Rupert Murdoch and the Corruption of the British Media

[Douglas Caddy]

Phone hacking: second NoW journalist takes News International to tribunal

Former assistant editor Ian Edmondson is taking publisher to employment tribunal claiming unfair dismissal

By Lisa O'Carroll

guardian.co.uk,

Wednesday 28 September 2011 11.58 EDT

A second journalist at the heart of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal is taking Rupert Murdoch's News International to an employment tribunal, claiming unfair dismissal.

Ian Edmondson filed his suit in April, but the case has only come to light in the wake of revelations that the paper's former chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, is also taking News International to an employment tribunal, claiming he was unfairly sacked.

However, unlike Thurlbeck, Edmondson is not claiming he was a whistle-blower and therefore should not have been sacked because he disclosed wrong-doing on the paper.

Edmondson was sacked in January this year after he was named by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire as the person who asked him to hack into the mobile phone of football agent Sky Andrew.

As the former assistant editor (news) of the Sunday tabloid, he was one of the most senior journalists on the paper.

It is thought that Thurlbeck was only sacked this month. Because he is a whistle-blower's defence, his case is expedited through the system, with a preliminary employment tribunal hearing in East London on Friday.

News International said it would "vigorously contest" both cases.

Thurlbeck was arrested in April on suspicion of unlawfully intercepting mobile phone voicemail messages but remained on the payroll of the paper until recently.

[Douglas Caddy]

UK tabloid paid spies for scoops

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER

Associated Press | AP – Wed, Sep 28, 2011

LONDON (AP) — No one suspected the secretary.

Efficient, well-dressed and well-liked, Sue Harris was at the heart of the Sunday People, the smallest of Britain's weekly tabloids. She booked flights, reserved accommodation, and tallied expenses for the populist paper's dozen or so full-time reporters. These journalists implicitly trusted the petite, 40-something south Londoner who'd spent most if not all of her working life at the tabloid.

Maybe they shouldn't have.

In 1995 Harris was dismissed over an allegation that she'd been feeding her paper's juiciest scoops to the Piers Morgan-edited News of the World, betraying her co-workers for a weekly payoff of 250 pounds — then worth about $375. Although People journalists had long believed there was a traitor in their midst, they were shocked when Harris was exposed.

"Everybody knew there was a mole," said a former senior journalist with the People. "We never thought the person we were looking for was her."

The journalist, who was there when Harris was fired, was among three former colleagues who recounted her story to The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they still work in the media industry.

Harris' alleged spying on behalf of the News of the World wasn't unique, an AP investigation has found. Interviews with three more former journalists and published accounts suggest that Rupert Murdoch's flagship Sunday tabloid engaged in a pattern of payoffs aimed at rival newspaper employees.

The News of the World was closed in July as evidence of illegal conduct there became inescapable. Although accusations that the paper hacked into phones and corrupted police officers to win scoops have been widely aired, the paper's efforts to subvert rival newspaper employees have seen less attention.

American investigators are already examining whether the News of the World's parent company, New York-based News Corp., broke U.S. anti-corruption laws by bribing British officials. Legal experts now say that payments made to rival journalists could make it more difficult for the media conglomerate to defend itself against any potential prosecution.

The corporate espionage campaign also calls into question the ethics of Morgan, who edited the News of the World between 1994 and 1995 and who once boasted that having rivals on his payroll meant that he and his colleagues "always know exactly what our competitors are doing."

Story theft has long been a big worry for Britain's Sunday tabloids, who only get one shot a week at making an impression on their readership. Particular concern surrounds the "splash" — the front page story which acts as an advertisement for a paper's journalism.

At the People as with other tabloids, journalists took extreme measures to keep a potential splash under wraps. Sources would be paid compensation in return for exclusive access or sequestered at out-of-the way hotels for days at a time to keep them away from rival reporters.

Keeping the splash secret was particularly important for the cash-strapped People. If the News of the World got wind of a story, the Murdoch tabloid's massive budget meant it could easily outbid the People for interview rights.

But no secret was safe from Harris, who spent years sitting a few feet from the People's senior editors. Former journalists say that, thanks to the weekly payments made by the News of the World, the People's powerful rival knew everything too.

The effect on reporters was devastating. A People journalist sent by plane to Edinburgh was disconsolate when he found a News of the World team on the same flight. A writer huddled with his source at an obscure hotel outside of London was shocked to discover his paper's biggest rival at the downstairs bar. A team of People reporters who'd spent days staking out the home of a young woman seethed when they saw their competitors walk up to the front door.

People journalists would routinely spend days putting together a splash only to be ambushed at the last minute by the News of the World, who would outbid them for the story. Suspicion grew as exclusives kept getting spoiled.

"It was a kind of frustrating paranoia," said a journalist who held a mid-ranking job at the paper at the time. "There had to be a mole. But everyone looked around the office and at who sat next to them, and no one believed it could be anyone there."

Something similar was happening at one of the People's sister papers, the Sunday Mirror, where reporter Chris House was accepting about 1,000 pounds a month to leak his colleagues' stories.

In his 2005 book, "The Insider," Morgan recalled one of the disclosures: The news that a popular British television presenter was having an affair.

Morgan said the Sunday Mirror had spent three months working on the story only to have it stolen out from under them the day before it was due to run.

"If I was their editor I'd want to top myself," he crowed, using British slang for "suicide."

It isn't clear when the News of the World began paying for rivals' stories, although Morgan's book suggests that the practice predated his installment as editor there. The senior journalist at the People said he was warned as far back as 1992 that there was a mole on the paper.

Morgan turned on his informants when he became editor of the Daily Mirror, which shares the same publisher, Trinity Mirror PLC, as the Sunday Mirror and the People. Now working for the other side, he said he gave the pair a month to stop taking bribes.

"Incredibly they had just carried on, so I fired them," he wrote.

House, who now lives in the English cathedral city of Winchester, declined comment when reached by the AP. Contact information for Harris couldn't be located, and attempts to trace her through her former colleagues were unsuccessful.

The loss of two of its informants didn't deter the News of the World. In 1999, Trinity Mirror threatened to sue the paper over an alleged attempt to bribe the Sunday Mirror's deputy news editor, Dennis Rice.

Rice turned down the bribe, and the matter was settled out of court amid claim and counter-claim. The Sunday Mirror's then-editor Colin Myler later fired off a letter to the Evening Standard complaining that "this is the third time the News of the World has offered money to Mirror Group employees for our confidential information."

A former News of the World reporter who worked at the paper through all three episodes said that bribery would have been "business as usual" at the newspaper.

"No one would have thought it was ethically dodgy," he said, speaking anonymously because he too still works in the media industry. "It was dog eat dog and whatever got results was welcomed."

Buying the loyalty of rival journalists would not have broken British bribery laws, which were only recently updated to cover payments made to competitors. Nor would they have run up against the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act — which only applies to foreign officials.

But legal experts say that if a prosecution were brought under the act for bribing police, then the payments offered to House, Harris or Rice could be entered into evidence.

Previous misbehavior can be used "to prove certain things such as intent, motive, absence of mistake, or pattern," said Anthony Barkow, who directs New York University's Center on the Administration of Criminal Law.

Another expert said that past allegations of bribery "may go to corporate culture and 'tone at the top.'"

"Practices like this as far back as the '90s undermine the argument that senior management wasn't aware," said Alexandra Wrage, the president of TRACE, an association that advises multinationals on anti-bribery compliance.

News Corp. declined comment on any of the allegations made in this article.

Piers Morgan, whose career has since taken him to a top spot as CNN's celebrity interviewer, also declined comment.

The 46-year-old's past is already under scrutiny thanks in part to suggestive statements he's made about listening in on other people's voicemails. Morgan has denied ordering anyone to hack a phone or knowingly publishing stories based on hacked information, but he was in charge at the News of the World when it was bribing people for information and freely acknowledged that the practice was wrong.

"It's a disgrace, of course, and totally unethical," he wrote. "But very handy."

[Douglas Caddy]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2011/sep/29/watergate-carl-bernstein-rupert-murdoch-video

Carl Bernstein on the Murdoch wiretapping crimes.

Edited September 29, 2011 by Douglas Caddy

[Douglas Caddy]

Police officer who was friend of Barrymore sues over hacking

The Independent

By Cahal Milmo and James Cusick

Friday, 30 September 2011

A gay police officer apparently targeted for his friendship with television personality Michael Barrymore, a former Labour minister and the ex-wife of rock star Noel Gallagher yesterday became the latest people to lodge damages claims for phone hacking against Rupert Murdoch's News International.

The three lawsuits lodged in the High Court by Dan Lichters, Claire Ward and Meg Matthews add to the burgeoning list of about 30 damages claims already brought against the defunct News of the World and the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire which are now likely to cost Mr Murdoch's empire far more than the £20m originally set aside to settle.

The new claims, which are being brought by the London-based law firm Collyer Bristow following the disclosure of documents showing that each claimant was targeted by Mr Mulcaire, raise allegations that the private detective was used to hack into the voicemails of a serving police officer. Mr Lichters was working as a plain clothes officer in the Met Police when his relationship with Mr Barrymore was revealed in the months following the death of Stuart Lubbock, whose body was found in the television star's swimming pool after a party in March 2001.

The openly gay constable revealed later that he had been removed from his undercover duties as a result of the publicity about his friendship with Mr Barrymore, which began at least six months after Mr Lubbock's death. A story revealing the relationship was published by The Sun on 2 November 2001 along with a photograph of the two men out shopping. Mr Lichters' lawyer last night declined to comment on whether his lawsuit complained of articles in The Sun, the sister paper of the News of the World.

Ms Ward won her Watford seat in Labour's 1997 landslide, and was promoted to a junior justice minister in 2009. She lost her seat in 2010. Ms Matthews became a tabloid favourite following her relationship Oasis founder Noel Gallagher. Matthews, now a successful interior designer, divorced from Gallagher in 2001.

Steven Heffer, at Collyers Bristow, last night declined to comment on any details of the claims. News International said last night it was unable to comment on individual damages claims being made against it.

The lawsuits came as Scotland Yard announced it had extended the police bail of a detective involved in Operation Weeting, the Yard's investigation into phone hacking. The 51-year-old detective constable, who was arrested on suspicion of passing information about the inquiry to The Guardian, will answer bail on 15 December.

Former News of the World chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck has dropped an attempt to make News International continue the payment of his wages while he sues the newspaper for unfair dismissal. His case was due to start today but has been put back to a later date.

[John Simkin]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/sep/29/phone-hacking-watergate-reporter-parallels

One of the two journalists who uncovered the Watergate scandal has said that he was "struck by the parallels" between the News of the World phone-hacking affair and the saga that brought down Richard Nixon in the 1970s.

Carl Bernstein said that the two events were "shattering cultural moments of huge consequence that are going to be with us for generations" and that both were "about corruption at the highest levels, about the corruption of the process of a free society".

The American reporter, speaking at an event in London organised by the Guardian, specifically likened Rupert Murdoch, the NoW's proprietor, to the ousted US president in his relation to criminal acts and alleged criminal acts conducted by their respective employees and subordinates.

Bernstein said that the important thing was not whether there was "a smoking gun" that could link Murdoch to "knowledge of phone hacking on a specific date" – just as it was not important whether Nixon knew that "the Watergate break-in would happen on a specific date".

Instead, he added, both events were "about a sensibility that corrupted a free institution" whose consequences in the case of phone hacking helped "drive the ever descending lowest common denominator of journalism that resulted in a diminution of reporting standards" across the British press.

[Douglas Caddy]

Phone hacking: Neville Thurlbeck says 'truth will out'

Former News of the World senior reporter breaks silence, saying he 'took no part in the matter which led to his dismissal'

By Lisa O'Carroll

guardian.co.uk,

Friday 30 September 2011 08.07 EDT

Neville Thurlbeck, the former News of the World chief reporter, has sensationally broken his silence on the phone-hacking scandal, saying he "took no part in the matter which led to his dismissal".

In his first public statement since he was arrested and bailed for alleged phone hacking in April, Thurlbeck said the "truth will out" and "those responsible will eventually be revealed".

In a clear shot across his former employer's bows, Thurlbeck claimed there was "much I could have said publicly to the detriment of News Interntional", but had so far chosen "not to do so".

The 49-year-old former chief reporter at the News of the World was sacked by Rupert Murdoch's News International earlier this month, prompting him to sue his former employer for unfair dismissal.

Thurlbeck had applied for "interim relief" at an employment tribunal hearing scheduled to be heard on Friday but pulled out late on Thursday.

His solicitor Nathan Donaldson, employment partner at DWF, also issued a statement on Friday confirming that Thurlbeck was continuing his action against News Group Newspapers, the News International subsidiary that published the News of the World, "for unfair dismissal and whistleblowing".

"Scotland Yard has now made me aware of the reason for my dismissal, a reason which News International has withheld from me for almost a month," Thurlbeck said, in a statement issued by his solicitors that shows he is fighting back against his former employer.

"For legal reasons, I am unable to go into the reason cited. However, I will say this. I took no part in the matter which has led to my dismissal after 21 years of service," he added.

"I say this most emphatically and with certainty and confidence that the allegation which led to my dismissal will eventually be shown to be false. And those responsible for the action, for which I have been unfairly dismissed, will eventually be revealed."

Thurlbeck also claimed that for more than two years, News International had accepted he was not responsible for the matter in question and there was "no valid or reliable evidence now to support their sudden volte face. At the length, truth will out."

Thurlbeck also said he would "fight my case to the end" and accused News International of "giving 'off the record' briefings" to the press.

"This has compelled me to speak for the first time since my name became linked to the phone hacking scandal through the 'For Neville' email more than two years ago," he said.

"I would request that News International abandon the unseemly practice of whispering behind the back of a loyal and long-serving former employee.

"There is much I could have said publicly to the detriment of News International but so far, have chosen not to do so."

News International said in a statement that it was "not able to comment on circumstances regarding any individual". "As we have said previously, News International continues to co-operate fully with the Metropolitan police service in its investigations into phone hacking and police payments to ensure that those responsible for criminal acts are brought to justice."

The Guardian revealed more than two years ago the existence of a "for Neville" email – believed to be a reference to Thurlbeck – sent to private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, which contained a transcript of messages left on a mobile phone belonging to Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor.

The "for Neville" email contradicted the defence that News International had maintained until late 2010, that phone-hacking was limited to Mulcaire and one "rogue reporter" on the News of the World, former royal editor Clive Goodman. Both were jailed in early 2007 for phone-hacking offences.

Thurlbeck was due to attend an "interim relief hearing" about his unfair dismissal claim on Friday, but withdrew because the "issues to be determined by the employment tribunal will require key individuals within the News Group Newspapers being cross-examined".

His solicitors added that "unfortunately" Friday's hearing was limited to "a review of papers" and because of this "procedural limitation" Thurlbeck and his legal team decided to withdraw.

They wanted to ensure the benefits of a full hearing where "complete disclosure" from the parties would be made.

News International parent company News Corporation set up an internal investigation unit, the management and standards committee, on the orders of Rupert Murdoch in the summer to assist the police's phone-hacking investigation and purge the organisation of bad practices.

However, it is understood News International is not telling any former employees why they are being dismissed under the MSC's rigid clean-up protocol, which aims to ensure that any potential police investigation is not compromised.

[Douglas Caddy]

Neville Thurlbeck's statement on his dismissal from News International

Former News of the World chief reporter states 'I took no part in the matter which has led to my dismissal'

guardian.co.uk,

Friday 30 September 2011 07.38 EDT

Scotland Yard has now made me aware of the reason for my dismissal, a reason which News International has withheld from me for almost a month.

For legal reasons, I am unable to go into the reason cited.

However, I will say this. I took no part in the matter which has led to my dismissal after 21 years of service.

I say this most emphatically and with certainty and confidence that the allegation which led to my dismissal will eventually be shown to be false.

And those responsible for the action, for which I have been unfairly dismissed, will eventually be revealed.

For more than two years, News International has accepted I was not responsible for the matter in question and there is no valid or reliable evidence now to support their sudden volte face.

At the length, truth will out.

I await that time with patience but with a determination to fight my case to the end.

I was saddened to hear that News International was giving "off the record" briefings about me to the press this week.

This has compelled me to speak for the first time since my name became linked to the phone-hacking scandal through the "for Neville" email more than two years ago.

I would request that News International abandon the unseemly practice of whispering behind the back of a loyal and long-serving former employee.

There is much I could have said publicly to the detriment of News International but so far, have chosen not to do so.

Therefore, let us all retain a dignified silence until we meet face to face in a public tribunal where the issues can be rigorously examined and fairness can eventually prevail.

[John Dolva]

Super funds group declares war on Murdochs

By Sarah Collerton Updated September 30, 2011 10:19:16

Video: Investor body attacks News Corp board (Lateline) Related Story: James Murdoch refuses pay bonus Map: United Kingdom A peak superannuation industry group is urging members who are News Corporation investors to vote against the re-election of James and Lachlan Murdoch to the global media empire's board.

The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) says the sons of media baron Rupert Murdoch and other long-standing board members must be replaced with "credible, skilled outside directors" in the wake of the UK phone hacking scandal.

The hacking scandal has seen billions of dollars wiped off the value of News Corporation's shares and it forced the company to drop its bid for the UK pay TV network BSkyB.

But ACSI does not only have the Murdochs in its sights; it has recommended its investors vote against the return of four other board members, including executive David De Voe, at the upcoming annual meeting.

ACSI chief executive Ann Byrne says the current board members are not the best for the company.

"Such an arrangement does not reflect good corporate governance practice and fails to provide safeguards to ensure that the company is run in the best interests of its shareholders," she said.

"All boards should comprise a majority of independent non-executive directors who are sufficiently motivated and equipped to fulfil the function of independent scrutiny of the company's activities."

Audio: Super fund attacks News Corp board (AM)

"Board renewal at News Corporation is required to ensure that the interests of all shareholders are at the forefront in every board discussion."

Ms Byrne holds the board accountable for the hacking scandal, however she says it is not realistic to replace the entire board.

"In our view, the whole board is responsible for failures of oversight, however we regard it as impractical to recommend against the election of the whole board," she said.

But the council, which represents funds that manage assets worth more than $250 billion, admits it is unlikely these directors and board members will be voted out.

"Given that the Murdoch interests own approximately 40 per cent of the voting stock, there is no prospect of any of the incumbent directors having a majority vote against their re-election," Ms Byrne said.

"However in an endeavour to keep pressing for skilled independent directors to join News Corporation and raise the standard of oversight, a clear message needs to be conveyed to the board."

Earlier this month, James Murdoch, the boss of News Corp, turned down his bonus after News Corp awarded him and his father big compensation increases.

As head of international operations at US-based News Corp, James Murdoch has been under media and government scrutiny since the hacking scandal erupted at the London tabloid the News of the World on July 4.

Rupert Murdoch, now 80, has backed chief operating officer Chase Carey as his immediate successor.

Topics: superannuation, business-economics-and-finance, industry, media, united-kingdom, england, australia, united-states

First posted September 29, 2011 21:15:33

[Douglas Caddy]

More evidence of criminality by Murdoch’s media empire

World Socialist Web Site.

By Robert Stevens

30 September 2011

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/sep2011/murd-s30.shtml

Fresh evidence has emerged on the extent of criminality surrounding Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid and its relations with London’s Metropolitan Police (Met).

Last week, the Daily Telegraph reported that the former Deputy Editor of the News of the World, Neil Wallis, was being secretly paid more than £25,000 for supplying News International with “crime exclusives” whilst he was working for the Met. For his so-called “consultancy work” with the Met involving two days a month, Wallis was paid £24,000.

Wallis’ employment by the Met led in July to the resignation of then-Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and his deputy, Assistant Commissioner John Yates. In their initial testimony to parliament’s home affairs select committee in July, neither Stephenson nor Yates revealed the fact that Wallis had been a paid consultant.

An unnamed MP told the Observer newspaper at the time, “We were assured that Yates and Stephenson weren’t taking money from the journalists. What we didn’t know was that the journalists were taking money from the cops.”

Wallis was among a small number of former News of the World senior figures, who were arrested in July by the Met and released without charge. He was arrested on suspicion of intercepting phone messages.

Wallis, nicknamed the “Wolfman” for his tabloid exploits, was first deputy editor, and then executive editor at the News of the World. He left News International in August 2009 and joined the PR firm Outside Organisation, becoming its managing director in 2010. Wallis also maintained his own PR firm, Chamy Media. It was in this capacity that Wallis was contracted to the Met from October 2009 until September 2010, to “provide strategic communication advice and support.”

The Telegraph reported that while at the Met, Wallis received “a payment of £10,000 for a single ‘crime’ story.” The newspaper states he also was also “paid for providing News International with details of a suspected assassination attempt on the Pope during his visit to London last year.” The article claims that Wallis sold stories to other newspapers during his stint at the Met.

The Met told the newspaper that, “during his employment, Mr Wallis was not given access to any Metropolitan Police computer systems.” This attempt to play down Wallis’s activity is a red herring.

Wallis was employed by the Met just months after assistant commissioner John Yates, who was nominally in charge of a “review” of a 2006 police inquiry into serious allegations of phone hacking carried out by the News of the World, closed down any further investigation. In doing so, Yates dismissed the concerns of even then-Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who claimed that his phone had been hacked.

Yates was also part of a Met committee that vetted Wallis before he was allowed to take on his paid role with the police.

The revelations raise yet again the revolving door between the Murdoch press and the Met. Andy Hayman, who was in charge of the 2006 police inquiry into the allegations, then went on to work for News International as a columnist for the Times. Hayman was the former head of counterterrorism at the Met and a champion of the right wing “law and order” agenda trumpeted by the Murdoch media. During Hayman’s period at the Met, he demanded the government pass legislation allowing the detention of people for 90 days without trial on “anti-terror” grounds.

As the phone hacking scandal has proven, all the institutions of the state, including the main political parties, are implicated. The Telegraph story paints a picture of the closest of relationships between Murdoch’s UK papers, the Met and the Conservative Party.

Wallis was close friends with Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World, who became Prime Minister David Cameron’s director of communications, first in opposition, and then in office.

Coulson had resigned from the News of the World in 2007, following the jailing of the paper’s royal correspondent for involvement in phone hacking. Cameron had consistently defended Coulson against allegations of wrong-doing, but in January he was forced to step down as evidence mounted that he had approved payments for phone hacking. Despite also being arrested in July, Coulson is another News International employee that has been released without charge.

“Mr [Andy] Coulson and Mr [Neil] Wallis were close colleagues and good friends and arranged for senior Metropolitan Police officers to meet the Prime Minister’s chief of staff. It is understood that Mr Wallis also made informal representations to Mr Coulson about Scotland Yard’s views on Conservative law-and-order policies”, states the article.

In a further twist to the scandal, it has been revealed that Coulson has now initiated legal action against News Group, a subsidiary of News International, after the latter stated it planned to stop paying his legal fees.

It has not been explained why News Group would ever have committed to paying these legal fees, four years after Coulson’s employment with it ceased. It has also emerged that Coulson continued to receive severance deal payments from News International, even when he was employed by Cameron.

But the legal bill is mounting. As well as the ongoing cases against News International/News Group in Britain, preparations are underway by lawyers in the United States to begin a class action lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch’s US-based News Corporation on behalf of victims of its phone hacking activities.

Norman Siegel, formerly the head of the New York civil liberties union, is pursuing legal options in both federal and New York state courts in regard to allegations that News Corp employees bribed police in the UK. He is seeking to establish whether a class action suit can be launched in the US on behalf of the victims. A second New York lawyer, Steve Hyman, is understood to be working with Siegel as is Mark Lewis of the UK firm Taylor Hampton, who represented the family of murdered teenager Milly Dowler. It was the Guardian’s disclosure in July that the mobile phone of Milly Dowler had been hacked by a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, on behalf of the News of the World, that triggered the current crisis.

Siegel commented, “The allegations of phone hacking and bribery against News Corporation are serious and substantial, and we will approach this initial exploration with that same seriousness”.

Siegel represents 20 9/11 families and has advised them regarding an ongoing FBI investigation of allegations, first reported by the Daily Mirror, that News of the World reporters attempted to hack into the phone records of some 9/11 victims.

The Guardian reported that Lewis had asked Siegel to “seek witness statements from News Corp and its directors, including Rupert and James Murdoch, in relation to allegations that News of the World staff may have bribed police.”

As the nefarious goings-on between News Corp, the Met and politicians at the highest level continue to unravel apace; it is instructive to contrast the Met’s attitude to Wallis with its response to the Guardian and the journalist Amelia Hill.

Only last week, the Met sought silence and intimidate the Guardian, the newspaper that had originally exposed some of the endemic criminality at the News of the World. Acting as a law unto themselves, they attempted to force the newspaper to hand over all its documents in relation to its Milly Dowler revelations in July. A production order from the Met also asserted that Guardian journalist Hill had committed an offence under the Official Secrets Act by “inciting” an officer from Operation Weeting—the Met’s own investigation into phone hacking—to reveal information. The Met were eventually forced to back down from such a blatant attack on democratic rights and the freedom of the press.

Yet when it is alleged that Wallis, a former deputy editor at the News of the World, was using his position as an insider with access to information at the Met to sell “crime exclusives” to that very same paper and other newspapers, the response from the police is to do nothing at all.

This is despite, as the Met confirmed to the Telegraph, that “Wallis’s contract at Scotland Yard included a confidentiality clause, a data protection act clause and a conflict of interest clause.

“All of these clauses would prohibit him selling any information he was privy to while working at Scotland Yard.”

[Douglas Caddy]

Sun editor to give Leveson newspaper lessons

The Independent

By Cahal Milmo

Monday, 3 October 2011

The Leveson Inquiry into phone hacking will hold its first meeting this week, a seminar to be attended by the current editor of The Sun and a former editor of the News of the World; they have been invited to debate the pressures facing newspaper journalists.

Lord Justice Leveson, the judge who has been tasked with investigating press standards in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal, is understood to have asked for the hearing to help fill a "perceived gap" in his knowledge of the workings of the newspaper industry and the issues that he and his panel of assessors will be expected to explore.

Invitees for the three-and-a-half hour session in central London on Thursday include Dominic Mohan, the editor of The Sun, who last week faced a claim from Labour MP Tom Watson, a prominent campaigner on phone hacking, that he should be asked if the practice ever took place on the tabloid. News International has said it will "defend vigorously" a lawsuit by the actor Jude Law claiming stories obtained from voicemail interception were published by The Sun.

Phil Hall, who edited the NOTW between 1995 and 2000, is also among the keynote speakers.

[Douglas Caddy]

Hacking investigation may start in November

The Independent

By Ellen Branagh

Tuesday, 4 October 2011

Oral evidence in the first part of the inquiry into media ethics and phone hacking could start next month, Lord Leveson said today.

In a preliminary hearing for the inquiry, he said the evidence, which is likely to be televised live, could start as soon as the second week in November.

The first part of the inquiry will look at the culture, ethics and practices of the press and its relationship with the police and politicians.

In preliminary discussions at the High Court today, Lord Leveson said: "The present thinking is, and I am not committing to this, that we are unable to be likely to start before the second week in November."

He told the hearing he originally wanted to press for a slightly earlier start, because of the "territory that has to be travelled before next summer".

The Leveson Inquiry, announced by David Cameron in July, aims to produce a report within a year.

"I am not going to be overly constrained but I am very keen to keep the focus because I am conscious that whatever I come up with is likely to generate a debate," Lord Leveson said.

"A debate among the media, who may or may not be polite, a debate among the political groups and a reconsideration of the way, perhaps, regulation or self-regulation, whatever comes out, is organised, which everybody is going to want to get on with.

"Which is why this part of the inquiry has to be before the normal timing which is when the police have finished whatever they want to do.

"It strikes me that the imperative is not merely a pressure to do what I have been asked to do, it is because it is actually very important to achieve something, broadly within from what is now about a year."

He said he could take three years, or five years, but added: "But I am not sure that serves the interest of the public."

Lord Leveson said the inquiry was different from other probes generated by specific events such as the Hillsborough disaster.

"The first problem is that a lot of precise detail which is normally the starting point for an inquiry is, or may be, tied up in the investigation being undertaken by police.

"Therefore to some extent, as has been observed and I have said, the inquiry puts the cart before the horse because if I were to wait for the police investigation it would not start in a time to be measured in not weeks, and not months, I don't know."

He said he would be taking advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions about how "far" he could go, without prejudicing the police investigation.

Lord Leveson repeated assurances that the inquiry will be "open, transparent and fair", and again encouraged everyone involved to work together.

The hearing was told some newspapers had produced material required for the inquiry on time, while others had requested extensions, and Lord Leveson said he was grateful to both.

"Everybody has got to help, I am very sorry but that's the nature of the beast and it isn't in anybody's interest that this takes longer than it need take.

"There are issues which have to be addressed and we have all got to address them and to that extent if different groups have different ways of working and want to suggest approaches then I am very prepared to receive them."

[Douglas Caddy]

Hugh Grant: 'Half a dozen newspapers were involved in phone hacking'

At least half a dozen newspapers will be implicated in the phone hacking scandal, actor Hugh Grant said tonight.

Daily Telegraph

6:04PM BST 04 Oct 2011

The Hollywood actor was speaking ahead of his meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron at the Tory party conference.

The meeting is the first since the scandal broke over the summer, forcing Mr Cameron to order a judge-led inquiry into the affair by Lord Justice Leveson.

Asked if other Fleet Street newspapers were involved in hacking, Mr Grant said: “I know for a fact they have. This will all come out very soon, and not on a minor scale, on a huge industrial scale, through the police inquiry or the Leveson inquiry.”

He continued that “six or seven” newspapers were “for sure” engaged in phone hacking, including the defunct News International title the News of the World.

Mr Grant said he hoped Mr Cameron “had the appetite” to ensure that any recommendations from the Leveson inquiry were implemented.

Mr Grant said he was worried that Mr Cameron might feel he was “backed into a corner” at the height of the scandal and may not want to He told The Daily Telegraph: “There are plenty of depressing reasons why there may not be a great appetite on his part of the on the Tories part to put these wrongs right.

“They have had a very cosy relationship with a very powerful media giant, the majority of the press outside News International is right leaning, so why would you want to upset them with media reform?”

“The more scrutiny there is of the excesses that happens the more skeletons that will come of the cupboard about relations between this particular Government and Murdoch.”

Mr Grant was worried the decision to include bloggers and the broadcasters in the scope of the inquiry was an opportunity for the Conservatives to attack the BBC for its dominance and possible left-wing bias.

He said: “I give some credence to the theory that it was the Tories who wanted to BBC bash.”

Mr Grant, the British star of films such as Four Weddings And A Funeral and Notting Hill, became the public face of the campaign against phone hacking during the summer.

He said was certain that his phone had been hacked, but had not yet sought to win any civil damages from any media organisations.

Mr Grant said that he had decided “for the moment” not to pursue any media groups for civil damages so that he was able to speak “with a cleaner voice” if he had not made any financial benefit from the scandal.

John Kampfner, the Chief Executive of Index on Censorship said last night: “If we look over the past decade – from Iraq, to the behaviour of bankers - journalists have found out too little about those with power because of our restrictive libel and privacy laws. Journalism is too weak, not too strong.”

[Douglas Caddy]

Phone hacking victims to face scandal inquiry live on television

Celebrities, crime victims and others who allegedly had their phones hacked could be filmed live if they give evidence to the inquiry into the scandal.

Daily Telegraph

Among those who could be called to give evidence are Sienna Miller, Hugh Grant and JK Rowling.

8:04AM BST 05 Oct 2011

Celebrities, crime victims and others who allegedly had their phones hacked could be filmed live if they give evidence to the inquiry into the scandal.

Lord Justice Leveson yesterday signalled that the evidence sessions in the inquiry could start as early as next month, and said that he plans to have them televised.

Among those who could be called to give evidence are Sienna Miller, the actress, JK Rowling, the writer, Hugh Grant, the actor, and the parents of Madeleine McCann and Milly Dowler.

They are among a series of high-profile figures who have been confirmed as so-called “core participants”, meaning they will play a central role in the year-long inquiry.

The former Formula 1 boss Max Mosley, the former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott, the comedian Steve Coogan and the former footballer Paul Gascoigne are also on the list.

Executives from News International, the owners of the News of the World, the newspaper at the centre of the scandal, will also give evidence, an experience which a lawyer for Rupert Murdoch’s media group suggested could be “daunting” and “stressful”.

Rhodri Davies QC warned that the pressure of the inquiry could affect even those at the “top of their profession”.

Lord Leveson said those who felt “particularly anxious or nervous” could be introduced through their own counsel to get used to talking in court.

“For some, the giving of evidence is indeed a difficult exercise and I will want to make that exercise as easy an experience as possible on the basis that this is not a trial,” he said.

“I am simply looking at a series of issues to obtain a series of recommendations. I am not unmindful of the pressures of giving evidence.”

Mukul Chawla QC, representing Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, asked if there could be some advance warning of issues that may arise which were of “direct interest” to her.

David Cameron announced the Leveson Inquiry in July in the wake of the hacking scandal. It is expected to produce a report within a year.

However, because a police investigation is ongoing into specific allegations of hacking, the inquiry will first look at the wider issues of press practices and ethics and the media’s relationship with the public, police and politicians.

The first witnesses could be heard by the middle of next month.

In preliminary discussions at the High Court yesterday, Lord Leveson said: “The present thinking is, and I am not committing to this, that we are unable to be likely to start before the second week in November.”

He told the hearing he originally wanted to press for a slightly earlier start, because of the “territory that has to be travelled before next summer”, and said he was keen to “keep the focus” because the findings of the inquiry were likely to generate debate.

“A debate among the media, a debate among the political groups and a reconsideration of the way, perhaps, regulation or self-regulation, whatever comes out, is organised, which everybody is going to want to get on with,” Lord Leveson said. He repeated assurances that the inquiry would be “open, transparent and fair”.

The first part of the inquiry will also include a series of seminars, each chaired by one of the inquiry’s assessors.

The first of those will he held tomorrow and will include brief presentations from figures including Phil Hall, the former News of the World editor, and Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian.

The seminars will also include open discussion from those in attendance, which will include a range of figures from the media and members of parliamentary select committees.

[Douglas Caddy]

Phone hacking: News International faces more than 60 claims

Father of Josie Russell, who survived murder attempt, Sara Payne and 7/7 hero Paul Dadge among 13 new writs this week

Guardian (U.K.)

October 5, 2011

The father of Josie Russell, the girl who survived a hammer attack in which her mother and sister were killed, is among a raft of new claimants suing News International for alleged phone hacking, bringing the total to more than 60.

Thirteen new legal writs, from claimaints including Sarah's law campaigner Sara Payne and 7/7 hero Paul Dadge, were issued against Rupert Murdoch's company on Monday, which followed 24 the week before.

Payne campaigned with the News of the World to change the law so that parents could obtain access to information about paedophiles following the murder of her eight-year-old daughter, Sarah.

Another writ was in the name of Paul Dadge, the man whose image was published across the world after he was photographed helping victims of the 7/7 tube bombings.

There were also writs from singer Dannii Minogue, Paul Burrell, Princess Diana's former butler, and Shaun Russell, whose daughter Josie survived a hammer attack in which her mother and sister were killed in 1996.

According to people familiar with the situation, the sudden flurry of writs occurred because of a judicial cut-off point for initial claims.

It is thought the rash of lawsuits has been triggered by a deadline set by Mr Justice Vos to consider claims ahead of a January trial of a few test cases to determine how much News International should pay in damages to five of the victims.

Among the high-profile names in the 63 writs are the former Downing Street communications chief Alastair Campbell and politicians, including John Prescott, Simon Hughes, Denis MacShane, Chris Bryant, Mark Oaten, Tessa Jowell and George Galloway.

There are several actors in the list, such as Jude Law and Sadie Frost, and TV personalities including Steve Coogan and Ulrika Jonsson.

There are also writs in the names of George Best's son, Calum, footballer Ashley Cole, rugby player Gavin Henson and jockey Kieren Fallon.

Some of the writs involve more than one person. For example, Charlotte Church is joined in her lawsuit by her mother, Maria, and stepfather James.

The overwhelming majority of the writs have been issued jointly against News Group Newspapers, the News International subsidiary that published the now defunct News of the World, and Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who worked under contract for the Sunday tabloid.

However, one – by singer Cornelia Crisan – also names the former News of the World chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, and another of the paper's former reporters as defendants in her claim.

It is the first phone-hacking lawsuit to target Thurlbeck. He was arrested and bailed in April for alleged phone hacking but has not been charged. He is suing News International for unfair dismissal.

Thurlbeck said: "As I said last week, the truth will out. But this will be in the law courts and at a public tribunal."

The number and range of the claims has taken some legal observers by surprise. One source said it suggests that News International's £20m contingency fund to deal with legal claims will not be anywhere near enough to cover the final total.

One of the lawyers acting for some of the hacking victims, Mark Lewis, told Bloomberg News: "So far, fewer than 5% of the victims of Glenn Mulcaire have been notified.

"He was just one agent used by one paper. When the final tally takes place, we will see thousands of claims and more than one paper."

Lewis said that, as the number of claimants grows, estimates that Murdoch's company would need at least £100m to settle such claims looks like "a serious underestimate".

His logic is based on the fact that only 200 people have been identified from the 4,000 names said to be on documents that were seized from Mulcaire's house in 2006, when he was arrested with the News of the World's former royal editor Clive Goodman. Both Mulcaire and Goodman were jailed for phone hacking in early 2007.

About half of those initially identified have launched legal actions. So, if the same proportion of the full 4,000 were to sue, then News International's liability, in terms of damages plus legal costs would be colossal.

News International has already offered to pay one of Lewis's clients, the family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, £3m.

Media lawyer Niri Shan, of Taylor Wessing, said that victims who file claims before next year's trial could benefit because "there is a level of uncertainty about what the court will award" in January. He added: "[News International parent company] News Corp may overpay to get rid of claimants."

[Douglas Caddy]

Hacking 'not result of pressure', says former News of the World editor Phil Hall

The Independent

By Ellen Branagh

Thursday, 6 October 2011

The phone hacking scandal cannot be blamed on pressure to produce big stories, a former News of the World editor said today.

Phil Hall, who edited the now-defunct paper from 1995 to 2000, told a seminar for the Leveson Inquiry that competitive pressures on newspapers had not led to a drop in standards.

He said phone hacking had not come about because of pressure for big stories but because a group of people had "indulged in illegal activity" and the checks and balances that should have been in place had failed.

The seminar, held at the QE2 Conference Centre in Westminster, is the first in a series of discussions held as part of the inquiry into media ethics and phone hacking.

The session, called The Competitive Pressures on the Press and the Impact on Journalism, included a brief presentation from Mr Hall, as well as former Daily Star reporter Richard Peppiatt, and Claire Enders, from research and consultancy company Enders Analysis.

Mr Hall told the seminar, which included representatives from across the media, that he was never under pressure from owner Rupert Murdoch to boost the circulation figures of the News of the World.

"There was no pressure to achieve the unachievable," he said. "The pressure was to deliver a great campaigning newspaper."

Mr Hall told the seminar a "publish and be damned" attitude had "long been confined to the history books of Fleet Street" and the idea that editors were pushing for big stories to boost circulation figures was "simplistic".

"Some of our biggest stories - the Jeffrey Archer case, for example - delivered no increase in circulation," he said.

"Yes, we broke big stories but it was not the be all and end all of the operation."

He said pressures felt by reporters were due to "personal and professional pride".

"As an editor I did demand high standards and I did expect journalists to produce agenda-setting stories. Is that any different to a business leader in any other industry?

"Those who suggest and imply that phone hacking has arisen because of the pressures to deliver big stories are in my view wrong.

"It has happened because a group of people have indulged in illegal activity and the checks and balances that should have been in place in any newsroom, or any business for that matter, have failed."

Mr Hall said in his experience most journalists were professional and their stories were accurate.

"My experience is that 99% of journalists do act professionally - they are impartial, thorough and work within the PCC (Press Complaints Commission) Code of Conduct. And the vast majority of stories are accurate."

But he said the PCC had become "invisible", adding: "The PCC needs more clarity, more clout in what it does, and more visibility when it does act."

But Richard Peppiatt, who resigned from the Daily Star earlier this year over what he claimed was an Islamophobic news agenda, said newsrooms were "bullying and aggressive environments".

He claimed stories were often pre-planned, with reporters expected to get facts to fit in with the story.

"Tabloid newsrooms are often bullying and aggressive environments in which dissent is often not tolerated.

"The question is not, 'do you have a story on X', the question is 'today we are saying this about X, make it appear so'."

He said newspapers create a "feeding frenzy" around major crimes or stories, citing the Madeleine McCann and Joanna Yeates cases.

In an open discussion after the presentations, some editors questioned Mr Peppiatt's claims.

Richard Wallace, editor of the Daily Mirror, said he did not recognise the description of national newspaper newsrooms.

There was also agreement with Mr Hall, that commercial pressures had not led to a drop in standards.

Ian MacGregor, editor of the Sunday Telegraph, said: "I don't think anyone here would ever make an excuse that commercial pressures are changing the way we operate in terms of our integrity."

Daily Telegraph editor Tony Gallagher told the seminar: "There's a desire to be quick, there's a desire to be accurate, there's a desire to ensure you have got the best version of the story."

Press Association editor Jonathan Grun said: "All of us want to be first with a story but, first of all, all of us want to be sure that the story is right."

In a second seminar, on the Rights and Responsibilities of the Press, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger discussed the importance of a free press.

"When people talk about licensing journalists the answer should be to look at history," he said.

He encouraged the inquiry to remember "how the freedoms won here became a model for much of the rest of the world", and "how the world still watches us to see how we protect those freedoms".

Trevor Kavanagh, former political editor of The Sun and now an associate editor, said: "Without free speech we cannot have a free society, once lost it would be almost impossible to restore."

He said it was in the public interest for newspapers to be able to assess the character of national figures.

"If people are seeking our votes or our cash, it is surely right that we should know if they are masquerading as someone they are not."

He said editors, sub editors and reporters knew the PCC code of conduct by heart, adding: "Sometimes they make mistakes but considering the number of stories and the number of headlines, not that many."

Mr Kavanagh said despite criticisms by some, the tabloids "drive the daily news agenda".

"Publishing news is not a public service, it is a ferociously competitive industry in a rapidly shrinking market," he said.

But he said it did provide a public service, turning complicated issues into "crisp, easily understood copy".

Mr Kavanagh said despite some flaws, the media was a "force for good", and said "gagging the media on the pretext of the public interest is one means of ensuring the public never learns the answer".

Brian Cathcart, founder of the Hacked Off campaign, told the seminar: "The existence of this inquiry is proof of a failure of public trust in journalism.

"Not just a failure of trust in one newspaper but in large parts of the industry and in its ethical standards and the mechanisms that uphold it."

He said the industry needed to show that ethical discussions were held about stories in the newsroom, in a bid to restore public trust.

In a discussion on Conditional Fee Agreements (CFAs) - no win, no fee cases - Mark Lewis, solicitor for the family of Milly Dowler, said they were an important tool.

"Everybody knows that they should not have hacked Milly Dowler's phone, everybody knows the cases that have come out in the last couple of days," he said.

"That is nothing to do with ethical considerations, it is to do with access to justice so people are able to fight back, to defend themselves by pursuing a claim."

Richard Caseby, former managing editor at the Sunday Times and now managing editor at The Sun, said the PCC Code was a "good code", that all Sun journalists signed up to.

"It's a good code, it's a very workable code," he said. "I think during the last year or so it could have done with much stronger leadership, but it's a good code and very, very many journalists adhere to it."

Lord Justice Leveson said the seminars had achieved what they set out to do, creating a "broad and open discussion of a number of important issues".