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Leveson Inquiry: Rupert Murdoch off the hook over alleged illegal payments to public officials
Nicholas Jones
DATELINE: 26/4/12
Despite seven hours of questioning at the Leveson Inquiry – and his abject apologies for the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World – Rupert Murdoch was not challenged directly over the reasons for the "culture of illegal payments" which the Metropolitan Police have alleged became a regular practice among some journalists at the Sun. Murdoch was clearly troubled by the recent arrests of Sun journalists – "great journalists, friends of mine" who had been with the paper for twenty to thirty years; and he explained at length the steps News Corporation had taken at considerable cost to introduce new ethical procedures.
But although counsel for the inquiry, Robert Jay QC – and Lord Justice Leveson himself – asked repeatedly about the culture which tolerated illegal phone hacking at the News of World – and then covered it up as Murdoch claimed – there were no follow up questions about Scotland Yard's allegation 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.
Yet the Sun was the newspaper which Murdoch said mirrored his views and he insisted that the company's new editorial standards demonstrated that it was still possible to produce the Sun – the "best newspaper" in Britain – without the bad practices which had previously been disclosed.
Much of the questioning by both Jay and Lord Justice Leveson concentrated on the reasons for what Murdoch acknowledged were the ethical lapses at the News of the World and what he described as the aberration on his own part for having failed to challenge the line that only "one rogue reporter" had been involved in phone hacking.
He had been "misinformed and shielded" by a cover-up from within the News of the World where "one or two very strong characters" had forbidden journalists from talking to Rebekah Brooks and James Murdoch, then chief executive and chairman of News International.Since his personal pledge to a House of Commons select committee in July 2011 that he would "clean up" News Corporation he had spent "hundreds of millions of dollars" on internal investigations and in introducing new compliance procedures.
News International in London had gone "way beyond what the Police had asked for"; the company had examined 300 million emails of which two million had been chosen for closer examination and "anything faintly suspicious" had been passed to the Police. "That led to a dozen midnight arrests of Sun journalists because of my pledge...I remain greatly distressed that people who had been with us more for twenty to thirty years, great journalists, friends of mine...that it led to disturbance and hurt for the people arrested. But I am glad we did it and we have a new company with new rules of compliance."
In view of Murdoch's admission that he had failed to pay enough attention to the News of the World ever since its purchase, it was all the more surprising that the inquiry failed to probe the reasons for such widespread illegality at the Sun, especially in view of Murdoch's constant praise for the ability of his daily paper to tackle the political issues of the day.
When Lord Justice Leveson challenged Murdoch over his failure to have asked "what the hell was going on" when News International paid its first compensation payment for illegal phone hacking, the judge expressed surprise that a newspaper proprietor with "printing ink running through your veins" had not been intensely concerned about what his journalists were doing.
Murdoch paused before replying: "I have to admit some newspapers are closer to my heart than other. I also have to say I failed."
The judge was not convinced by Murdoch's answers about phone hacking. "But surely you would want to know what was the atmosphere and climate in your newspaper which had encouraged a reporter to think this was the correct way to proceed, that the paper would be prepared to let this happen and go this extra illegal mile to get a story."Murdoch's answer was that reporters did act on their own, they did protect their sources and did not disclose to their colleagues what they were doing. "And I am guilty of not having paid enough attention."
But that explanation hardly squared with the evidence to the Leveson inquiry in February 2011 by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers that illegal payments by Sun journalists were authorised at a senior level.Surely this was the moment to ask Murdoch whether, if he had failed to pay enough attention to the News of the World, that same failure on his part also applied to a lack of focus on the conduct of senior editorial staff at the Sun, a question of perhaps far greater importance in view of the Sun's influence on British politics. But it was a question that was left both unasked and unanswered.
ends
Last modified: Thursday, April 26, 2012
Your comments:
For someone who has run his empire on fear and intimidation from day one (anyone remember Wapping) to now claim he knew nothing is just incredible. lies and deceit just like his papers
Posted by: Mr David Lovelidge: 28 Apr, 2012 10:39:23Murdoch is lying his head off. Why would'nt he an expert on the subject. Isn't it odd that all these people in high positions, did,nt know what was going on,but everyone else did.
Posted by: Peter Gold: 27 Apr, 2012 13:01:09
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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
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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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Previous stories
Leveson Inquiry
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
BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten rebukes David Cameron
Opinion: "Leveson: reasons to be wary of press promises"
Cameron's links with the Murdoch press: only superficial probing at Leveson
Press Freedom: a democratic rubric
Leveson Inquiry edges closer to Cameron
James Murdoch 'shown damning email'
Rupert Murdoch met David Cameron at Downing Street twice during BSkyB bid
The Leveson Inquiry: Should We Care?
Leveson Inquiry kicks off but ministers could still act
Ditch the PCC: CPBF backs inquiry into the ethics and culture of the press
