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Leveson Inquiry: Will bribery of police and public officials emerge as a far greater scandal than phone hacking?
Nicholas Jones
DATELINE: 23/7/12
Rupert Murdoch's step-by-step retreat from his UK media interests has often been followed by yet more damning evidence about the extent of phone hacking and the alleged bribery of police and public officials. And so it was with the news that Murdoch was finally quitting as a director of his British newspapers: the announcement pre-empted another grim day at the Leveson Inquiry.
An update on the unparalleled inquiries into unlawful journalistic practices revealed that the investigation by the Metropolitan Police continues to break new ground.Among the latest to be arrested for taking illegal payments from journalists were two officers at high security prisons; the newspapers involved were not only those of News International but also Trinity Mirror and Express Newspapers; and some of the illicit information obtained by News International's journalists had been downloaded from stolen mobile phones.
Lord Justice Leveson was so concerned by the fast-moving nature of the criminal investigation that he asked Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers to give him a further update in September so that his report, due out in the autumn, would be based on the latest information regarding arrests and possible prosecutions.
Murdoch's announcement (21.7.2012) that he was resigning his directorships of The Times, Sunday Times and the Sun was described by News Corporation as "nothing more than corporate house-cleaning" after the decision in June to separate newspapers from its film and television interests.
But by withdrawing from his newspaper directorships Murdoch was also signalling his determination to try to limit any further collateral damage from any potential criticism levelled by the Leveson Inquiry. Who knows, by the time judge reports the Murdoch family might well be free of their UK newspapers?
Given the co-operation there has been between News International and the Metropolitan Police in the wake of the phone hacking scandal – following the handing over of a mass of emails and other documentation – Murdoch's advisers would have been only too well aware that Sue Akers' much-trailed update for the judge (23.7.2012) would raise fresh questions about the level of corporate governance at the Sun and the News of the World.
Perhaps of greatest significance was her revelation that the fifteen arrests of current and former journalists for phone hacking had been well and truly overtaken by those arrested for the alleged bribery and corruption public officials – twenty three so far.Among the eighteen police, public officials and relatives who have been arrested were two officers at high security prisons. One of the prison officers received a total of nearly £35,000 from News International, Trinity Mirror and Express Newspapers and another was paid in excess of £14,000 by Trinity Mirror. In both cases partners had acted as a conduit and helped to facilitate the payments.
Sue Akers also revealed that information obtained by journalists at News International included data downloaded from stolen mobile phones; one had been stolen in Manchester, the other in south-west London. Inquiries were continuing to see if these were "isolated examples or the tip of the iceberg."
This was Akers' third appearance before the inquiry. In February she revealed that journalists on the Sun had established a network of corrupted officials across public life and that delivery of "regular, frequent and sometimes significant sums of money" had been authorised at "a very senior level within the newspaper." One public official had been paid in excess of £80,000 and one Sun journalist had received £150,000 in cash to reimburse sources.
Lord Justice Leveson's appeal to Sue Akers to keep him abreast of the Metropolitan Police's investigation – and his request for a full update in September – reinforced the suspicion that the corruption of police and public officials through illegal payments for information might yet emerge as a far greater scandal than phone hacking.
Her evidence was further confirmation of the failure of the judge and the inquiry's lead counsel Robert Jay QC to challenge Rupert Murdoch on the reasons why he thought a "culture of illegal payments" had become embedded within the journalistic practices of the Sun.
During the two days in April when Murdoch gave his evidence the cross examination concentrated on ethical lapses at the News of the World. Murdoch was clearly troubled by the arrest of Sun journalists – "great journalists, friends of mine" who had been with the paper for twenty to thirty years – but he was not challenged over Scotland Yard's allegation in February that authorisation had been given at a senior level in the Sun for the payments of "regular, frequent and sometimes significant sums of money" to police and public officials.
Although the Inquiry can take fresh evidence at any time – and will hold a full session in September – the closing submissions were a reminder of missed opportunities to hold Murdoch publicly to account.
ends
Last modified: Monday, July 23, 2012
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Previous Leveson Inquiry stories
Our evidence to Leveson Module 4
Leveson: A tiger with no teeth?
Police study Murdoch's 'secret' iPhone account
Police study Murdoch's 'secret' iPhone account
Cameron's master class in spin
Osborne talent spots Coulson but denies there was a strategy to win the Sun's support
Leveson Round Up: Has He Thrown in the Towel?
Standing up for citizens' complaints
Operation Motorman - don't let it get away
Leveson Inquiry: Tories 'did not want to regulate press'
Alastair Campbell at Leveson: great theatre Mr Jay, shame about the questions
Brooks at Leveson: an insight into how the Sun exploited the political endorsement of the Murdoch press
Coulson at Leveson: a former spin doctor's master class in closing down unhelpful questions
It's not just about Murdoch - the whole system needs fixing
New Podcast: post Murdoch where is Leveson Inquiry going?
After Leveson… What future for the media?
NUJ responds to Murdoch's evidence at the Leveson Inquiry
Leveson Inquiry: Rupert Murdoch off the hook over alleged illegal payments to public officials
Leveson Inquiry shock news: Rupert Murdoch says his political influence was just 'a myth'
Now we come to the dark heart of this strange affair
Leveson Inquiry: Rupert Murdoch and son to appear
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If the Sun hates attacks on press freedom, how must it despise itself!
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
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MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
Leveson Inquiry
Our evidence to Leveson Module 4
Leveson: A tiger with no teeth?
Police study Murdoch's 'secret' iPhone account
Police study Murdoch's 'secret' iPhone account
Cameron's master class in spin
Osborne talent spots Coulson but denies there was a strategy to win the Sun's support
Leveson Round Up: Has He Thrown in the Towel?
Standing up for citizens' complaints
Operation Motorman - don't let it get away
Leveson Inquiry: Tories 'did not want to regulate press'
Alastair Campbell at Leveson: great theatre Mr Jay, shame about the questions
Brooks at Leveson: an insight into how the Sun exploited the political endorsement of the Murdoch press
Coulson at Leveson: a former spin doctor's master class in closing down unhelpful questions
It's not just about Murdoch - the whole system needs fixing
New Podcast: post Murdoch where is Leveson Inquiry going?
After Leveson… What future for the media?
NUJ responds to Murdoch's evidence at the Leveson Inquiry
Leveson Inquiry: Rupert Murdoch off the hook over alleged illegal payments to public officials
Leveson Inquiry shock news: Rupert Murdoch says his political influence was just 'a myth'
Now we come to the dark heart of this strange affair
Leveson Inquiry: Rupert Murdoch and son to appear
Money talks: no wonder so many rival journalists were beaten by the Sun's exclusive stories
If the Sun hates attacks on press freedom, how must it despise itself!
Jeremy Hunt calls for regulation of press content free of political interference...but no promise that politicians will refrain from meddling in media ownership
Iraq War: "Implacable support" of Murdoch press a key factor for Blair
Women's groups - Leveson must back ban on sexualized images in media
Ofcom and BSkyB bid: We should have looked at News Corporation's political influence
Leveson Inquiry: PCC chief says appetite for fresh start
Chilling effect on BBC journalism of licence freeze: a warning to Leveson Inquiry
Co-ordinating Committee for Media Reform call for change
