PHONE HACKING SCANDAL: Andy Coulson reportedly paid by News International when hired by Tories!

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James Robinson and Polly Curtis, The Guardian / Tuesday 23 August 2011.

Andy Coulson received cash payments from News International until the end of 2007, according to a report by the BBC's Robert Peston. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images.

David Cameron is facing fresh questions about his decision to hire Andy Coulson in 2007 after it was reported that his former communications director received several hundred thousand pounds from his former employer News International after he was hired by the Conservative party.

The BBC's Robert Peston said that Coulson received cash payments from the company until the end of 2007 after his resignation as editor of the News of the World in January of that year.

Coulson resigned after Clive Goodman, the former royal editor at the paper, which was closed last month, was jailed for illegally intercepting voicemail messages.

The title's owner News International allegedly agreed to honour the remainder of Coulson's two-year contract, and the money was paid in instalments. Coulson also continued to receive other benefits, including private health insurance and a company car, for several years.

He took up his post as director of communications at the Conservative party in July 2007.

The alleged payments ended before Cameron became prime minister but the fact one of Cameron's closest advisers was receiving money from News International after he started work for the Tories will cast doubt over Coulson's impartiality. The spotlight will again fall on Cameron's close ties with the Murdoch media empire because of the revelations.

Conservative party sources insisted on Monday night they had no knowledge of any News International payments made to Coulson, after checks were made with every senior party official who might have been involved in hiring him in 2007.

Full Story at,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/aug/23/andy-coulson-news-international-tories?CMP=twt_fd

     

Phone-hacking scandal: key figure at News International arrested!

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Amelia Hill, guardian.co.uk / Tuesday 2 August 2011 12.33 BST.

Unnamed man held over phone-hacking inquiry at News International. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP.

Unnamed man, believed to be former NoW managing editor Stuart Kuttner, taken into custody for questioning.

A key new arrest has been made in the phone-hacking scandal.

The unnamed man, believed to be the former News of the World managing editor Stuart Kuttner, apparently did not know he was going to be taken into custody when he arrived by appointment at a police station in London at 11am on Tuesday to answer questions about the phone-hacking scandal.

Police from both Operation Weeting, the Metropolitan police investigation into alleged phone hacking, and Elveden, the investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police, are understood to have been involved.

The development is the latest in a scandal that has already caused the closure of the News of the World, and the resignation of two top police officers, as well as 10 arrests.

The man at the centre of the new arrest is s understood to have been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to Section1 (1) Criminal Law Act 1977, and on suspicion of corruption allegations contrary to Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.

Full Story at,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/aug/02/phone-hacking-scandal-new-arrest

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.

Full Story at,

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

SHAME OF MEDIA: Morgan Admits Dodgy Practices!

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Lloyd Grove, thedailybeast.com / Jul 26, 2011 11:45 PM EDT.

Chris Pizzello.

Embattled CNN host Piers Morgan—whose years as editor of News of the World and the Daily Mirror are coming under increasing scrutiny amid Britain’s phone-hacking and police-bribery scandal—has spent much of the past week denying any involvement in questionable journalistic tactics and lashing out at his critics.

But in a nearly forgotten interview on a BBC radio program two years ago, Morgan admitted to knowing of some of the news- and gossip-gathering practices that are now under investigation by the U.K. government as well as by a Justice Department probe in the United States. He did not specifically admit to the interception or “hacking” of voicemail messages, one of the practices under official investigation since the revelation that News of the World hacked the cellphone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler in 2002.

But two years before the exposure of Fleet Street’s methods rocked the British body politic, Morgan didn’t disagree that that phone-“tapping” and other “down-in-the-gutter” tactics might have been employed in the  attainment of sensational scoops.

In the June 7, 2009, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 of “Desert Island Discs”—in which guests select musical works, books, and luxury items for an imaginary marooning on a remote island—interviewer Kirsty Young pressed the former Fleet Street editor about tabloid tactics that were being widely condemned at the time in Parliament and elsewhere.

“And what about this nice middle-class boy who would have to be dealing with, I mean, essentially people who rake through people’s bins for a living?” Young asked Morgan. “People who tap people’s phones, people who take secret photographs...who do all that very nasty down-in-the-gutter stuff—how did you feel about that?”

Morgan’s response: “Well, to be honest, let’s put that into perspective as well. Not a lot of that went on…A lot of it was done by third parties, rather than the staff themselves.” But, in an admission Morgan more recently has steered clear of, he added: “That’s not to defend it, because obviously you were running the results of their work.”

Full Story at,

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/07/26/piers-morgan-admits-dodgy-journalistic-practices-in-2009-bbc-interview.html

SHAME OF MEDIA: James Murdoch contradicted by his ex-legal manager!

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AP / The Hindu / LONDON, July 22, 2011.

A pedestrian watches TV screens, showing Chief Executive of News Corporation Europe and Asia, James Murdoch during a select committee on the phone hacking scandal, outside a electronics shop in London on Tuesday - AP.

A British lawmaker says James Murdoch could be asked to clarify his testimony to a Parliamentary Committee investigating phone hacking after two former employees challenged his claim he had not seen evidence suggesting eavesdropping went beyond a jailed rogue reporter.

Mr. Murdoch’s former legal adviser and an ex-editor say they told Mr. Murdoch years ago about an email that suggested the rot at the News of the World was more widespread than previously claimed.

News International said Mr. James Murdoch stood by his statement.

Full Story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2284702.ece

SHAME OF MEDIA:Murdoch refuses to take responsibility for hacking scam!

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HASAN SUROOR / The Hindu / LONDON, July 19, 2011.

James Murdoch, left, and Rupert Murdoch, give evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on the News of the World phone-hacking scandal in this image taken from TV, in Portcullis House in central London, on Tuesday - AP.

Rupert Murdoch on Tuesday refused to take personal responsibility for the phone hacking scandal engulfing his media empire and said he was let down by “people I trusted.”

During his keenly-anticipated evidence before the House of Commons media committee, his answer to most of the questions from the MPs was “No.” He said he was not aware of the extent of phone hacking at the now-defunct News of the World (NoW) until earlier this year when his media group News International discovered new evidence.

“I was absolutely shocked, appalled and ashamed when I heard about the Milly Dowler case two weeks ago,” he told MPs referring to the case of the murdered teenaged schoolgirl whose phone was hacked by NoW journalists.

Was he “misled” about what was going on in his company? Mr. Murdoch was asked:

“Clearly, yes,” he said.

In reply to a pointed question whether he felt responsible for the “fiasco,” he said: “No.”

Mr. Murdoch argued that he ran a global business of 53,000 people and NoW was “just 1%” of this and that was perhaps a reason why “I lost sight of it.”

Full Story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2259970.ece?homepage=true

SHAME OF MEDIA: Rupert Murdoch’s Wife Wendi Wields Influence at NewsCorp.!

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November 2, 2000

By John Lippman, Leslie Chang and Robert Frank

 WHEN NewsCorp officials gathered in the Hong Kong convention center last March to unveil their latest Chinese internet investment, a tall woman handed out a business card that read “News Corporation/Wendi Deng Murdoch.”

Deng is not a NewsCorp employee. Once a junior executive at the company’s Star TV in Hong Kong, Deng, 31, quit her post before marrying NewsCorp chairman Rupert Murdoch last year. Since then, she has been portrayed ¾ by Murdoch and the company ¾ as a traditional housewife who attends to decorating, her husband’s diet and the like.

But Deng is no homebody. Though she doesn’t have a formal position with her husband’s media empire, she has quickly asserted her influence over NewsCorp’s operations and investments in Asia, its most important growth market. Working with her stepson, James Murdoch, 27, Deng has initiated or advocated Chinese internet investments totaling between $35 million and $45 million, according to a top NewsCorp executive. With her advice, the company has also formed partnerships with cable companies in the region looking to upgrade their systems for high-speed video and internet access.

Murdoch, who is 69, has never hesitated to put family members to work in his businesses. Last month, he named his eldest son, Lachlan, 29, deputy chief operating officer, in a move partly aimed at clarifying that he is his father’s heir. James serves as chief executive of Star TV and has carved out Asia and the internet as his province. Even Murdoch’s ex-wife, Anna Mann, whom he divorced last year, has an office and assistant at NewsCorp’s New York offices, although she no longer has an active role with the company.

Now, Deng is rising to a place of prominence in the family business.

People within NewsCorp and outsiders involved in the Chinese internet and media industries say she identifies potential investments for her husband’s company and acts as his liaison and translator in China.

These people say Deng is well suited for this unusual role. The daughter of a factory director in Guangzhou, China, Deng came to the U.S. 12 years ago with the aid of a California couple. The husband in that couple later left his wife for Deng. She mastered English, climbed from a California college to Yale’s business school and eventually landed at Star TV in Hong Kong.

Having left China in obscurity as a teenager, Deng is now returning in grand style, as the wife and adviser of a global media baron.

“Wendi gives NewsCorp a Chinese face in China,’ says Joseph Ravitch, co-head of the global media practice at Goldman Sachs Group, which advises NewsCorp on its Asia strategy. “She represents not just the company but the owner, and that’s critical in a country where families are very important.’

Full Story at,

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/journalism/j6075/edit/Deng.html

SHAME OF MEDIA: News of the World phone-hacking whistleblower found dead!

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Amelia Hill, James Robinson, Caroline Davies / guardian.co.uk, Monday 18 July 2011 18.04 BST.

Former News of the World reporter Sean Hoare has been found dead. Photograph: BBC.

Death of Sean Hoare – who was first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson knew of hacking – not being treated as suspicious.

Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbiz reporter who was the first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff, has been found dead, the Guardian has learned.

Hoare, who worked on the Sun and the News of the World with Coulson before being dismissed for drink and drugs problems, is said to have been found dead at his Watford home.

Hertfordshire police would not confirm his identity, but the force said in a statement: "At 10.40am today [Monday 18 July] police were called to Langley Road, Watford, following the concerns for the welfare of a man who lives at an address on the street. Upon police and ambulance arrival at a property, the body of a man was found. The man was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after.

"The death is currently being treated as unexplained, but not thought to be suspicious. Police investigations into this incident are ongoing."

Full Story at,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/18/news-of-the-world-sean-hoare

SHAME OF MEDIA: Former top Murdoch exec Rebekah Brooks released on bail - Police!

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LONDON | Sun Jul 17, 2011 7:41pm EDT / reuters.com.

(Reuters) - Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of News Corp's British newspaper arm News International, was released on bail early Monday after being questioned over the phone-hacking scandal, the Metropolitan police said in a statement Monday.

"At approximately midnight, the woman was bailed to return to a London police station on a date in late October," the police said in the statement.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/17/us-newscorp-brooks-bail-idUSTRE76G33G20110717

Stain From Tabloids Rubs Off on a Cozy Scotland Yard!

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Published: July 16, 2011 / nytimes.com.

Interviews with current and former officials show that instead of examining all the evidence, investigators primarily limited their inquiry to 36 names that the private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, mentioned in one list.

As a result, Scotland Yard notified only a small number of the people whose phones were hacked by The News of the World. Other people who suspected foul play had to approach the police to see if their names were in Mr. Mulcaire’s files.

“It’s one thing to decide not to investigate,” said Jeremy Reed, one of the lawyers who represents numerous phone-hacking victims. “But it’s quite another thing not to tell the victims. That’s just mind-blowing.”

Among the possible victims was former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who asked the police last year to look into suspicions that his phones were hacked. In response, Scotland Yard sent him a form letter saying it was unclear whether the tabloid had eavesdropped on his conversations, people with knowledge of the request said.

The police assigned a new team to the hacking allegations in September after The New York Times published amagazine article that showed that the practice was far more widespread and which raised questions about Scotland Yard’s handling of the case.

Shortly after, the police finally reopened those “bin bags.” Now, the police are enduring the painstaking and humiliating exercise of notifying nearly 4,000 angry people listed in the documents that they may have been targets of what now appears to be industrial-strength hacking by The News of the World. The chore is likely to take years.

A Series of Inquiries

-----------------------------------------

Full Story at,

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/world/europe/17police.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2

SHAME OF MEDIA - Milly Dowler Cell Hacking Case: Stain From Tabloids Rubs Off on a Cozy Scotland Yard!!

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Published: July 16, 2011 / http://www.nytimes.com.

Interviews with current and former officials show that instead of examining all the evidence, investigators primarily limited their inquiry to 36 names that the private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, mentioned in one list.

As a result, Scotland Yard notified only a small number of the people whose phones were hacked by The News of the World. Other people who suspected foul play had to approach the police to see if their names were in Mr. Mulcaire’s files.

“It’s one thing to decide not to investigate,” said Jeremy Reed, one of the lawyers who represents numerous phone-hacking victims. “But it’s quite another thing not to tell the victims. That’s just mind-blowing.”

Among the possible victims was former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who asked the police last year to look into suspicions that his phones were hacked. In response, Scotland Yard sent him a form letter saying it was unclear whether the tabloid had eavesdropped on his conversations, people with knowledge of the request said.

The police assigned a new team to the hacking allegations in September after The New York Times published a magazine article that showed that the practice was far more widespread and which raised questions about Scotland Yard’s handling of the case.

Full Story at,

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/world/europe/17police.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2

SHAME OF MEDIA: Brooks quits; Murdochs to apologise for phone hacking scandal!

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• July 15, 2011 
• AFP 
• London / DC.

Chief Executive of News International Rebekah Brooks - AFP.

Reeling under sustained criticism, media baron Rupert Murdoch and his family today went into damage-limitation mode by promising to 'apologise' to the nation, and accepted the resignation of News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks.

The Murdochs and their media empire have become the focus of criticism and inquiries in Britain as well as in the US and Australia, besides taking knocks on the stock exchange for indulging in dubious news gathering practices.

James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, today listed the measures the company is taking to deal with the issue, including tendering an apology. The apology will be published in an advertisement in all national newspapers.

Full Story at,

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/world/europe/brooks-quits-murdochs-apologise-phone-hacking-scandal-868

SHAME OF MEDIA: In Interview, Murdoch Defends News Corp.!

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http://online.wsj.com / JULY 14, 2011, 10:03 P.M. ET / .

News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch - Reuters.

By BRUCE ORWALL

In his first significant public comments on the tabloid newspaper scandal that has engulfed his media empire, News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch vigorously defended the company's handling of the crisis but said it would establish an independent committee to "investigate every charge of improper conduct."

In an interview, Mr. Murdoch said News Corp. has handled the crisis "extremely well in every way possible," making just "minor mistakes."

News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.

Full Story at,

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304521304576446261304709284.html?mod=wsj_share_twitter