Phone hacking: News of the World reporter's letter reveals cover-up!

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Nick Davies, guardian.co.uk / Tuesday 16 August 2011 12.34 BST.

The News of the World's former royal correpsondent, Clive Goodman, who was jailed over phone hacking. A letter from him claims phone hacking was widely discussed at the paper. Photograph: Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images.

Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and their former editor Andy Coulson all face embarrassing new allegations of dishonesty and cover-up after the publication of an explosive letter written by the News of the World's disgraced royal correspondent, Clive Goodman.

In the letter, which was written four years ago but published only on Tuesday, Goodman claims that phone hacking was "widely discussed" at editorial meetings at the paper until Coulson himself banned further references to it; that Coulson offered to let him keep his job if he agreed not to implicate the paper in hacking when he came to court; and that his own hacking was carried out with "the full knowledge and support" of other senior journalists, whom he named.

The claims are acutely troubling for the prime minister, David Cameron, who hired Coulson as his media adviser on the basis that he knew nothing about phone hacking. And they confront Rupert and James Murdoch with the humiliating prospect of being recalled to parliament to justify the evidence which they gave last month on the aftermath of Goodman's allegations. In a separate letter, one of the Murdochs' own law firms claim that parts of that evidence were variously "hard to credit", "self-serving" and "inaccurate and misleading".

Goodman's claims also raise serious questions about Rupert Murdoch's close friend and adviser, Les Hinton, who was sent a copy of the letter but failed to pass it to police and who then led a cast of senior Murdoch personnel in telling parliament that they believed Coulson knew nothing about the interception of the voicemail of public figures and that Goodman was the only journalist involved.

The letters from Goodman and from the London law firm Harbottle & Lewis are among a cache of paperwork published by the Commons culture, media and sport select committee. One committee member, the Labour MP Tom Watson, said Goodman's letter was "absolutely devastating". He said: "Clive Goodman's letter is the most significant piece of evidence that has been revealed so far. It completely removes News International's defence. This is one of the largest cover-ups I have seen in my lifetime."

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/aug/16/phone-hacking-now-reporter-letter

Factional feud in Kerala CPM turns ‘hi-tech’!

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Anil S, Express News Service / Last Updated : 05 Aug 2011 12:18:29 PM IST.

KOCHI: The Gopi Kottamurickal incident has once again brought forth the technical dimension to the factional feud within the CPM. And going by the trend, the technical evidence in the incident could be a double-edged sword and would eventually backfire to those who raised the allegations.

The incidents which led to the removal of Gopi Kottamurickal as CPM Ernakulam district secretary had a tinge of technology behind it. Days after Gopi was suspended, it has come to light that the 'evidence' against him was presented as a pen drive containing some visuals captured from the party office, the Lenin Centre, by a hidden camera.

"Till recently CPM had tried to keep itself away from technological advances. Earlier also there were incidents where technology intervened in party action against leaders. Technical evidence are being used more often these days for taking action against CPM leaders," pointed out Ashokan S, an IT expert.

In one of the first incidents where technology played a major role, the party officials traced the typewriter used by the 'Save CPM Forum' and eventually expelled those who played the rebel. Later K M Shajahan was expelled from the party alleging that he engaged in tracking phone calls of M A Baby, against whom the allegations were made for leaking party news. Another victim was N N Krishnadas, who came up with allegations against A K  Balan.

In turn Krishnadas was accused of phone tapping and was demoted. Kottamurickal, against whom allegations of immoral activities were made by a district committee member, was removed from the position on Monday pending enquiry.

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http://expressbuzz.com/states/kerala/factional-feud-in-kerala-cpm-turns-%E2%80%98hi-tech%E2%80%99/301205.html#.Tjubnn9iQh8.twitter

SHAME OF MEDIA: News of the World targeted phone of Sarah Payne's mother!

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Nick Davies and Amelia Hill, guardian.co.uk / Thursday 28 July 2011 16.08 BST.

Sarah Payne was murdered by Roy Whiting in 2000. The mobile phone details of her mother, Sara, have been found in Glenn Mulcaire's notes. Photograph: PA.

Evidence found in private detective's notes believed to relate to phone which Rebekah Brooks gave to Sara Payne as gift.

Sara Payne, whose eight-year-old daughter Sarah was abducted and murdered in July 2000, has been told by Scotland Yard that they have found evidence to suggest she was targeted by the News of the World's investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who specialised in hacking voicemail.

Police had earlier told her correctly that her name was not among those recorded in Mulcaire's notes, but on Tuesday officers from Operation Weeting told her they had found her personal details among the investigator's notes. These had previously been thought to refer to a different target.

Friends of Payne have told the Guardian that she is "absolutely devastated and deeply disappointed" at the disclosure. Her cause had been championed by the News of the World, and in particular by its former editor, Rebekah Brooks. Believing that she had not been a target for hacking, Payne wrote a farewell column for the paper's final edition on 10 July, referring to its staff as "my good and trusted friends".

The evidence that police have found in Mulcaire's notes is believed to relate to a phone given to Payne by Brooks as a gift to help her stay in touch with her supporters.

One of Payne's close colleagues said: "We are all appalled and disgusted. Sara is in bits about it."

In a statement, Brooks said the latest allegations were "abhorrent" and "particularly upsetting" because Sara Payne was a "dear friend".

Coming after the disclosure that the News of the World hacked and deleted the voicemail of the murdered Surrey schoolgirl Milly Dowler, the news will raise further questions about whether News Corporation is "fit and proper" to own TV licences and its 39% share of BSkyB.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/28/phone-hacking-sarah-payne

SHAME OF MEDIA: Assange’s lawyer says NotW hacked his phone records!

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July 23, 2011 / ANI, London / DC.

The Lawyer of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has that he was among the people whose phones were hacked by Rupert Murdoch’s ‘News of the World’.

In a tweet, high-profile lawyer Mark Stephens said he may have been hacked along with other lawyers, and was looking to meet the police over the issue.

Stephens told Britain's Channel 4 News that he contacted Scotland Yard to ask if his phone had been hacked.

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http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/world/europe/assange%E2%80%99s-lawyer-says-notw-hacked-his-phone-records-426

U.K. PHONE HACKING SCANDAL: In Court, Suggestions of Hacking Beyond The News of the World!

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By JO BECKER and RAVI SOMAIYA / NYTimes / Published: July 20, 2011.

Interactive Graphic

Key Figures in the Phone Hacking Case

LONDON — Front pages across Britain featured pictures of Rupert Murdoch apologizing for phone hacking at The News of the World. But further suggestions that the practice spread beyond his newspaper emerged in a small, nondescript courtroom on Wednesday, even as Prime Minister David Cameron broadened an inquiry into the conduct of the British press.

At the Royal Courts of Justice in London, lawyers for the actor Hugh Grant and his former girlfriend, the socialite Jemima Khan — once the subject of relentless tabloid attention — mentioned The News of the World and unspecified “other newspapers” while demanding police information on Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who was jailed in 2007 for hacking into the phones of royal staff members. It was the first suggestion that Mr. Mulcaire, who had an exclusive contract with The News of the World, might have sold his information to other publications. Those publications were not named in the court proceedings, but the judge referred to “one or more newspaper proprietors.”

The phone hacking scandal at The News of the World has escalated into a political firestorm because it has swept up not only the tabloid’s parent company, the News Corporation, owned by Mr. Murdoch, but also exposed close and questionable ties among the press, Scotland Yard and Britain’s political elite.

ut in Parliament on Wednesday, Mr. Cameron said it would be naïve to think that phone hacking was limited to Murdoch-owned newspapers. He named members to a panel that will have broad power to force newspaper owners, reporters, politicians and the police to give evidence under oath at public hearings into the culture, practices and ethics of the press. It will be led by Lord Justice Brian Leveson, a prominent judge, and includes former journalists, a civil rights campaigner and a retired law enforcement official.

Mr. Cameron was not alone in declaring the need for a broader look at Fleet Street.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/world/europe/21london.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper