.

Mr Watson suggested it could be interpreted as covert funding of the Tories. But a commission spokeswoman said: "There is no evidence to suggest that there has been a breach of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act. We won't be opening a case review into the allegation."

[John Simkin]

James Robinson guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 30 August 2011 19.29

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/aug/30/news-of-world-journalists

The names of several News of the World journalists who ordered a private detective to hack into mobile phones belonging to six public figures will not be publicly disclosed after Scotland Yard intervened to prevent their publication.

The names were passed to Steve Coogan on Friday by Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who worked for the paper, in compliance with a high court order the actor obtained earlier this year.

The names are critical to the phone-hacking investigation because they could show how far the practice was widespread at the paper, which was closed down by Rupert Murdoch last month, despite consistent denials from its owner News Group Newspapers. Coogan is one of several celebrities suing the paper for breach of privacy.

The high court order instructed Mulcaire to reveal who at the paper asked him to illegally intercept messages left on mobile belonging to former model Elle Macpherson, publicist Max Clifford and four others.

Mulcaire, who was employed exclusively by the News of the World, was also told to reveal who at the paper ordered him to target Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes, PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor, his colleague Jo Armstrong and football agent Sky Andrew.

He was refused leave to appeal against the order earlier this month and handed over the names on Friday, the deadline set by the high court for making the information available.

Law firm Schillings was contacted by Mulcaire's solicitor Sarah Webb of Payne Hicks Beach on Friday and asked not to make the names public. Webb said: "The issues of confidentiality are of concern to the Metropolitan police and we asked Coogan's solicitors not to disclose the information until the Met could consider the matter."

She added: "The issue is not that my client requires to keep matters confidential but rather that the police require him to. We were concerned that our [client] did not breach orders of the court in this respect. The Met are now dealing [with this] and there is nothing more I can add."

Similar high court orders have contained restrictions on publishing the names of News of the World journalists on the grounds that doing so could compromise Operation Wheeting, Scotland Yard's ongoing investigation into phone hacking, by tipping off potential suspects.

Scotland Yard had not responded to requests for a comment by the time of publication.

There is some confusion over whether the order obtained by Coogan allows the names to be released, however. Sources close to the actor insisted they can be identified. News Group's parent company News International refused to comment.

Mulcaire is also taking legal action against News International after it stopped paying his legal fees in July, claiming the company is contractually obliged to do so.

Meanwhile, Coogan has also won a separate high court order to force Mulcaire to name the News of the World executives who ordered Mulcaire to hack into his own phone.

Mulcaire is appealing against that order on the grounds that he would incriminate himself by complying with it because he would be confessing to a crime he has not been charged with or admitted to.

Crucially, that defence is not available to him as regards Max Clifford, Elle Macpherson and the others, because Mulcaire already pleaded guilty to illegally intercepting messages left on their mobiles in the original 2007 phone-hacking court case, which resulted in his imprisonment.

Mulcaire was jailed in January of that year along with the News of the World's former royal editor Clive Goodman.

[Douglas Caddy]

Rupert Murdoch receives $12.5m bonus

News Corp chief's total pay package soars 47% to $33m, while his son James lands $6m bonus to hit total of almost $18m

By Josh Halliday

guardian.co.uk,

Friday 2 September 2011 15.32

The News Corporation chairman and chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, received a $12.5m (£7.7m) cash bonus for the last financial year, while his total remuneration rose 47% year on year to $33m, according to the company's annual statement to shareholders.

His son James Murdoch – who is chairman and chief executive of News Corporation in Europe and Asia – also benefited handsomely, with a $6m cash bonus taking his total remuneration to almost $18m – a 74% rise on his 2010 take-home pay.

The bonuses were for the year to the end of June, during which News Corporation became mired in the phone-hacking scandal that engulfed the News of the World. The affair only escalated into a full-blown corporate crisis, with the closure of the News of the World and several executive resignations, in July, shortly after the end of News Corp's 2010/11 financial year.

Chase Carey, News Corp's chief operating officer and Murdoch's right-hand man, took home $30m in the year to 30 June, including a $10m bonus.

Roger Ailes, who runs Fox News, received a slight increase in total compensation in 2011, up to $15.5m from $13.9m in 2010. Ailes received a $1.5m cash bonus.

The Murdochs' remuneration was revealed in their report to shareholders ahead of the News Corp annual general meeting on 21 October.

News Corp also announced on Friday that two of its longest-serving directors are to leave. Ken Crowley, a trusted lieutenant for more than 50 years, will leave the News Corp board of directors he joined in 1979 when Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive, established the global holding company for his media businesses.

Thomas Perkins, a partner of private investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and member of the News Corp board since 1996, will also step down after the media group's AGM next month.

Jim Breyer, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and one of the first investors in Facebook, will join the News Corp board in October.

[Douglas Caddy]

Phone hacking: 34-year-old man arrested

Suspect questioned over phone hacking at the News of the World and attempting to pervert the course of justice

By James Robinson and agencies

guardian.co.uk,

Friday 2 September 2011 14.37 BST

A 34-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice and phone hacking at the News of the World.

The suspect was being questioned over the two allegations on Friday after attending a north London police station by appointment.

Friday's arrest comes days after the axed Sunday tabloid's former managing editor Stuart Kuttner made a scheduled appearance at a police station to answer police bail. Kuttner was bailed for a second time until September.

No details about the man's identity were released by Scotland Yard, which is investigating allegations of widespread hacking at the title, which was closed in July.

[Douglas Caddy]

Rupert Murdoch's daily paper angers Australian government

The Australian publishes erroneous report about country's PM that could lead to a withdrawal of state ads

By Lisa O'Carroll

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 September 2011 13.02 BST

The Australian government has reportedly put itself on a war footing with Rupert Murdoch's Australian newspaper division after it published, and then retracted, an erroneous report about the country's prime minister.

According to the Australian Financial Review, the government has had discussions about "going to war" with the News Corporation subsidiary News Ltd and is even considering withdrawing state advertising.

There are also increased prospects to a wider review of media ownership amid concerns that Murdoch, who owns 70% of the country's papers, has too much power.

The Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, reportedly called the government discussions after News Ltd's daily paper the Australian published an erroneous report linking her to a former boyfriend and the alleged embezzlement of union funds.

Gillard described the report as "in breach of all known standards of journalism". She was so infuriated by the false allegations that she took the unusual step of threatening legal action against the paper.

The Australian acknowledged that it had not contacted the prime minister for a comment on the story, which was subsequently removed from the paper's website. The paper also printed an apology.

"The Australian acknowledges these assertions are untrue. The Australian also acknowledges no attempt was made by anyone employed by, or associated with, the Australian to contact the prime minister in relation to this matter.

"The Australian unreservedly apologises to the prime minister and to its readers for the publication of these claims," it said.

However, the head of News Ltd, John Hartigan, said Gillard's comments were "disappointing" and "pedantic".

He said the false assertions were made in an opinion piece and "comment is rarely, if ever, sought in relation to opinion pieces" and this was "a widely understood and accepted practice in journalism".

According to the Australian Financial Review, several cabinet ministers believe the column was part of "an orchestrated campaign" across Murdoch titles.

They have reportedly been emboldened by events in the UK where politicians have re-examined their relationship with Murdoch's newspapers in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal and revelations about frequent behind-the-scenes meetings between News International executives and government ministers.

Australia's Green party has already said it will lay down a motion on 13 September to establish an inquiry into the media and there is speculation that Gillard may now give her support

[Douglas Caddy]

Gordon Brown issues Sunday Times hacking challenge

The Independent

By James Cusick

Friday, 2 September 2011

Gordon Brown has stepped up his campaign against Rupert Murdoch’s News International media group, sending tape recordings to the Metropolitan Police earlier today which he says challenge the Sunday Times’s assurances that it broke no laws when investigating his personal financial affairs.

In a letter to Sue Akers – the Met’s deputy assistant commissioner who is heading the investigation into illegal phone hacking by the News of the World – the former Prime Minister states that the tapes detail conversations between named journalists on the Sunday Times and a private investigator, Barry Beardall.

Mr Brown claims in his letter that the tapes reveal discussions on how Mr Beardall’s investigations for the Sunday Times were progressing, and on plans for “reverse engineering” a telephone number to obtain an address.

The tape is alleged to contain Mr Beardall impersonating Mr Brown – a technique that was used when a conman contacted a Bradford call centre and tried to “blag” information from the Abbey National building society on Mr Brown’s financial affairs.

Abbey National's senior lawyer was afterwards moved to write to The Sunday Times editor John Witherow: “On the basis of facts and inquiries, I am drawn to the conclusion that someone from The Sunday Times or acting on its behalf has masqueraded as Mr Brown for the purpose of obtaining information from Abbey National by deception.”

The Abbey National described the blagging attempt, which failed, as “a well-orchestrated scheme of deception”.

Despite the Sunday Times’s assurances that its employees broke no laws and operated within media codes on subterfuge, Mr Brown tells Ms Akers that this position is no longer tenable given the detail and names the tapes contain.

Mr Brown launched a ferocious attack on Mr Murdoch’s newspapers in the House of Commons two months ago, claiming that “News International descended from the gutter to the sewer. The tragedy is that they let the rats out of the sewer.”

The original Sunday Times investigation into Mr Brown’s affairs when he was still Chancellor centred on allegations that he acquired a flat at a price cheaper than the normal valuation, and that he had secured the deal through a company of which Geoffrey Robinson, a former Labour minister and friend, had been a director.

The Sunday Times insisted in July this year that it had reasonable grounds to investigate, that its story gave all sides a fair hearing and that its employees had worked within the law. The Independent is awaiting further comment from the media group.

Mr Brown states that in the tapes Mr Beardall is also heard to discuss the tactics used in trying to sway a Labour politician into changing the party’s policy on urban development.

The former PM tells Ms Akers he believes that three senior Sunday Times journalists, who are named, were aware of the techniques Mr Beardall was using.

[Douglas Caddy]

Murdoch family divided as News Corporation crisis comes to a head

Row over handling of phone-hacking scandal has led to rift, with James Murdoch no longer seen by all as heir to Rupert's empire

By Dan Sabbagh

guardian.co.uk,

Friday 2 September 2011 20.20 BST

James Murdoch had been seen as the undisputed heir to his father's media empire, until the phone-hacking scandal erupted. But as the younger Murdoch faces the prospect of his evidence to parliament being called into question by former colleagues on Tuesday, there are growing doubts coming from inside his family about his suitability for the top position at News Corporation.

The immediate cause of the rift stems from what insiders call "a big family row" at the height of the crisis in July, the week after the News of the World closed. Members of the Murdoch clan descended on the company's Wapping headquarters in London to work out their battle plan, but within days Elisabeth Murdoch, James's sister, had walked out, because in the words of one observer who asked not to be named, "she had had enough of it all".

Elisabeth was not in London to advise or support Rupert or James when they appeared before MPs the following week. This was in marked contrast to her other brother Lachlan, who quit the family company in 2005. He arrived midweek and spent most of his time in Britain assisting his father, who at 80 spent most of that period "tired and exhausted" with only occasional bursts of the sharpness that made him the world's most powerful media mogul.

While outsiders see News Corp as tight-knit, monolithic organisation, those close to family members describe a company, at least in London, riven by internal rows and disputes over how to handle the hacking crisis.

Now those close to the family worry that the only options are "fratricide or patricide", with critics of James saying that he mishandled power with a series of crude corporate moves such as switching from Labour to the Conservatives in 2009 in the middle of the Labour party conference.

The role and importance of Rebekah Brooks, News International's former chief executive, and editor of the NoW at the time of the Milly Dowler phone-hacking incident, was also a source of tension. She was particularly close to Rupert, and James also chose to support her, even publicly endorsing Brooks in an interview given on the day when the NoW closed and a little over a week before Brooks resigned after a period in which she experienced something that insiders describe as "some sort of meltdown".

Meanwhile, although Elisabeth has emphatically denied saying, in a private conversation at a New York book launch in July, that Brooks and her brother had "xxxxed the company", it was a sentiment that various allies say she nevertheless shared.

The disenchantment of Elisabeth, who is married to public relations chief Matthew Freud, does not amount to her own bid for power at the family business. Although her father bought her Shine TV company earlier this year, yielding her £129m, friends say she is neither inclined nor equipped to run a business of News Corp's size: last month she pulled out of planned trip to speak at the Edinburgh international television festival because she did not want to publicly discuss the phone-hacking controversy, where anything less than a ringing endorsement of her father and brother would have been interpreted as flying the flag of rebellion. Last month, she also said she would not be joining News Corp's board.

It was James who had emerged as the obvious successor from the moment Rupert parachuted him in to run BSkyB in 2003. With Rupert's age telling, James was asked to relocate from London to the company's headquarters in New York this year, in what was widely seen as the last move before taking over at the top.

However, that ascent is no longer guaranteed. On Tuesday, Colin Myler, the former NoW editor and Tom Crone, the Sun and NoW's former chief lawyer, will give evidence to the culture, media and sport select committee, at which attention will fall on a critical 15-minute meeting the two men had with James Murdoch in 2008.

Myler and Crone have already said that they told James of the existence of a critical email that indicated that phone hacking at the NoW was more widespread than a single rogue reporter, which prompted James to reach a £700,000 settlement with Gordon Taylor, the head of the Professional Footballers' Association who had sued over phone hacking. James told parliament in July that he was never shown or told about the crucial email.

James Murdoch has cancelled a planned trip to Asia so he can monitor Myler and Crone giving evidence. He will not be the only Murdoch watching closely.

[Steve Knight]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/02/idUS235193620110902

Murdoch receives $12m bonus.

Son of Murdoch "declines" $6m bonus.

The cynic in me says this is a ploy...

[Douglas Caddy]

Phone-hacking scandal: reporter linked to the 'for Neville' email arrested

News of the World journalist believed to be the man who transcribed key email sent to private investigator Glen Mulcaire

By James Robinson

guardian.co.uk,

Friday 2 September 2011 20.58 BST

A 30-year-old man who has been arrested by police investigating the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World is believed to be Ross Hall, a former journalist at the paper who now works for a financial PR firm.

Hall, who worked under the name Ross Hindley until September 2006, is believed to be the man who transcribed the "for Neville" email that was sent to private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. It has become a pivotal piece of evidence in the phone-hacking affair.

That email contained a transcript of messages left on a mobile phone belonging to Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association. The "Neville" referred to in the email is believed to be Neville Thurlbeck, the paper's chief reporter.

There is a dispute among senior executives at News International, which owned the paper until it was closed in July, over who knew about the "Neville" email.

The paper's former editor Colin Myler and its lawyer Tom Crone insist they told News International chairman James Murdoch about the existence of the email in 2008, before the company decided to settle a legal action which Taylor had brought against the paper. But Murdoch denies that he knew about the email.

Taylor received an out-of-court settlement of £700,000, and agreed not to discuss the case.

Hall is the nephew of Phil Hall, who edited the News of the World from 1995 to 2000 and is now a PR consultant.

The Metropolitan police said a 30-year-old man was arrested by appointment on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages and perverting the course of justice at a north London police station on Friday. He was later released on bail until January next year.

[John Simkin]

According to Vogue magazine, Tony Blair is godfather to Rupert Murdoch's nine-year-old daughter, Grace, the second youngest of his six children. Blair was present at the d baptism of the child on the banks of the Jordan, at the spot where Jesus is said to have undergone the same ceremony. This well-kept secret was revealed in a rare interview by Murdoch's wife, Wendi Deng, in a forthcoming edition of Vogue.

In July it was reported that Blair rang Gordon Brown to ask him to tell his friend and ally, the Labour MP Tom Watson, to lay off attacking News Corporation over the phone-hacking issue. Brown is thought to have refused the request, although neither Blair nor Brown has confirmed such a conversation took place.

Blair's relationship with Murdoch dates back to July 1995, when the leader of the opposition provoked a political row by accepting an invitation to address a News Corporation conference on Hayman Island, Australia. Labour benefited from the loyal support of Murdoch newspapers, with the Sun switching from Conservative to Labour in the run-up to the 1997 election, and the Times dropping the Conservatives in 1997 and endorsing Labour in 2001. Meanwhile, Labour placed few restrictions on the operation of either News Corp's newspapers or BSkyB, in which News Corp owned a 39.1% stake, during its time in office.

Support from the Murdoch titles intensified at the time of the Iraq war, and Murdoch and Blair were in close contact through Blair's premiership, speaking, for example, on the phone three times in the nine days before the Iraq war. Information released by No 10 under freedom of information rules also showed the pair spoke on the day the Hutton report into the death of Dr David Kelly was published.

[Douglas Caddy]

News Corp. to Sell Wapping Site

The Wall Street Journal

By MARIETTA CAUCHI And LILLY VITOROVICH

September 6, 2011

LONDON—News Corp.'s embattled U.K. newspaper division put its East London headquarters up for sale Monday, after a turbulent 25-year history at the site.

In a brief statement, News International said the decision to sell the 15-acre site at Wapping follows a review of its London property portfolio.

The Wapping facility has been home to the printing operations of the media giant's U.K. titles since 1986, when Chief Executive and Chairman Rupert Murdoch relocated the business from Fleet Street, prompting a fierce trade-union dispute as the introduction of electronic production techniques led to the dismissal of thousands of workers.

More recently, News International has been embroiled in controversy surrounding allegations of phone hacking at its News of the World tabloid newspaper, which closed in July as a result of the scandal.

News International said most of its Wapping-based editorial and commercial staff have already moved into an adjacent development at Thomas More Square, with the remainder to shift by the end of 2011.

The company originally had planned to redevelop the Wapping site but said that "in light of current market conditions, News International has decided not to proceed with remodelling the site." No further details were released.

It is the third time News International has put the site up for sale, after failing to pull off a deal in 2003 and again in 2008, when the property market tumbled from historic highs and News International decided to take the site off the market and redevelop it instead. But the company said at the time that it would wait until market conditions improved before it started the redevelopment.

That moment never came and the site was put back on the market Monday. The company wouldn't be drawn on a price tag, although in 2008 the site was valued at around £200 million ($324.34 million).

News International publishes The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun newspapers. Parent company News Corp. publishes The Wall Street Journal.

The announcement comes 24 hours before a second parliamentary-committee inquiry into phone hacking at News Corp.'s defunct News of the World tabloid. The inquiry is expected to focus on when top executives at News International became aware of the extent of phone-hacking practices at the company.

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee—which questioned Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch, News Corp.'s deputy chief operating officer, about the phone-hacking in July—will hear from four former News Corp. employees who have challenged testimony given to the committee by James Murdoch and Les Hinton, a former executive chairman of the unit.

[Douglas Caddy]

Steve Coogan: Why I won't let News Corp off the hook

Comedian whose phone was hacked says he was motivated to sue NoW by seeing Andy Coulson 'at the heart of power'

By James Robinson

guardian.co.uk,

Monday 5 September 2011 21.09 BST

Steve Coogan recalls clearly the moment he decided to sue the News of the World. "What motivated me was seeing Andy Coulson [the paper's former editor] gaining a modicum of respectability standing next to David Cameron."

The actor and comedian adds: "I remember thinking 'Andy Coulson should not be at the heart of power.' That was my gut instinct. That man shouldn't be there."

Over lunch in New York, where he is filming an adaptation of a Henry James novel, Coogan says: "Two years ago I rang my publicist and said 'Look, there's some information that my phone may have been hacked.' I was told: 'That story's gone away, it's not going to come back and Coulson's at the heart of Downing Street now, he's surrounded by a ring of steel.' "

Despite the warning, Coogan started legal action, becoming one of a handful of celebrities to do so. His legal battle has played a pivotal part in the fight to uncover how widespread the practice was at the NoW, giving him a leading part in the revolt against tabloid excess. As Coogan developed his own case, he obtained some crucial evidence about related hacking activities undertaken by Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator employed by the tabloid.

Mulcaire was forced by the high court to write to Coogan's legal team revealing who at the title ordered him to hack into mobile phones belonging to a group of public figures in the middle part of the last decade, including the fashion model Elle Macpherson, the politician Simon Hughes, the publicist Max Clifford and a football agent, Sky Andrew.

Coogan is barred by the terms of the court order from discussing the contents of the letter, but it is widely expected to reveal that Mulcaire took instructions from more than one person at the NoW. If so, it will provide the most compelling evidence yet that the News of the World's "rogue reporter" defence was a ruse designed to disguise the true extent of phone hacking at the paper.

Coogan says News Corp's senior executives must be held to account for that. "The culture of the people on the shopfloor is reflection of management," he says. "It always is. So it may be that certain people haven't committed crimes, but there's a cultural culpability."

He believes the hacking affair is symptomatic of a wider malaise afflicting the tabloid press, and believes now is the time to tackle a culture of what he calls irresponsible journalism.

"We all know it's not one rogue reporter but it's not even an aberration," he says. "Hacking into a victim of crime's phone is a sort of poetically elegant manifestation of a modus operandi the tabloids have."

He concedes that view is coloured by his own treatment at the hands of the News of the World and some of its rivals, which have written stories in the past about his drug use and sex life.

"I got my arse kicked," he says. "Is it part of a sort of personal vendetta? That's certainly what motivated me in the first place, I won't deny that."

He says that Coulson personally orchestrated an unsuccessful attempt to trick him into admitting he had slept with a woman, which was foiled after Coogan was tipped off by the News of the World's former showbusiness editor Rav Singh.

"He had this dancer in his office once that I'd spent the night in a hotel with … [she was] calling me [from his office] to try and get me to admit to various things. This is not illegal, but it shows you the character of the man. The point is that this is the kind of thing he does. That's not to say he knew about hacking. We don't know this yet. We'll learn about all the details of that in the inquiry."

Critics might argue that the story about the dancer also reveals much about his own character, but Coogan insists tabloids have no right to delve into his personal affairs.

"What happens in my private life is none of your xxxxing business," he says. "I'm an entertainer. I don't go round saying I'm a paragon of virtue, so that is clearly not in the public interest."

Nor does he accept the argument that curtailing the media's freedom to write about the peccadilloes of the rich and famous is tantamount to censorship.

"It serves certain people's commercial interests to characterise what's happening as an attack on the freedom of the press and it's not," he says.

"It's about responsible journalism. The tabloids operate in an amoral parallel universe where the bottom line is selling newspapers.

"It's like blaming a scorpion for not being moral. They just sting people. That's what they do. Sometimes they might sting someone who deserves it. But it's not through any moral imperative.

"And this idea that for every 20 stories they do about a pile of xxxx, they do one story that has some sort of nobility to it – I don't buy it."

Coogan says News Group, the News Corp subsidiary which owned the paper until it closed in July, had offered to settle his case.

"It wouldn't have covered the costs but it would have taken the sting out of what I'd spent," he says. The action has so far cost Coogan more than £100,000.

But he refuses to speculate about whether James Murdoch, chairman of the News of the World's parent company, News Corporation Europe, should stand down. And he will not talk about Coulson's future, although he is clearly not losing much sleep over their fate.

"If my conduct is fair game for them then their conduct is fair game for people like me to comment on," he says. "It's a democracy and I'll have my say."

He wants to ensure that the hacking story remains centre stage, and plans to use his profile to ensure News Corp does not escape further scrutiny by spinning out the civil actions in the hope the public will lose interest.

"[They are hoping] there will be some big disaster or something that'll knock it off the front pages and hopefully no one will care anymore. And I will do everything in my power [to prevent that].

"Because I'm a more populist person and I reach a more generalised audience that goes beyond broadsheets I can help keep it in the popular imagination and I will do everything in my power to keep it in the popular imagination."

He recalls a conversation with Martin Sixsmith, the former civil servant and journalist, with whom he worked on the film In the Loop.

"He said to me: 'You could walk away from this but you won't – you'll probably want to have a fight because you're a bloody-minded northerner.' And I thought 'Yeah, he's right.' "

[Douglas Caddy]

MPs to quiz senior 'News of the World' figures again

The Independent

By James Cusick

Tuesday, 6 September 2011

The former legal manager of the News of the World (NOTW), Tom Crone and the paper's former editor, Colin Myler, today face questioning from the Commons committee investigating phone hacking, after Scotland Yard confirmed no formal charges were imminent in their own criminal investigation into the scandal.

MPs on the culture, media and sport select committee had been concerned that their probe into phone hacking was on the verge of being halted as police investigations throughout the UK intensified and threatened formal charges being brought against key figures at the centre of the hacking affair.

However, the Metropolitan Police's specialist crime directorate investigating phone hacking, will now allow MPs to pursue an uncompromised re-examination of Mr Crone and Mr Myler.

In 2009, the two gave evidence to earlier hearings of the committee, saying James Murdoch, News Corporation's chairman and chief executive, had been informed of the background behind an out-of-court settlement of £700,000 to a hacking victim, football boss Gordon Taylor.

In evidence given to the committee in July this year, Mr Murdoch denied he had been aware of an email marked "for Neville" – addressed to the NOTW's then chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck. The email pointed to hacking being widely known to news staff and not confined to the jailed "rogue reporter" Clive Goodman.

Following Mr Murdoch's evidence, Mr Crone and Mr Myler both wrote to the committee contradicting his evidence. Questioning today, according to sources, will focus on "Who is telling the truth?"