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Phone hacking a 'daily routine' at Murdoch titles
Source: Agencies |
December 20, 2011, Tuesday
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ILLEGAL voicemail interception and cell phone tracking was a matter of routine at both The Sun and the News of the World tabloids, the brother of a whistleblower at the center of Britain's phone hacking scandal said yesterday.
Stuart Hoare - brother of late journalist Sean Hoare - told an inquiry into media ethics that both titles, published by Rupert Murdoch's News International Ltd, broke the law as part of their "daily routine."
"The reality was that phone hacking was endemic within the News International group," Hoare said in a witness statement published on the inquiry's website.
"I know this to be the case because Sean and I regularly discussed this and there are emails in existence which support Sean's description of a practice referred to during such meetings as 'the dark side.'"
Sean Hoare was the first ex-News of the World journalist to publicly accuse his former editor Andy Coulson of being at the hub of a culture of wrongdoing at the paper, an allegation that helped ignite the scandal that forced Murdoch to close the British tabloid. Coulson eventually had to resign his post as a senior aide to Prime Minister David Cameron because of the scandal.
Sean Hoare, who suffered from alcohol problems, died in July.
Stuart Hoare told the inquiry yesterday he was testifying because he and Sean "shared a lot of secrets and I felt very, very strongly that someone had to represent my brother."
The inquiry, led by Lord Justice Brian Leveson, was set up in response to the scandal to examine the ethics of Britain's press.
So far, the scandal has largely centered on wrongdoing at the News of the World, where journalists intercepted voicemails, hacked into computers and bribed police. But the shadow of suspicion has fallen across other papers as well, including The Sun, Britain's top-selling daily.
Last month, lawmakers published a 2008 email by a News International legal adviser warning that journalists implicated in illegal practices had secured "prominent positions" at The Sun.
Also in November, Jamie Pyatt became the first Sun journalist arrested on suspicion of police bribery.
Hoare said reporters at The Sun hacked into phones and bribed police to trace the location of cell phones.
"Those involved know who they are and what they have done," Hoare said in his statement.
Stuart Hoare - brother of late journalist Sean Hoare - told an inquiry into media ethics that both titles, published by Rupert Murdoch's News International Ltd, broke the law as part of their "daily routine."
"The reality was that phone hacking was endemic within the News International group," Hoare said in a witness statement published on the inquiry's website.
"I know this to be the case because Sean and I regularly discussed this and there are emails in existence which support Sean's description of a practice referred to during such meetings as 'the dark side.'"
Sean Hoare was the first ex-News of the World journalist to publicly accuse his former editor Andy Coulson of being at the hub of a culture of wrongdoing at the paper, an allegation that helped ignite the scandal that forced Murdoch to close the British tabloid. Coulson eventually had to resign his post as a senior aide to Prime Minister David Cameron because of the scandal.
Sean Hoare, who suffered from alcohol problems, died in July.
Stuart Hoare told the inquiry yesterday he was testifying because he and Sean "shared a lot of secrets and I felt very, very strongly that someone had to represent my brother."
The inquiry, led by Lord Justice Brian Leveson, was set up in response to the scandal to examine the ethics of Britain's press.
So far, the scandal has largely centered on wrongdoing at the News of the World, where journalists intercepted voicemails, hacked into computers and bribed police. But the shadow of suspicion has fallen across other papers as well, including The Sun, Britain's top-selling daily.
Last month, lawmakers published a 2008 email by a News International legal adviser warning that journalists implicated in illegal practices had secured "prominent positions" at The Sun.
Also in November, Jamie Pyatt became the first Sun journalist arrested on suspicion of police bribery.
Hoare said reporters at The Sun hacked into phones and bribed police to trace the location of cell phones.
"Those involved know who they are and what they have done," Hoare said in his statement.
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