More News of The World hacking allegations

[Thanas]

^Source?

[DaveJB]

As I suspected, News International are trying their damnedest to throw Andy Coulson under the bus for this. Their latest claim is that Rebekah Brooks was on holiday when Dowler's voicemail was hacked, and that Coulson (who was her deputy at the time) temporarily turned her lovely, honest newspaper into a cesspit of corruption while she was sunning herself on the beach.

The Gaurdian:

News International is planning to relieve the pressure on its beleaguered chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, by claiming she was on holiday when a mobile phone belonging to Milly Dowler was hacked into in 2002 by the News of the World, the paper she edited at the time.

The Guardian understands that the company has established that Brooks, News of the World editor from May 2000 until January 2003, was on holiday in Italy when the paper ran a story which referred to a message that had been left on the teenager's phone. The article, which was about a message left by an employment agency on the murdered schoolgirl's mobile, was published on 14 April 2002.

News International also believes Brooks was away in the two weeks following the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham. It is thought that mobile phones belonging to the parents of the two girls were targeted in the days following their death.

That is likely to focus attention on Andy Coulson, who was Brooks's deputy at the time, and would normally have edited the paper in her absence.

Coulson replaced Brooks as editor in early 2003 and has always maintained that he was unaware of any phone-hacking activity by the News of the World.

News International declined to comment. On Tuesday night it passed a file to Scotland Yard which is thought to contain evidence that Coulson sanctioned payments to police officers.

Coulson stepped down as News of the World editor in January 2007, after former royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for intercepting the voicemail messages of members of the royal household, saying he accepted responsibility for what had happened but knew nothing about it.

He resigned as Cameron's director of communications in January this year, maintaining that he was unaware of phone hacking by the News of the World but claiming continuing coverage of the scandal "has made it difficult for me to give the 110% needed in this role".

News International is also investigating whether any News of the World journalists took cash that was meant to be paid to police officers in exchange for tip-offs and stories, and pocketing some of it themselves.

[Lord Pounder]

This is truely disgusting, more akin to necrophilia rather than pissing on graves. I'm glad to see that advertisers are pulling out left right and centre according to the Beeb.

Personally I reckon that The Sun/NotW aren't the only ones doing this, they were just the ones clumsy enough to get caught. I believe that the other papers are howling for blood in the hopes that no-one looks too closely at them.

Questions have to be asked at the phone companies too, is there any way to prevent hacking of voicemails in future and a way to genuinely prevent ex-directory numbers being so easily accessible.

[bobalot]

What's hilarious is how News Limited in Australia has totally ignored/buried the story.

The News of the World news that Murdoch’s OZ papers forgot
The majority of Australian News Limited papers have ignored or buried revelations that their UK Sunday sister, the News of the World, hacked into the voicemail of murdered teenager Milly Dowler — the biggest media story in years.

A Crikey survey of the eight Australian News Limited metropolitan daily mastheads reveals that only the Herald Sun and The Australian covered the yarn, with the brave souls at the Hun dedicating just 28 words to it in a brief on page 32… just above an item about Nathan’s hotdog eating champion Joey Chestnut.

The Australian reproduced an Associated Press story on page 11 in the World section, in much the same manner as Fairfax competitors The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. But the other six News dailies — the Daily Telegraph, the NT News, the Advertiser, the Courier-Mail, The Mercury and the Gold Coast Bulletin failed to mention it at all.

Amusingly, all local tabloids included an unrelated story into someone hacking into Fox News’ Twitter account and tweeting lies about the death of Barack Obama.

To its credit The Oz followed up this morning with an embedded video and its media diarist later uploaded a blog post containing a excerpt of an extraordinary Times editorial (read the full text here) that branded the actions of its fellow News employees “beyond reprehensible”.

The official line from The Times is worth quoting in full:

“Before today, The Times, which, like the News of the World, is owned by News International, has taken the view that it ought not to comment on the issue of phone hacking. We have sought to report the story straight, in good faith, without taking any editorial view. A supportive line invites the accusation of speaking from the party script. A critical line is easily written off as a deliberate, insincere attempt to create distance from the story.

“But anyone who has serious faith in the public purpose of journalism has to record his or her dissent from the behaviour that has now been alleged. Anyone who believes in the nobility of the trade of reporting the truth, the better to inform the readers, and anyone who believes in the contribution of vibrant comment to a raucous and well-informed democracy, has to be clear when a line has been crossed. Over and above the internal inquiry that will be conducted at News International, this matter now requires the most rigorous possible police inquiry, which must be carried out, in David Cameron’s words, ‘without fear or favour’.”

Yesterday, the News-owned UK dailies went soft, with The Times running a one-column page 1 report and The Sun taking the low-road with a pitiful 95-word effort under the headline “‘Murdered Milly’s phone ‘got hacked’”. Neither initially mentioned News International chief Rebekah Brooks’ name in relation to the saga.

But the beleaguered chief then penned a widely-reported all-staff email claiming she was “sickened” by the news and that it was “inconceivable” that she would have known about Dowler, despite it occurring under her watch as NotW editor in 2002.

This morning’s UK press contained a fresh round of damaging revelations, with The Independent splashing that Brooks had previously initiated searches by a private investigator leaned on later to tap into Dowler’s voicemail. On its front page, The Times turned the blowtorch back on dumped David Cameron spin doctor Andy Coulson, noting that he was editor of NotW when the paper “paid police for information”.

And the Guardian — which in 2009 broke the initial story that the NotW hacking activities went beyond the Royal Family — was like a pig in mud, devoting a quintuple-bylined front page lead on its website to reports that several July 7 London bombing victims had been contacted by Scotland Yard to tell them their phones had been hacked.

The paper’s first edition (below) had a story that other murdered children had been drawn into the NotW web under Brooks’ editorship — Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, the Soham 10-year-olds killed in 2002 by Ian Huntley. It also included a swingeing editorial, coverage of the Brooks angle, and the potential fallout for the recently approved BSkyB deal.

Last year, former Herald Sun editor Bruce Guthrie detailed the self-censorship at News in his book Man Bites Murdoch. He said overt diktats from inside News were rarely necessary, with Murdoch yes-men internalising their master’s voice in their day-to-day decision making.

“Their first thought is what will Rupert think of this, whether it’s a story, whether it’s a decision to launch a new section … whether it’s a leader on election eve…it’s almost instinctive second-guessing the boss and it flows from there, so you second-guess Rupert and you second-guess John Hartigan and you second-guess the corporate partners…and once you’ve cleared all those hurdles, you go for the story.”

On this morning’s evidence, while The Times appears to be moving in the right direction, it seems Murdoch’s Australian stable remains brave and true.

[Big Orange]

The actual tabloids in the UK implicated in the unethical spying of crime/terrorist/war victims has been peculiarly abscent as well. Charlie Brooker covered tabloid news journalists hiring PIs and illegally delving into secure files with the help of insiders in one of his episodes of Newswipe from a while back. I'm glad this extreme corruption has been deservedly blown wide open and this is the begining of the end for Murdoch's media empire (I mean he's not getting any younger).

[Hillary]

this is the begining of the end for Murdoch's media empire.

What evidence is there to suggest that?

[DaveJB]

Breaking news on the BBC website - The News of the World's offices are to be shut down, and it will cease publication after this Sunday.

[Dartzap]

Breaking news on the BBC website - The News of the World's offices are to be shut down, and it will cease publication after this Sunday.

Haha, oh wow, they thinks a pyrric victory is going to stop this? Pathetic

[Iroscato]

Breaking news on the BBC website - The News of the World's offices are to be shut down, and it will cease publication after this Sunday.

Well, this goes to show what a clusterfuck this whole business was. I've never heard in my short time of existence on this world of a paper actually being forced to cease publishing after a scandal, but this was clearly enough to do it.
I've also just discovered they apparently hacked the family's of 7/7 victims phones. The question that was buzzing around in my head has now been answered. Is there no end to how low journalists will sink to get news? No. NOTW is totally unmourned by me.

Big Orange, I don't think this is the beginning of the end for Murdoch, but it's a severe blow to his credibility nonetheless. It's just too big to topple, IMO.

[Crown]

*Does the Dance of Joy*

Bring it all down, go after all of Murdoch's bullshit 'news' holdings, it's all a scam anyway.

Totally made up by this!

EDIT :: On a realistic note; taking bets on how quick a Sunday edition of 'The Sun' will be trotted out.

[Omeros]

^Well, the necessary domain name was registered by someone on Tuesday, so...

Probably not long.

[madd0ct0r]

well, given what I heard about Murdoch's minions self censorship it could be a good thing.

it seems that there is rarely instructions come down from above as to what story to run, but each editor asks themselves 'would rupert approve?'

this is a pretty clear way to help them in that decision in future.

[UnderAGreySky]

The only thing I hope for is that each of the 3000-4000 victims claims a six-figure sum for being hacked. Since some settlements have already reached that figure, it should be easy.

Also, Andy Caulson is to be arrested. Remember, he was first forced to resign as editor of the NotW in 2007, THEN appointed communications director of the Conservative Party. Between the Guardian and the NYT it emerged in 2010 that he had actively encouraged the hacking while editor in the past and he was forced to resign as "special adviser".

The following line - spoken when the second round of allegations surfaced last year - is going to haunt Cameron, methinks:

"I believe in giving people a second chance. As director of communications for the Conservatives he does an excellent job in a proper, upright way at all times."

[Big Orange]

this is the begining of the end for Murdoch's media empire.

What evidence is there to suggest that?

OK, I'm overstating things, News Corporation is a huge hydra, but it's certainly the end for the 168 year old News of the World and the establishment has been forced to shut down for good, while the rest of the parent company shakes from the international media scandal and is another sign of the decline of the newspaper industry in general, with journalists and editors trying to wring out as much out of the news as possible, becoming progressively more extreme in their methods (until it blew up in their faces in regards to NotW's staff). As much as I dislike Murdoch and as much as a lot of the News Corporation deserves to get liquidated, The News of the World getting disbanded was just News Corps. expunging damaged goods to save the rest of it, but I hope this bullshit will torpedo the BSkyB deal as well.

[UnderAGreySky]

I know that the Hitler/Downfall parodies have been overplayed, but this has been particularly well done (and fast too!)

Downfall of the NotW

Slightly NSFW video/subtitles.

[Chirios]

They're shutting down the NoTW... great. So now the cleaner's and the secretaries who had absolutely nothing to do with the problem have lost their jobs, while the people who were actually in charge and who ordered the phone hacking get to move on to the Sunday Sun.

[TC27]

Basically hundreds of jobs being shed to try and create a smoke screen for Mrs Brooks to hide under.

The political fallout is going to be interesting both Labour and the Conservatives have gone out on a limb in the past to court Murdoch and his cronies - I think the Murdoch empire will go on but he will no longer be a overt player in British politics.

[Zac Naloen]

Expect to see the "Sunday Sun" in a few months which will ultimately be indistinguishable from the news of the world.

[Crown]

This;

OK, I'm overstating things, News Corporation is a huge hydra, but it's certainly the end for the 168 year old News of the World

And this;

Basically hundreds of jobs being shed to try and create a smoke screen for Mrs Brooks to hide under.

She MUST know where Murdoch has buried the bodies to have been protected so much by him while they throw Caulson under the bus.

Also, I got this off another forum (a Liverpool FC one) so make of it what you will;

Is Murdoch free to destroy tabloid’s records?

By Alison Frankel
The views expressed are her own.

Here’s some News of the World news to spin the heads of American lawyers. According to British media law star Mark Stephens of Finers Stephens Innocent (whom The Times of London has dubbed “Mr Media”), Rupert Murdoch’s soon-to-be shuttered tabloid may not be obliged to retain documents that could be relevant to civil and criminal claims against the newspaper—even in cases that are already underway. That could mean that dozens of sports, media, and political celebrities who claim News of the World hacked into their telephone accounts won’t be able to find out exactly what the tabloid knew and how it got the information.

If News of the World is to be liquidated, Stephens told Reuters, it “is a stroke of genius—perhaps evil genius.”

Under British law, Stephens explained, all of the assets of the shuttered newspaper, including its records, will be transferred to a professional liquidator (such as a global accounting firm). The liquidator’s obligation is to maximize the estate’s assets and minimize its liabilities. So the liquidator could be well within its discretion to decide News of the World would be best served by defaulting on pending claims rather than defending them. That way, the paper could simply destroy its documents to avoid the cost of warehousing them—and to preclude any other time bombs contained in News of the World’s records from exploding.

“Why would the liquidator want to keep [the records]?” Stephens said. “Minimizing liability is the liquidator’s job.”

That’s a very different scenario, Stephens said, from what would happen if a newspaper in the U.S. went into bankruptcy. In the U.S., a plaintiff (or, for that matter, a criminal investigator) could obtain a court order barring that kind of document destruction. In the U.K., there’s no requirement that the estate retain its records, nor any law granting plaintiffs a right to stop the liquidator from getting rid of them.

[Crown]

They're shutting down the NoTW... great. So now the cleaner's and the secretaries who had absolutely nothing to do with the problem have lost their jobs, while the people who were actually in charge and who ordered the phone hacking get to move on to the Sunday Sun.

(I'm partially trolling you here, so don't take it too seriously like)

[Dartzap]

About the liquidation stuff - how can they destroy anything? The parent company still exists, so if they were do that it would smack of destruction of evidence, even if you couldn't prove it

[Dartzap]

So, some updates: Coulson nicked

Phone hacking probe: Ex-News of the World editor Coulson arrested
Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson has been arrested by police investigating phone hacking and corruption allegations.
And ex-NoW royal editor Clive Goodman, jailed in 2007 for phone hacking, has been arrested over corruption claims.

It came as Prime Minister David Cameron defended his decision to employ Mr Coulson and announced two inquiries - one led by a judge - into the scandal.
Mr Coulson has denied any knowledge of phone hacking while he was NoW editor.

The controversy has raised questions about the proposed takeover of satellite broadcaster BSkyB by Rupert Murdoch's New Corporation, the ultimate owner of the News of the World.
And broadcasting regulator Ofcom has now written to the chairman of the Commons culture committee highlighting its duty to ensure that anyone holding a broadcasting licence is a "fit and proper" person to do so.

The letter says "in considering whether any licensee remains a fit and proper person to hold broadcasting licences Ofcom will consider any relevant conduct of those who manage and control such a licence".

Fresh revelations
Mr Coulson, 43, was arrested at 1030 BST on Friday by detectives investigating allegations of hacking the phones of various people in the news and is also being questioned about corruption allegations.

He was arrested by appointment at a south London police station and is in custody.
A number of suited men, thought to be police officers, entered Mr Coulson's south London home with large plastic crates at about 1200 BST.
And, following his arrest, Goodman, 53, is understood to be being held at a south London police station, although not the same one as Mr Coulson.
Mr Cameron said of Mr Coulson: "I became friends with him and I think he did his job for me in a very effective way. He became a friend and he is a friend."
In other developments:

Rebekah Brooks is due to meet News of the World staff
Prosecutors have asked Strathclyde Police to examine specific claims of phone hacking in Scotland by the NoW
News International has said it is shutting the News of the World after this Sunday's edition following a spate of fresh revelations.
The 168-year-old tabloid is accused of hacking into phones of crime victims, celebrities and politicians. Police have identified 4,000 possible targets.
Mr Cameron said the judge-led inquiry would look into "why did the first police investigation fail so abysmally; what exactly was going on at the News of the World and what was going on at other newspapers".

"Of course the bulk of this inquiry can only happen when the police investigation has finished. That is what the law requires," he added.
Mr Cameron said a second inquiry would look at the ethics and culture of the press and that the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) should be scrapped, adding: "I believe we need a new system entirely".

He also questioned the tenability of Rebekah Brooks as News International chief executive considering she was editor of the News of the World at the time murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone being hacked.

Mr Cameron said there had been reports she had offered her resignation and added: "In this situation I would have taken it."
In January 2007 Goodman, and a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, were both jailed for plotting to intercept voicemail messages left for royal aides.
Background check

Mr Coulson, who was the paper's editor at the time, said he took "ultimate responsibility" for the scandal but insisted he was unaware of any phone hacking by his journalists.
He was employed as Mr Cameron's director of communications in 2007 but Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger claims he warned Mr Cameron's team not to employ Mr Coulson.
The prime minister said he did not remember receiving "any specific action or information about Andy Coulson" but would check with his officials.
Asked if he had "screwed up" on the decision to employ Mr Coulson, Mr Cameron said: "People will decide."

He said: "I decided to give him a second chance but the second chance didn't work. The decision to hire him was mine and mine alone."
The prime minister said a company had been hired to run a "basic background check" on Mr Coulson before he was employed while the Conservatives were in Opposition.
Mr Cameron admitted politicians were to blame for "turning a blind eye" to bad practices in journalism.

He said this was a "genuine opportunity" and a "cathartic moment" both for the media and for politicians and he said the phone hacking scandal was a "black cloud" hanging over Fleet Street.
'Unconvincing answers'

Asked about the decision to close the paper, Mr Cameron said: "What needs to change is not the name of the paper or the letterhead but the practices that go on."
Mr Cameron admitted politicians and the media had got a bit "cosy" but he added: "As a party leader you are bound to want a relationship with the media because you want to get your message over and if that means talking to the head of the BBC, the editor of the Guardian or Rupert Murdoch I will go out and do that."
Asked about the takeover of BSkyB by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, Mr Cameron said Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt was following "the proper legal processes and procedures".
He said: "His role is to take the advice of independent regulators and, as his department have made clear this morning - given the events of recent days - this will take some time."
Afterwards the Labour leader Ed Miliband said the prime minister "clearly still doesn't get it".

He said: "He is ploughing on regardless on BSkyB. He failed to apologise for the catastrophic mistake of bringing Andy Coulson into the heart of government.
"His wholly unconvincing answers of what he knew and when he knew it about Mr Coulson's activities undermine his ability to lead the change that Britain needs."

I have learned that Ofcom is deeply concerned by recent revelations about the years of mismanagement at the News of the World and is monitoring developments at News Corporation extremely closely.
It is expected to make a statement later today.

I understand that Ofcom regards evidence that the News of the World's newsroom was out of control for many years as relevant to a judgement on whether News Corporation would be a fit-and-proper owner of British Sky Broadcasting.

Ofcom has a statutory and continuous duty to ensure that any holder of a broadcasting licence is fit and proper. It can launch an investigation into this question at any time of its choosing.
When it comes to the question of whether News Corporation is an appropriate owner of its 39% of BSkyB and of the 100% it wants to own, Ofcom will want to know how it was that the News of the World was able to engage in unacceptable journalistic practices for many years, who in theory had management responsibility for what went on there, and who knew what and when about all of this.

I would expect Ofcom to liaise with the police on securing information that would allow it to make this judgement.
'Damaging decision'
That said, I do not expect Ofcom to launch an enquiry into this "fit-and-proper" question immediately. It will want to allow the police to continue their investigation for a while longer, before making its own assessment.

That said, its statement later today will leave little doubt that such an enquiry is likely to be launched in coming months.
Ofcom's probable intervention will therefore erect a very big obstacle in the way of News Corp's planned bid of almost £10bn for the 61% of BSkyB it doesn't already own - because the board of BSkyB will be not able to judge whether News Corp would be allowed by Ofcom to complete the takeover.
Ofcom and Jeremy Hunt are also likely to erect a second obstacle in the way of the takeover.
Mr Hunt is to ask Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading for their advice yet again on the separate issue of whether the takeover would restrict plurality or choice in the media to a damaging extent.

He will do this after he has sifted through the 156,000 electronic submissions received by Culture Department in its week-long submission on the deal that closed at 1200 today and has examined a paper petition from the campaign group 38 Degrees with 100,000 signatures.
Examining the submission will take many weeks. And there will be a further delay while he waits for new advice from Ofcom and the OFT.
So it now looks unlikely Mr Hunt can make a judgement on any of this till the autumn.
What will disturb News Corporation is that Ofcom and the OFT will reconsider whether the undertakings given by News Corporation to protect the editorial independence of Sky News are adequate, in the light of disclosures about the extent to which the News of the World was a law unto itself within the organisation.
Undertakings from the board of News Corp are only valuable if the regulators can be confident that the board of News Corp has sufficient control over the organisation for the undertakings to be followed.

Update 1526 BST: Ofcom's statement takes the form of a letter to the chairman of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, John Whittingdale.
In the letter, Ed Richards, the chief executive of Ofcom, says it is "monitoring the situation closely and in particular the investigations by the relevant authorities into alleged unlawful activities in regard to any evidence or findings of any relevant conduct".

Mr Richards says Ofcom is "writing to the relevant authorities [such as the police] to highlight our duties in relation to 'fit and proper' and indicating that we would like to be kept abreast of the timescales of their investigations and of any further information which may assist us in the discharge of our own duties".
What may perhaps be of greatest concern to News Corp - in the light of its 39% holding in BSkyB and desire to own 100% - is Mr Richard's statement that "in considering whether any licensee remains a 'fit and proper' person to hold broadcasting licences Ofcom will consider any relevant conduct of those who manage and control such a licence".
Or to put it another way, Mr Richards is saying that the years in which the News of the World's newsroom was out of control, and the subsequent years during which News Corp failed to learn the truth of what happened in that newsroom, are relevant to Ofcom's judgement about whether News Corp is fit and proper to hold a broadcasting licence (or to own a controlling interest in British Sky Broadcasting).

Update 1607 BST: BSkyB shares have now fallen more than 8%. The market agrees that Ofcom has put a pretty big obstacle in the way of News Corp's takeover of BSkyB.

Ofcom starts swimming around the bloodshed

Oh and the Stars offices were raided as well today, such fun!

Oh, and did I mention the police have found evidence of execs deleting millions of emails enmass at several points in the last few years?

[Dartzap]

One of the other tabloids is now alleging that the NotW hacked some of the 9/11 victems. If true, weeelll.... I hear Americans are big on justice/vengeance?

[Eternal_Freedom]

Annnnd....I read in the Telegraph this morning, Mr Murdoch is already talking about a Sunday edition of the Sun.

Ding ding ding. That's a total of two days. Pay all bets.

[Steel]

Hmmm... Looks like the news has predictably knocked £1 of the price of BSkyB shares, or in other words, a £500million reduction in the price you pay to buy the company. Might not work out too badly for Murdoch if everything goes through in the end. Probably be a bit too much credit to say this was planned...