SubScribe
  • Home
  • General Election 2019
    • Random thoughts
    • Guest blog
    • Daily Express
    • Daily Mail
    • Daily Mirror
    • Daily Telegraph
    • i
    • Metro
    • The Guardian
    • The Sun
    • The Times
  • Brexit
    • Whitetops immigration
    • Theresa's travels
    • Gove and Trump
    • Theresa May's trousers
    • Brexit blog
    • Events
    • Daily Express
    • Daily Mail
    • Daily Mirror
    • Daily Star
    • Daily Telegraph
    • i
    • The Guardian
    • The Sun
    • The Times
    • Daily Star Sunday
    • Mail on Sunday
    • The Observer
    • The People
    • Sunday Express
    • Sunday Mirror
    • Sunday Telegraph
    • Sunday Times
    • Sun on Sunday
  • The schedule
  • Blogs
    • Editor's blog
    • Gameoldgirl's Notebook
    • Pictures and spreads
    • Press box
    • General Election
    • Ukraine revolution and the threat to the West >
      • Putin wants more than Crimea, he wants half of Ukraine
      • Putin, the Man of Destiny, and dreams of a Eurasian empire
  • The industry
    • The nationals
    • Press freedom >
      • Attacks on the Press
      • Al Jazeera on trial: why should we care about journalists? >
        • Al Jazeera on trial: Peter Greste
        • Al Jazeera on trial: Abdullah Elshamy
        • Al Jazeera on trial: the court hearings
        • Al Jazeera on trial: the final session
      • RIPA
      • RIPA and the protection of sources
      • RIPA and the Press: guest blog
      • Journalists under surveillance
      • World Press Freedom Day
      • Surrendering press freedom: guest blog
      • Michael Wolff and the free Press
    • Press regulation >
      • From Milly Dowler to Sir Alan Moses
      • Letter to Murdoch
      • Leveson inquiry: an expensive hiding to nothing
      • Press regulation, history, hysteria and hyperbole
      • Parliament, Hacked Off and self-regulation of the Press
    • Journalists in the dock >
      • Too embarrassed to look in the mirror?
      • The tally
      • Operation Elveden
      • Phone hacking
      • Operation Tuleta
      • Journalists on trial 2014 archive
    • Local papers matter >
      • Local newspapers have to change
      • Monty's vision
      • The Full Monty: the Local World vision put into practice
    • Whistle-blowers
    • Journalism shouldn't be for the elite
    • A question of trust
    • News judgment >
      • Daily Star Hallowe'en special
      • Tesco profits scandal
      • Manchester kennels fire
      • Lambing Live
      • Lottery winners separate >
        • Love and the lottery winners, part 2
      • Give us news not puffs
      • April Fool >
        • The giant banjo
        • Deceived or deceptive, the paper must take the rap
      • The art of Sunday editing
    • Peter Oborne quits >
      • Guest blog: Why I resigned from the Telegraph
      • Peter Oborne: The Telegraph strikes back
      • advertising v editorial
    • Award winners >
      • Regional Press Awards 2013
    • Obituary
  • SubScribe commentary
    • Paris terror attacks
    • Mohammed Emwazi and Isis killings >
      • James Foley murdered
      • The murder of Steven Sotloff
      • David Haines and Isis propaganda
    • Charlie Hebdo massacre >
      • Charlie Hebdo aftermath
    • Kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls >
      • Nigeria's abducted girls and massacre
    • Ebola
    • Frontline reporting
    • Typhoon Haiyan
    • Obama's selfie
    • It takes all sorts to make a family >
      • This is what a flawed feminist campaign looks like
      • A level results day: bring on the token boys
      • Kellie Maloney faces the world
      • Women in trouble for getting ahead
      • Pregnant soldiers
    • Ashya King and the force of authority >
      • Stephen's story: did the Press help his cause or take over his life?
      • Colchester cancer scandal
    • Poppymania
    • Cameron's tax cut promise >
      • The blue-rinse bingo Budget
      • Politicians need their holidays too
      • Cameron's reshuffle: bring on the women
    • Brooks Newmark sting
    • Scottish referendum >
      • Scottish referendum: the final editions
      • Scottish referendum miscellany
      • The Queen speaks
    • The European elections audit >
      • Election audit: the last wordle
      • Election audit: Daily Mail
      • Election audit: The Times
      • Election audit: Daily Express
      • Election audit: Daily Mirror
      • Election audit: The Independent
      • Election audit: Guardian
      • Election audit: Daily Telegraph
      • Election audit: The Sun
    • Maria Miller
    • Harman, Hewitt and the paedophiles >
      • Hewitt apologises and the Sun picks up the cudgels
      • Mail v Labour trio, day 6: Harman capitulates and the bully wins
    • Immigration >
      • Katie Hopkins and drowned refugees
      • A year of xenophobia
      • The Express and immigration
    • Prince Charles and the floods >
      • Prince George
    • Food banks
    • Why is football more important than all the news? >
      • Cheerleading
      • Kelly Gallagher beats the world
      • Jenny Jones struggles against Kate and ManU
      • Reading Chronicle and football hooliganism
    • The weather
  • Odds and sods
  • OpEd
    • Oped December >
      • Politics 22-12-15
      • Brexit: 21-12-15
      • Politics 18-12-15
      • Politics 17-12-15
      • Politics 16-12-15
      • EU referendum: 15-12-15
      • Politics 14-12-15
      • Right-wing politicians 11-12-15
      • Donald Trump: 10-12-15
      • Donald Trump: 09-12-15
      • Politics: 08-12-15
      • Politics: 07-12-15
      • Syrian airstrikes 04-12-15
      • Syrian airstrikes: 03-12-15
      • Syrian airstrikes: 02-12-15
      • Labour and Syria: 01-12-15
    • OpEd November >
      • Syrian air strikes: 30-11-15
      • Autumn Statement: 27-11-15
      • Autumn Statement: 26-11-15
      • Russia in Syria: 25-11-15
      • Comment awards 24-11-15
      • Paris attacks: 23-11-15
      • Politics: 20-11-15
      • Paris attacks 19-11-15
      • Terrorism: 18-11-15
      • Paris attacks 17-11-15
      • Paris attacks 16-11-15
      • Politics: 13-11-15
      • Politics 12-11-15
      • Politics: 11-11-15
      • Britain and Europe: 10-11-15
      • Remembrance: 09-11-15
      • Sinai jet crash: 06-11-15
      • UK politics 05-11-15
      • UK politics: 04-11-15
      • State surveillance: 03-11-15
      • Poliitics: 02-11-15
    • OpEd October >
      • Politics: 30-10-15
      • Tax credits: 29-10-15
      • Tax credits: 28-10-15
      • Tax credits: 27-10-15
      • Lords v Commons: 26-10-15
      • UK politics: 23-10-15
      • Politics: 22-10-15
      • Xi Jinping: 21-10-15
      • Xi Jinping: 20-10-15
      • China visit: 19-10-15
      • Politics: 16-10-15
      • Politics 15-10-15
      • Politics: 14-10-15
      • EU referendum 13-10-15
      • Europe: 12-10-15
      • Politics 09-10-15
      • Cameron's speech: 08-10-15
      • Conservatives: 07-10-15
      • Conservatives: 06-10-15
      • Conservatives: 05-10-15
      • Politics 02-10-15
      • Labour conference 01-10-15
    • OpEd September >
      • Politics 01-09-15
      • Europe 02-09-15
      • Migrant crisis 03-09-15
      • Migrant crisis 04-09-15
      • Migrant crisis 07-09-15
      • Migrant crisis 08-09-15
      • OpEd: Drone strikes 09-09-15
      • OpEd: Migrant crisis 10-09-15
      • OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 11-09-15
      • OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 14-09-15
      • OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 15-09-15
      • OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 16-09-15
      • OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 17-09-15
      • OpEd: Labour 18-09-15
      • OpEd: Politics 21-09-15
      • OpEd: "Pig-gate" 22-09-15
      • OpEd: Politics 23-09-15
      • OpEd: VW 24-09-15
      • OpEd: Volkswagen 28-09-15
      • OpEd: Politics 25-09-15
      • OpEd: Politics 29-09-15
      • Oped: Labour conference 30-09-15
    • OpEd August >
      • OpEd: Calais 03-08-15
      • OpEd: Labour 04-08-15
      • OpEd: Labour 05-08-15
      • OpEd: Kids Company 06-08-15
      • OpEd: Kids Company 07-08-15
      • OpEd: Labour 10-08-15
      • OpEd: Politics 11-08-15
      • OpEd: Politics 12-08-15
      • OpEd: Politics 13-08-15
      • OpEd: Labour 14-08-15
      • OpEd: Labour 17-08-15
      • OpEd: Labour 18-08-15
      • OpEd: Labour 19-08-15
      • OpEd: Student debt 20-08-15
      • OpEd: Politics 21-08-15
      • OpEd: Politics 24-08-15
      • OpEd: Politics 25-08-15
      • OpEd: Politics 26-08-15
      • OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 27-08-15
      • OpEd: TV shootings 28-08-15
    • OpEd July >
      • OpEd: Grexit 01-07-15
      • OpEd: Heathrow 02-07-15
      • OpEd: Greece 03-07-15
      • OpEd: Taxation 06-07-15
      • OpEd: Greece 07-07-15
      • OpEd: Budget 08-07-15
      • OpEd: Budget 09-07-15
      • OpEd: Budget 10-07-15
      • OpEd: Greece 13-07-15
      • OpEd: Greece 14-07-15
      • OpEd: Iran 15-07-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 16-07-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 17-07-15
      • OpEd: Boris Johnson and Greece 20-07-15
      • OpEd: counter-terrorism 21-07-15
      • OpEd: Labour 22-07-15
      • OpEd: Labour 23-07-15
      • OpEd: Labour 24-07-15
      • OpEd: Labour 27-07-15
      • OpEd: Lord Sewel 28-07-15
      • OpEd: Labour 29-07-15
      • OpEd: Calais 30-07-15
      • OpEd: Calais 31-07-15
    • OpEd June >
      • OpEd: Fifa 01-06-15
      • OpEd: British politics 02-06-15
      • OpEd: Charles Kennedy 03-06-15
      • OpEd: Politics 04-06-15
      • OpEd: Fifa 05-06-15
      • OpEd: Politics 08-06-15
      • OpEd: Europe 09-06-15
      • OpEd: politics 10-06-15
      • OpEd: Politics 11-06-15
      • OpEd: Politics 12-06-15
      • OpEd: Politics 15-06-15
      • OpEd: Social mobility 16-06-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 17-06-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 18-06-15
      • OpEd: Greece 19-06-15
      • OpEd: Greece 22-06-15
      • OpEd: Greece 23-06-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 24-06-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 25-06-15
      • OpEd: Brexit 26-06-15
      • OpEd: Tunisia 29-06-15
      • OpEd: Grexit 30-06-15
    • OpEd May >
      • OpEd: Election 01-05-15
      • OpEd: Election 05-05-15
      • OpEd: Election 06-05-15
      • OpEd: Election 07-05-15
      • OpEd: Election 08-05-15
      • OpEd: Scotland 11-05-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 12-05-15
      • OpEd: The Labour party 13-05-15
      • OpEd: The Labour party 14-05-15
      • OpEd: Ukip and Labour 15-05-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 18-05-15
      • OpEd: The NHS 19-05-15
      • OpEd: The Labour party 20-05-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 21-05-15
      • Oped: UK politics 22-05-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 26-05-15
      • OpEd: Europe 27-05-15
      • OpEd: The Queen's Speech 28-05-15
      • OpEd: Fifa 29-05-15
    • OpEd April >
      • OpEd: Election 01-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 02-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 07-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 08-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 09-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 10-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 13-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 14-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 15-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 16-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 17-04-15
      • OpEd: SNP 20-04-15
      • OpEd: Refugees 21-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 22-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 23-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 24-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 27-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 28-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 29-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 30-04-15
    • OpEd March >
      • OpEd: Election 31-03-15
      • OpEd: Depression 30-03-15
      • OpEd: Prince Charles 27-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 26-03-15
      • OpEd: David Cameron 25-03-15
      • OpEd: Singapore 24-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 23-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 20-03-15
      • OpEd: the Budget 19-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 18-03-15
      • OpEd: race in Britain 17-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 16-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 13-03-15
      • OpEd Jeremy Clarkson 12-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 11-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 10-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 09-03-15
      • OpEd: Scotland 06-03-15
      • OpEd: Isis 05-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 04-03-15
      • OpEd: Radicalisation 03-03-15
      • OpEd: Russia 02-03-15
    • OpEd February >
      • OpEd: UK politics 27-02-15
      • OpEd: minority party leaders 26-02-15
      • OpEd: the Greens 25-02-15
      • OpEd: Rifkind and Straw 24-02-15
      • OpEd: world affairs 23-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 20-02-15
      • OpEd: Chelsea and racism 19-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 18-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 17-02-15
      • OpEd: Copenhagen 16-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 13-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 12-02-15
      • OpEd: politics 11-02-15
      • OpEd: politics 10-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 09-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 06-02-15
      • OpEd: Isis atrocity 05-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 04-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 03-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 02-02-15
    • OpEd January >
      • OpEd: rape law 30-01-15
      • OpEd: UK politics, 29-01-15
      • OpEd: Greece 27-01-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 28-01-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 26-01-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 23-01-15
      • OpEd: Chilcot inquiry 22-01-15
      • OpEd: Page Three 21-01-15
      • OpEd: anti-semitism 20-01-15
      • OpEd: religion and freedom 19-01-15
      • OpEd: world politics 16-01-15
      • OpEd: election debates 15-01-15
      • OpEd: Charlie Hebdo 14-01-15
      • OpEd: Charlie Hebdo 13-01-15
      • OpEd: Charlie Hebdo 12-01-15
      • OpEd: Charlie Hebdo 08-01-15
      • OpEd: Charlie Hebdo 09-01-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 07-01-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 05-01-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 06-01-15
  • You have to laugh
  • Backnumbers
    • Front pages December >
      • Front pages Dec 27-31
      • Front pages Dec 20-26
      • Front pages Dec 6-12
    • Front pages November >
      • Front pages Nov 29-Dec 5
      • Front pages Nov 22-28
      • front pages Nov 15-21
      • Front pages Nov 8-14
      • front pages Nov 1-7
    • Front pages October >
      • Front pages, Oct 25-31
      • Front pages Oct 18-25
      • front pages Oct 11-17
      • Front pages Oct 4-10
    • Front pages September >
      • Front pages Sept 27-Oct 3
      • Front pages Sept 20-26
      • Front pages Sept 13-19
      • Front pages Sept 6-12
      • Front pages Aug 30-Sept 5
    • Front pages August >
      • Front pages August 23-29
      • Front pages Aug 16-22
      • Front pages August 9-15
      • Front pages Aug 2-8
    • Front pages July >
      • Front pages July 26-Aug 1
      • Front pages July 19-25
      • Front pages July 12-18
      • Front pages July 5-11
      • Front pages June 28-July 4
    • Front pages June >
      • Front pages June 21-27
      • Front pages June 14-20
      • Front pages June 7-13
      • Front pages May 31-June 6
    • Front pages May >
      • Front pages May 24-30
      • Front pages May 17-23
      • Front pages May 10-16
    • Front pages April >
      • Front pages May 3-9
      • Front pages April 26-May 2
      • Front pages April 19-26
      • Front pages April 12-18
      • Front pages April 5-11
      • Front pages Mar 29-Apr 4
    • Front pages March >
      • Front pages Mar 22-28
      • Front pages Mar 15-21
      • Front pages Mar 8-14
      • Front pages Mar 1 - 7
    • Front pages February >
      • Front pages Feb 22-28
      • Front pages Feb 16-21
      • Front pages Feb 9-15
      • Front pages Feb 1-8
    • Front pages January >
      • Front pages Jan 25-31
      • Front pages Jan 18-24, 2015
      • Front pages Jan 11-17
      • front pages Jan 4-9, 2015
      • Front pages Dec 29-Jan 3
  • About SubScribe
  • Join the SubScribers
  • Contact us
  • Subscribe to SubScribe

Freedom of expression is under attack - and our response is to give our enemies more ammunition

2/5/2015

1 Comment

 
Telegraph
The Times
Last autumn I was invited to contribute a chapter to the Committee to Protect Journalists' annual book about attacks on the Press. While Britain hardly suffers the sort of censorship seen in Eritrea, there was a lot going on to cause concern here at the time.
Press Gazette had just launched its Save Our Sources campaign after the disclosure that police had looked at Tom Newton Dunn's phone records to trace the source of the Plebgate story. The Operation Elveden trials were under way with more than 20 tabloid journalists preparing to face court for paying contacts for stories. There was disquiet about the long periods people were spending on police bail before learning whether they were to be prosecuted.
By the time the book was published on Monday, the landscape had changed. Press Gazette's campaign had succeeded in securing a statutory instrument that meant a judge must sign off on police applications to view journalists' communications records if the objective was to uncover sources.
Several journalists charged over payments to sources had been cleared by juries and the only two convictions were overturned. A wholesale review of Elveden cases led to most prosecutions being abandoned - although the contacts betrayed by News International's Managements and Standards Committee still face trial.
Theresa May had said that she wanted to reduce to 28 days the maximum time anyone had to spend on police bail.
Press Gazette
There is still much to worry about - particularly a growing determination among those in authority to keep the Press in the dark.
In spite of promises after the Mid Staffs scandal, whistle-blowers are still hunted down. Indeed, the first response of any organisation found wanting is often to set up an investigation to find out who leaked the story rather than to put its house in order.
Press Gazette has reported on armies of PR staff employed across government and by the police, at great expense to the public purse, with the apparent objective of keeping reporters away from ministers, councillors, policemen, doctors, soldiers - anyone with first-hand knowledge of any situation. Every piece of information has to be filtered through "official channels". 
When Tony Blair came to power, Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell set out to control the news agenda. They established a rebuttal unit and would be on the phone to protest the moment the first editions were up if a newspaper's report was not to their liking.
That infant control freak has grown into a monster, so that we have a general election campaign where Labour bars Tory newspapers from its events, where the Guardian is denied access to a school where Cameron is campaigning, where local journalists who are best placed to know about the issues in their constituencies  are refused permission to ask questions when the election charabanc rolls into their towns.
And, of course, the rise of social media since the last election means that politicians are bypassing any journalistic scrutiny by tweeting and emailing and Facebooking their campaign messages.
This situation is a real threat to the freedom of information and democracy. We cannot live in a society where only approved people may speak to reporters, where only the authorised message is allowed to get through.
Mail
So how are newspapers responding? By working harder to present a fair and balanced picture, to make sure their readers are given all the information they need to make their own decisions about society - and how to vote?
Not a bit of it.
Our whole industry was tainted by the phone-hacking scandal - and that includes the Mail and Express groups that have insisted they had no part in such activities and which have largely escaped the attention of the Met.
But there has been no sense of contrition or of reform.
Paul Dacre, who presides over the most complained against and censured news organisation in the country, also presides over the industry's code of ethics. You might think that when the Press Complaints Commission was disbanded - or, as Hacked Off would say, rebranded  - and replaced by Ipso, he might have felt it politic to step aside. But, no. There he is like some journalistic Sepp Blatter unable or unwilling to see that his organisation's credibility might improve if someone else were in his chair. 
What message does that send?
As successive Elveden cases have collapsed, we have heard tales of woe from journalists whose lives and whose families' lives had been disrupted for years on end. We have heard about dawn raids, terrified children, lost birthdays - as though this had never happened to anyone else subsequently cleared by a court of law. These men and women have legitimate grievances. They should not have been put through all that just for doing their jobs.
There are legitimate questions to be asked about the cost of Leveson, the police investigations and the subsequent trials, about the use of resources.
But where those journalists' experiences could have been used to campaign for improvements in the system to the benefit of thousands of innocent people, they were instead put forward as evidence of an Establishment witch-hunt, making the Press again seem self-absorbed and self-serving
And lost in all this were the sources who went to jail or are still facing trial because of that Management and Standards Committee.
How can we stand up and argue about our role in calling those in authority to account when reporting is so skewed?
Picture
sun scotland
And never has it been more so than in this general election campaign.
The Labour manifesto includes a promise to implement the "full Leveson" and the Tory Press is running scared. 
Rupert Murdoch is reported to have complained that the Sun was not doing enough to prevent a Labour victory. Well, it's doing its damndest now - including Scottish and English front pages urging voters to back different parties. The official line is that the two papers have different editors, different audiences. Few believe, however, that the objective is anything other than to keep Ed Miliband out of Downing Street.
The Mail, in common with the Sun,  has attacked "Red Ed" at every opportunity and perpetuated the myth that he "stabbed his brother in the back" by running for the Labour leadership "against their mother's wishes". The venality has been breathtaking. Many people might believe that David Miliband would have been a better choice - but he had no divine right to succeed Gordon Brown. And remember,  Ralph Miliband, "the man who hated Britain" was his father too. There is every chance that that hatchet job would still have found its way into print had the elder Miliband become Labour leader.
The Telegraph has meanwhile given up any pretence of balanced reporting, surrendering its front page to Tory propaganda "Miliband's bad for business" letters twice last month.
Of last night's Question Time leaders' debate, it complained that Conservative supporters were outnumbered two-to-one among the audience, yet again proving the BBC's "leftwing bias". 
The configuration was 25% Labour, Liberal and Conservative supporters, 25% others. Since LibDems and Greens were more likely to be left-leaning, in the view of chief political correspondent Christopher Hope, that meant two-thirds of the audience would be against the Tories. For heaven's sake.
Sun
Star
Mail
How did the papers report the debate? For the Telegraph, Times and Sun, the main point was not Miliband's insistence that he would give up the premiership if the price was a deal with the SNP, but his spending "lies" - and the fact that he tripped as he left the platform. While for the Mirror, Miliband emerged the Mirror and "slippery Cam" was savaged by voters.
Earlier in the week Miliband was mocked for agreeing to that encounter with Russell Brand - and the Tory papers had negative reviews on their websites within moments of the interview ending. 
But who is to say he was wrong?  A million people watched and they will have made up their own minds about it without any guidance from the Telegraph, Star, Mail or Sun.
The politicians have decided that they need us any more. They are connecting directly with the voters.
And if the papers can't do better than clumsy photoshopping, character assassinations and propaganda, readers will soon decide that they don't need us either.
SubScribe: Attacks on the Press
1 Comment

Trials and tribulations

23/1/2015

2 Comments

 
Fair, even-handed, balanced: this is what we look for in journalism and in justice. 
The Sun today compares the decision to seek a retrial of four of its journalists accused of improperly paying public officials for stories to the failure to act against most jihadis who have returned to the UK from Syria.
It's a rum comparison, but the Sun's sense of grievance is understandable. We don't seem to have seen a great deal of balance in matters relating to the Press since the hacking scandal erupted in 2011.

The Leveson inquiry and police investigations focused heavily on the Murdoch papers, but the Independent splashes today on the suggestion that phone-hacking at the Mirror group may have been worse than at News International.
It is generally accepted that hacking all but stopped with the imprisonment in 2007 of Clive Goodman and the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, but the High Court was told last week that it may have continued for a further four years at the MGN.
Last year the Metropolitan Police were found to have used the anti-terrorist legislation RIPA to uncover journalists' sources. Promises of a tightening of the code governing the use of the act turned out to mean a requirement to "note" when people whose data were being checked worked in areas of confidentiality, such as journalism, the law, medicine. The consultation period for this change ended this week.
Also this week, the Guardian reported that its Edward Snowden material shows that the security services regard journalists as "dangerous" and in the same league as terrorists and computer hackers. 

It seems, therefore, an opportune moment to offer - without comment - the following snapshot:

Public expenditure
  • The Leveson inquiry into Press standards cost £5.4m
  • The police operations arising from the hacking scandal have cost £40m
  • That includes more than £11m on Operation Elveden, which is investigating payments to public officials
  • Prosecutions of journalists since 2011 have cost the CPS more than £4m
  • Setting up a new regulator under the royal charter has cost £900,000

Journalist trials completed since 2011
  • Four journalists have been jailed after being convicted of or admitting phone hacking 
  • Three journalists have been given suspended sentences after admitting phone hacking
  • Two journalists have been found not guilty of phone hacking
  • One journalist was given a suspended sentence after being convicted of handling a stolen mobile phone 
  • One journalist was found not guilty of handling a mobile phone
  • One journalist was given a suspended sentence after being convicted of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office (paying a prison officer)
  • Six journalists have been cleared of illegally paying officials 
  • Seven journalists face retrials on payments charges 

Journalists accused of paying officials
  • Chris Pharo, Ben O'Driscoll, Graham Dudman and Jamie Pyatt of the Sun are to face a retrial after a jury failed to reach a majority verdict on charges that they illegally paid public officials for stories. Their colleagues John Edwards and John Troup were cleared of the charges against them. All six were cleared of taking part in a "grand conspiracy" and Pharo, O'Driscoll and Dudman were also found not guilty on other counts. 
  • Four more Sun journalists are on trial at the Old Bailey on similar charges. Geoffrey Webster, deputy editor, Fergus Shanahan, executive editor, Duncan Larcombe, royal reporter, and former chief reporter John Kay all plead not guilty.
  • One News of the World reporter has been found guilty of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office by paying officials; Clodagh Hartley of the Sun was cleared of that charge.
  • John Troup, John Edwards and Nick Parker of the Sun and Tom Savage of the Star have been cleared of aiding and abetting such misconduct. Vince Soodin of the Sun  faces a retrial after a jury failed to agree in his case last year.
  • Rebekah Brooks was cleared of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office at the phone hacking trial last year. The jury failed to reach a verdict on similar charges against Andy Coulson and Clive Goodman and they will be retried before Judge Saunders at the Old Bailey in June. Dan Evans, who admitted all charges against him and gave evidence for the prosecution in the hacking trial, is the only journalist to have pleaded guilty to a charge relating to paying officials.
  • Six News International journalists (Neil Millard, Tom Wells, Neil Wallis, Anthony France, Brandon Malinsky and Ryan Sabey) and two from the Mirror group (Greg Box-Turnbull and Graham Brough) have been charged in relation to payments to officials and are awaiting trial.

Phone hacking
  • Mirror Group Newspapers apologised in the High Court this week after settling with ten claimants who complained that their voicemail had been hacked and personal information accessed by the Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People. The court was told that eight other claims would go to trial next month. The claimants' barrister said that these were "representative" cases.
  • The Independent reported today that the court had been told that up to 41 journalists had used office phones to hack mobiles in what was a "widespread and habitual" practice between 2001 and 2008. The paper reports David Sherborne QC as saying that  Alan Yentob's phone had been hacked 300 times, with different journalists accessing his voicemail several times a day for five months - although no article was ever published.
  • Mr Sherborne said 108 articles published in the three papers had been linked to hacking, and that these could be the "tip of the iceberg".
  • One former Sunday Mirror journalist has admitted phone hacking and been given a suspended sentence.
  • Four Sunday paper executives from the Mirror group (Tina Weaver, James Scott, Mark Thomas and Nick Buckley) were arrested in March 2013 and are still on police bail. 
  • Piers Morgan, who was Daily Mirror editor from 1996 to 2004, was interviewed under caution in December 2013. He has not been arrested. Richard Wallace, who succeeded him and was Mirror editor until 2012, was interviewed under caution in March 2013.
  • Jules Stenson, former News of the World features editor, has admitted phone hacking. Neil Wallis, the paper's former deputy editor, has denied a similar charge and will go on trial in June.
  • Five News of the World journalists (Andy Coulson, Greg Miskiw, Neville Thurlbeck, Ian Edmondson and Clive Goodman - in 2007)  have served prison sentences after admitting or being convicted of phone hacking; two others (James Weatherup and Dan Evans) have been given suspended sentences.
  • Two News of the World journalists (Rebekah Brooks and Stuart Kuttner) have been cleared of phone hacking

Other offences
  • One Sun journalist (Ben Ashford) was found not guilty of handling a stolen mobile phone
  • One Times journalist (Patrick Foster) accepted a caution in relation to computer hacking
  • One News of the World journalist (Alex Marunchak) is on police bail in relation to alleged computer hacking
  • Three News of the World journalists (Andy Coulson, Bob Bird and Douglas Wright) are awaiting trial for perjury in relation to the Tommy Sheridan libel case.

Press regulation
  • The Press recognition panel which is to monitor compliance with the royal charter on press regulation has been given £900,000 this financial year and is seeking an executive director, who will be paid up to £120,000. Sir David Wolfe, chairman of the panel, gave the figures to a Lords committee last week. No newspaper or magazine has signed up to be regulated by this body.
  • Sir Alan Moses, chairman of Ipso, told the same committee that his organisation would be "Leveson compliant" by this summer, but that it would not seek royal charter recognition because publishers being regulated by Ipso did not want anything to do with it. His organisation would work alongside the other regulator, Impress, because their aims were "identical".

News Corp
  • Rebekah Brooks received a £16m payoff when she resigned as chief executive of News International at the height of the hacking scandal in 2011.
  • News Corp's legal costs as a result of the scandal have been estimated at about £350m
  • News Corp shares were trading at $16 when the scandal broke. In 2013 the company was split in two - 21st Century Fox and News Corp - and existing shareholders given four Fox shares and one new News Corp share for every four old News Corp shares .
  • Fox shares are trading today at $34 and News Corp at $15. This means that someone with 100 old News Corp shares worth $1,600 in 2011 would now have a holding worth $3,825.
  • The old News Corp's value dropped by $7bn to $41bn in the week the scandal broke. Fox is now worth $71bn and News Corp $8bn.
2 Comments
    Liz Gerard

    Liz Gerard

    New year, new face: it's time to come out from behind that Beryl Cook mask. 
    I'm Liz Gerard, and after four decades dedicated to hard news, I now live by the motto "Those who can do, those who can't write blogs". 
    These are my musings on our national newspapers. Some of them may have value.

    Archives

    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    May 2013

    Virtual cat

    Categories

    All
    Adam Ward
    Adoption
    Advertising
    Ageism
    Alan Rusbridger
    Alison Parker
    Amol Rajan
    Andreas Lubitz
    Andy Coulson
    Andy Murray
    Angelina Jolie
    Anglo American
    Anthony France
    Armistice Day
    Art
    Assad
    Australian Maddie
    Baftas
    Baher Mohamed
    Bank Holiday
    Battle Of Britain
    Beatles
    Benedict Cumberbatch
    Big Brother
    Bill Gates
    Birmingham
    BMDs
    Bob Bird
    Booker Prize
    Brazil V Germany
    Brooks Newmark
    Business News
    Cambridge News
    Carla Powell
    Charlie Hebdo
    Chloe Campbell
    Chris Martin
    Christian Horner
    Christmas Appeal
    Christopher Columbus
    Climate Change
    Counting Dead Women
    CPJ
    Daily Express
    Daily Mail
    Daily Mirror
    Daily Star
    Daily Telegraph
    David Mitchell
    David Montgomery
    David Moyes
    Depression
    Digital
    Domestic Violence
    Dominic Ponsford
    Duchess Of Cambridge
    Duke Of York
    Eddie Adams
    Eddie Redmayne
    Ed Miliband
    Edward Snowden
    Elveden
    Evan Harris
    Family Court
    First World War
    Floods
    Flower Memorial
    Foreign Reporting
    Fossil Fuels
    Front Pages
    Gates Foundation
    GCHQ
    Gemma Aldridge
    General Election
    George Clooney
    George Osborne
    Geri Halliwell
    Germanwings
    Gillian Wearing
    Google
    Grammar
    Grammar Schools
    Grandparents
    Graphic Images
    Guardian
    Guy Adams
    Hacked Off
    Handling Stolen Goods
    Harriet Green
    Headlines
    Headline Writing
    Helen McCrory
    HSBC
    Immigration
    Independent
    Independent On Sunday
    INSI
    Internet
    Iraq
    Isis
    James Foley
    James Harding
    James Murdoch
    Jason Seiken
    Jeffrey Epstein
    Jennifer Lawrence
    Jeremy Corbyn
    Jeremy Farrar
    Jessica Ennis-Hill
    John Cantlie
    John Oliver
    Jonathan Krohn
    Jon Swaine
    Jon Venables
    Josie Cunningham
    Journalists In Danger
    Journalists On Trial
    Justice
    Karen Ingala Smith
    Keep It In The Ground
    Kenji Goto
    Killing The Messenger
    Labour
    Leveson
    Liverpool Echo
    Local Papers
    Local World
    Lufthansa
    Luis Suarez
    Madeleine Mccann
    Mail On Sunday
    Manchester United
    Maria Miller
    Mental Health
    Mercury Prize
    Michael Foot
    Middle Class
    Mike Darcey
    Miliband
    Milly Dowler
    Miracles
    Mirror
    Misconduct In Public Office
    Missing Children
    Mohamed Fahmy
    MPs' Expenses
    National Anthem
    Native Advertising
    News International
    News Judgment
    News Of The World
    News UK
    Nick Parker
    Nigel Evans
    North
    NSA Files
    Operation Elveden
    Operation Golding
    Operation Rubicon
    Oscar Pistorius
    Paddington Bear
    Page 3
    Parliament
    Paul McCartney
    Paying Contacts
    Peaches Geldof
    Peter Greste
    Peter Oborne
    Phone Hacking
    Photography
    Picture Editing
    Police
    Police Corruption
    Poppies
    Press Freedom
    Press Gazette
    Press Regulation
    Press Uncuffed
    Prince William
    Privacy
    Protecting Sources
    Puffs
    Pulitzer Prize
    Real Birmingham Family
    Rebekah Brooks
    Redundancies
    Reeva Steenkamp
    Remembrance
    Renee Zellwegger
    Richard Attenborough
    Richard Desmond
    Richard Littlejohn
    RIPA
    Roy Greenslade
    Rupert Murdoch
    Russell Brand
    Saigon Execution
    Santa Maria
    Scottish Referendum
    Sex Abuse
    Shakespeare
    Simon Cowell
    Socialist Worker
    Southend Council
    Southend Echo
    Sport
    Statins
    Subs
    Suicide
    Sunday Mirror
    Sunday People
    Sunday Telegraph
    Surveillance Laws
    Syria
    The Arts
    The Guardian
    The I
    The Sun
    The Times
    Thomas Cook
    Tiffanie Darke
    Tommy Sheridan
    Tower Of London
    Tower Of London Poppies
    Victoria Coren
    Virginia Roberts
    Virginia Shootings
    Weather
    Wellcome Trust
    Wimbledon
    Women In The Boardroom
    Working Mothers
    World Cup

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.