The rumour mill

The Leveson Inquiry, 9 January 2012. Robert Jay QC questions Sun editor Dominic Mohan:

Q. Wasn't the true position something along these lines: that there were rumours going around in the press, which you well knew about, which were suggesting that phone hacking was occurring on a fairly systematic basis in the Mirror's titles?  Is that right or not?

A.  There were rumours in the industry.  There's always rumours in the industry about various methods, but this wasn't based upon any evidence at all.  It was just the Fleet Street rumour mill.

...

Q.  Did those rumours encompass the Sun, for whom of course you were working in 2002?

A.  I can't remember.  It was a very long time ago, clearly. I can't remember the specifics of the rumours.

The Leveson Inquiry, 20 December 2011. Robert Jay QC questions former Mirror editor Piers Morgan:

Q.  Do you remember an interview in which you said: "As for Clive Goodman, I feel a lot of sympathy for a man who has been the convenient fall guy for an investigative practice that everyone knows was going on at almost every paper in Fleet Street for years."

A.  Yes.

Q.  Why did you say that?

A.  Well, that was the rumour mill at the time.  I mean, it was exploding around Fleet Street...I was hearing these rumours like everybody else.

...

Q.  Did the rumour mill you're referring to embrace your newspaper as being amongst the perpetrators?

A.  Not that I remember, no.

The Daily Mail decides it's time to move on from phone hacking

Today's Mail editorial runs under the headline:

Never mind phone hacking, what about the real issues facing Britain?

So the Mail has decided it's time to move on. Is it because it hopes that people will move on before more questions are asked about the Information Commissioner's What Price Privacy Now? report which revealed the Daily Mail was the newspaper buying most personal information from private investigator Steve Whittamore? Operation Motorman identified 58 Daily Mail journalists completing 952 transactions with Whittamore (compared to the News of the World's 228 transactions).

The Mail says other stories are more important, including the financial crisis in the Eurozone, unemployment, bank loans, mortgages and economic growth.

In a sane world, politicians would be working round the clock to help rectify these dire problems. But sadly, they are far too busy enjoying a frenzy of vengeful score-settling against the Murdoch press.

Even though the News of the World has been closed, the BSkyB takeover bid withdrawn, and Rupert Murdoch has promised to co-operate with the judicial inquiries, the bloodlust – orchestrated by a vastly subsidised BBC – continues.

There's the obligatory attack on the BBC, despite the widespread coverage of the hacking issue across all media, including Sky News. Where is the evidence that the BBC is 'orchestrating' this story? The editorial continues:

The stink of schadenfreude from Britain’s chattering classes is overpowering...

The least [politicians] can do is give their full attention to the all too worrying problems that afflict real people in the real world.

So how has the Mail covered phone-hacking over the last couple of weeks? Have they stayed out of what they call a 'frenzy'?

On 5 July, they covered the revelations about Milly Dowler's phone on the front page (although not the main story) and on page 5. It was the same the following day - front page picture, page 5, plus a lengthy editorial about this 'most squalid and shameful saga'.

It was the main front page story on 7 and 8 July and in the latter, it was also on pages 4-9 and the entire editorial was devoted to the issue. The Eurozone crisis coverage was less than a quarter of page 12.

Andy Coulson's arrest made the front page on Saturday 9 July, which also included coverage on pages 6-9 and in a Stephen Glover column.

On 11 July, the Mail again covered the story on pages 6-9, plus comment pieces by Melanie Phillips and Peter McKay. The Eurozone story took up around half of page two.

It was the front page lead on 12 July, when Richard Littlejohn wrote about it too. It was on the front page (not the lead) and pages 6-9 and the main editorial comment on 13 July. It was on pages 6-9 again on 14 July, accompanied by an editorial and another Stephen Glover op-ed piece, whereas the Eurozone stories were on page 12.

Even today, as the editorial complains about the amount of time politicians are spending on the issue, the paper devotes pages 8-9 to the story and Littlejohn, unusually, devotes his entire column to this one story.

So if the other stories the Mail mentions today are more important, why hasn't it led the way in giving them the prominence they think they deserve? If the Mail is so concerned about the Eurozone crisis, why hasn't it put it on the front page in the last ten days?

No - it's the phone hacking story that's also had the Mail's 'full attention'.

And that's not the only example of 'do as we say, not as we do' in the Mail's editorial today.

The final three sentences mention a spat between House of Commons Speaker John Bercow and MP Tim Loughton:

Children's Minister Tim Loughton takes offence at being castigated by Commons Speaker John Bercow for laughing in the chamber when he was supposed to be silent.

So does he come up with a witty riposte? No, he resorts instead to a stream of sneering insults against the diminutive Speaker on Twitter.

Could political debate in the home of Lloyd-George, Churchill, Bevan and Foot sink any lower?

So that's the Mail, complaining about someone resorting to a 'stream of sneering insults' against Bercow.

The Mail seems to have forgotten running this headline on 17 June 2009:


In which Bercow is referred to as:

a strange, bumptious little man, an unconvincing piece of work.

Or this from Letts on 2 July 2010:

Mr Bercow is an ostentatious changeling, a steaming, confected, self-polishing jobbernowl who makes the Chair look and sound foolish.

And in the Spectator in April 2011, Letts referred to Bercow as a:

preening, sycophantic, short-tempered and grotesque

Letts has also said:

Rancour, partisanship, a figure whose political philosophy dodges round the place like a bouncy ball: yes, folks, the House of cheats and nodding oil derricks just got its perfect Speaker.

And:

There he stood in the big green chair, puffed up like an amphibian that had scoffed too many volauvents.

And frequently refers to him as:

Little Squeaker Bercow.

Apparently, the Mail is upset at others indulging in 'sneering insults' aimed at John Bercow because that's the job of one of their highly-paid columnists.

(More on the Mail's editorial from Angry Mob)

Trevor Kavanagh agrees with the 'unauthorised' tweet about who's to blame for the News of the World's demise

On Saturday night, the @Sun_Politics Twitter feed issued a tweet blaming Ed Miliband, the BBC and the Guardian for the demise of the News of the World. They chose not to blame Rupert or James Murdoch, nor Rebekah Brooks nor the activities that led to the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone.

The tweet was deleted an hour later, following much criticism, with the claim that it was:

not authorised, and not the paper or its political team's opinion.

So some people may be surprised to read Trevor Kavanagh's article in today's Sun. Kavanagh is a former political editor and current associate editor of the paper. After admitting the final News of the World brought 'a lump to the throat' he goes on to point his finger of blame as those he thinks responsible:

We also offered a priceless opening to Ed Miliband, a weak leader who seized his chance to turn on a newspaper group that supported his party through most of its 13 years in power.

Politics is about opportunism, and if he can't squeeze capital out of this catastrophe at David Cameron's expense, then he's no politician at all.

So it's Ed Miliband's fault. Anyone else?

What is thoroughly contemptible, though, is the posturing, high-minded and politically prejudiced BBC. This media monster, which blows £2.3BILLION a year in public money, is bound by charter to be impartial and is anything but.

Its gleeful, vengeful and downright spiteful coverage of events over recent days is a disgrace.

Not for nothing is the BBC known as the Blatantly Biased Corporation...

Nothing other than a declaration of war would justify its round-the-clock analysis, interviews and breaking news on every radio, TV and internet outlet.

He doesn't mention that Sky News has been giving the subject much the same blanket coverage over the last few days, but then he wouldn't would he?

Anyone else to blame?

Many newspapers published in Britain today would have perished but for Wapping - including, perhaps, the high-minded and sanctimonious Guardian. And millions benefit from Rupert Murdoch's audacious creation of Sky TV - now at the heart of his enemies' campaign against him.

He was fought every inch of the way by The Guardian, which somehow sees itself as custodian of the sacred journalistic flame.

It is a small circulation paper whose readers mostly work in the taxpayer-funded public sector. But its Left-wing views are amplified out of all proportion by the BBC who, with breathtaking arrogance, portray themselves as the Voice of Britain.

So there you have it. Two days after the Sun's political team delete a tweet blaming 'Ed Miliband, the BBC and the Guardian' for News International's troubles, claiming it was 'unauthorised' and 'not the paper's view', the associate editor of the Sun blames 'Ed Miliband, the BBC and the Guardian' for News International's troubles.

Kavanagh adds:

This column might seem like the work of a Murdoch mouthpiece.

Well, that's one thing he's got right.

(Hat-tip to Jim Hawkins)

'Inaccurate and purposely misleading'

The News of the World, 12 July 2009:

Despite purporting to represent the highest standards in journalism, the Guardian's reporting was inaccurate, selective and purposely misleading.

It is a fact that one former News of the World journalist - Clive Goodman, the Royal Editor - tapped into telephone voicemails.

And they wanted to be clear:

So let us be clear. Neither the police, nor our own internal investigations, has found any evidence to support allegations that News of the World journalists have accessed voicemails of any individuals.

Nor instructed private investigators or other third parties to access voicemails of any individual.

And:

...like the rest of the media, we have made mistakes.

When we have done so, we have admitted to them.

(Via Alexis Petridis)

'Giving you the inside track'

@Sun_Politics is the Twitter name of 'The Sun's political team' who bill themselves as 'giving you the inside track on Westminster'. At around 8.21pm tonight, they tweeted their views on the demise of the News of the World:

Just over an hour later, after much criticism:

Recommended reading: phone hacking denials

The Guardian has collected some of the very 'best' denials about phone hacking from News International, the police and the PCC.

For example, this News International statement from July 2009 following Nick Davies' first Guardian story on hacking:

"All of these irresponsible and unsubstantiated allegations against News of the World and other News International titles and its journalists are false."

And this from Rebekah Brooks:

"The Guardian coverage has, we believe, substantially and likley deliberately misled the British public."

Telegraph journalist uses phone-hacking allegations to attack the BBC

David Hughes is the Daily Telegraph's chief leader writer and has, according to his blog, been covering British politics for over 30 years.

And what is his take on the revelations about the News of the World and the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone?

The BBC has pulled out all the stops in its coverage of allegations that a private investigator employed by the News of the World hacked into the mobile telephone of the murdered teenager Milly Dowler.

The story has dominated its bulletins; it is getting wall-to-wall coverage on the 24-hour news channel; and the Corporation’s editorial big guns have been wheeled out to explore the implications, political as well as commercial. While the allegations are – in David Cameron’s well-chosen words – “truly dreadful”, do they warrant this level of news overkill?

Those two words, borrowed from Cameron, are the only words Hughes uses to criticise the News of the World. But how can an experienced journalist fail to see that this is a serious, important story?

He adds:

The BBC’s treatment of the hacking story suggests the Corporation still sees the value of blackening the reputation of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire as thoroughly as possible whenever the opportunity arises.

Yes - according to him, it's the BBC that is 'blackening the reputation of Murdoch's empire' rather than, say, the actions of some people within that empire.

Hughes links the BBC coverage to the News Corporation's takeover of BSkyB:

The Corporation is bitterly opposed to News Corporation’s bid to to buy the 61% of BSkyB it doesn’t already own (as is much of Fleet Street). Indeed, it is so opposed that the BBC’s director general Mark Thompson took the extraordinary step last autumn of putting his name to a letter of protest objecting to the deal – for which he was forced to apologise by the BBC Trust.

But Hughes seems to forget two things. The Telegraph is also opposed to that takeover. Indeed, the letter that Thompson signed was also signed by:

Murdoch MacLennan, the chief executive of Telegraph Media group, publisher of the Daily Telegraph

As for the prominence of the BBC's reporting, it seems Hughes has conveniently missed that Sky News, Channel 4 News and ITN have been reporting these claims very prominently, and it was on the front of several newspapers today, including Murdoch's own Times.

And the paper Hughes works for:

'Despicable'

The saga of the phone-hacking by the News of the World took a shocking new twist today as the Guardian reported:

The News of the World illegally targeted the missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler and her family in March 2002, interfering with police inquiries into her disappearance, an investigation by the Guardian has established.

Scotland Yard is investigating the episode, which is likely to put new pressure on the then-editor of the paper, Rebekah Brooks, now Rupert Murdoch's chief executive in the UK; and the then deputy editor, Andy Coulson, who resigned in January as the prime minister's media adviser.

The Dowlers' family lawyer this afternoon issued a statement in which he described the News of the World's activities as "heinous" and "despicable". He told the BBC this afternoon the Dowler family was now pursuing a damages claim against the News of the World.

And if that wasn't enough:

In the last four weeks the Met officers have approached Surrey police and taken formal statements from some of those involved in the original inquiry, who were concerned about how News of the World journalists intercepted – and deleted – the voicemail messages of Milly Dowler.

The messages were deleted by journalists in the first few days after Milly's disappearance in order to free up space for more messages. As a result friends and relatives of Milly concluded wrongly that she might still be alive. Police feared evidence may have been destroyed...

The Dowler family then granted an exclusive interview to the News of the World in which they talked about their hope, quite unaware that it had been falsely kindled by the newspaper's own intervention.

The Dowler's lawyer, Mark Lewis, said:

"It is distress heaped upon tragedy to learn that the News of the World had no humanity at such a terrible time. The fact that they were prepared to act in such a heinous way that could have jeopardised the police investigation and give them false hope is despicable."

As Brian Cathcart notes:

If anyone still believed that the phone hacking scandal was “just” about celebrities, the allegation that the News of the World hacked Milly Dowler’s voicemails must lay the idea to rest.

No matter how ordinary and vulnerable you were, no matter how tragic your circumstances — in this case it was a missing, murdered Surrey schoolgirl — on this evidence you were a potential target for the Rupert Murdoch’s Sunday tabloid.

UPDATE: This development is the lead story on the front page of Tuesday's Guardian, Independent and Telegraph. It also makes the front page of the FT and the Times. The Express, Mail, Mirror, Sun and Star make no mention of it on their front pages and consider others stories - such as Cheryl Cole's love life and a scare story about ibuprofen - more important.

UPDATE 2: It appears that some later editions of the Daily Mail did include the story on the front page, but not as the lead. The article was on page 5.