Remember according to CPS files released at the trial hacker Glenn Mulcaire made £1m from News International over the years. This is some of his work from 11,000 pages of notes.
Day 51: Glenn Mulcaire carried out only a dozen hacks or attempted phone hacks during Rebekah Brooks’s editorship of the News of the World, the phone hacking trial heard today.
View original post 825 more words
One of the most precious freedoms for journalists is the protection of their sources. Now it appears the Cabinet Office is using an obscure bill – as part of the government’s drive to cut “red tape”- as cover to erode that freedom.
By changing the rules to allow the police to go to court to obtain reporter’s notebooks, pictures and computer files- without facing an open challenge from newspapers, TV, or even individual freelance journalists themselves – they are placing that protection in serious danger.
No wonder the Newspaper Society is up in arms and media lawyers are raising very serious questions. There is an excellent and elegant argument on the Inforrm blog by Gill Phillips,the Director of Editorial Legal Services at Guardian News and Media, about the dangers.
She rightly concludes: “This appears to be yet another backdoor attempt to limit and restrict essential and hard-fought journalistic protections.”
Bloggers should also be aware of this as it could affect them – and they will be much more vulnerable to a police raid- as they would be in a weak position to defend themselves. It is worth reading Vox Political’s blog on this point and taking action.
The official response according to my former colleague Owen Bowcott in the Guardian has been muted.
He reports :A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “Every measure in the deregulation bill is intended to remove unnecessary bureaucracy. Clause 47 would bring the Police and Criminal Evidence Act into line with other legislation in this area and would allow the criminal procedure rules committee to make procedure rules that are consistent and fair.
” However, the government has noted the concerns raised about this issue and Oliver Letwin is happy to meet with media organisations about this before the bill goes to committee.”
I think the government should go further and drop this now. It can hardly save much money and I think their motives in introducing this are questionable and undo good work under the Defamation act and by the Information Commissioners’ Office to protect journalists from interference by the police and the state.
Sienna Miller’s testimony suggests the News of the World could have got the story through phone hacking – and the judge apologises to her for having to go through evidence about her private life to the court.
Day 50, Part 2: Sienna Miller said today that she probably would have left the sort of phone messages that a former News of the World reporter claimed he hacked with the knowledge of the paper’s editor Andy Coulson.
View original post 615 more words
The disclosure about fiddling expenses does indeed happen. The question is did the story come from a source or hacking or both?
Day 50, Part 1: A former News of the World reporter insisted today that Andy Coulson had hired him to hack phones. Dan Evans said he had told Mr Coulson, then the NoW’s editor, about his skills in voicemail interception during a job interview at a London hotel.
View original post 507 more words
Dan Evans admits ” flawed recollection” as Andy Coulson’s lawyer demolishes the detail of his evidence – but he insists the encounter over hacking with Coulson took place even if it was a different day.
Day 49, Part 2: A long-serving News of the World reporter has admitted making mistakes in his allegations about Andy Coulson’s involvement in phone hacking. At the start of his four-day testimony this week and in his police statement, Dan Evans said he had played the message left by Sienna Miller to Mr Coulson and another journalist at the NoW’s offices in Wapping on Tuesday 27 September 2005.
View original post 413 more words
More interesting stuff about bad journalism including making up quotes as Dan Evans faces a tough cross examination about his evidence.
Day 49, Part 1: Journalists on the News of the World often made up quotes for publication in stories, former NoTW reporter Dan Evans told the phone hacking trial today. Asked about comments from “friends” of Sienna Miller in a NoTW story, Evans said that it might come as a shock to the court but not everything in a tabloid newspaper was the “nailed-on” truth.
View original post 379 more words
This is tragic as well as scandalous. A journalist who says he is employed to illegally hack people in desperation to get a scoop. ends up drinking and taking cocaine. Sad reflection on the fate of some people in our profession.
Day 48, Part 2: A phone-hacking journalist told the Old Bailey today that he became so depressed at the News of the World that he “self-medicated” with cocaine. Giving evidence at the phone hacking trial, Dan Evans estimated that while at the NoTW he used cocaine “every couple of weeks.”
View original post 460 more words
Dan Evans’ admission that he lied in a witness statement about hacking a News of the World target in a previous breach of privacy claim is very interesting. Particularly when he claims in reply to cross examination from Andy Coulson’s QC that he had been caught up in an ” enormous conspiracy” to hide the truth that the News of the World was engaged in large scale phone hacking.
Day 48, Part 1: Self-confessed phone hacker Dan Evans admitted lying when he was giving evidence to a court about his attempted voicemail interception of a News of the World target, the Old Bailey heard today.
View original post 463 more words
The Information Commissioner is to put bloggers on the same footing as professional journalists allowing them to gather information on individuals and public services without fear of being challenged under the Data Protection Act.
I am indebted to this article on the excellent Inforrm blog today which reveals that the Information Commissioner has put out new guidelines to the media for consultation.
The proposals are particularly important after a series of outrageous attempts notably by Barnet Council to force local bloggers to have to register with the Data Protection Act. The aim was to force people to register so council officials and councillors could demand to know what information was held on them. Luckily they failed. This change will make it impossible for councils like Barnet to even contemplate such action.
The relevant parts -outlined in the proposed guidelines- are to exempt journalists and bloggers from the requirement to provide such information if they are pursuing a story in the public interest.This exemption allows journalists to mount a public interest defence to most apparent breaches of the Data Protection Act but it will be easier to rely on the exemption. This states:
These changes along with the new Defamation Act should be welcomed by everyone. It amounts to official recognition that the world is changing and that public bodies, whether it be your local council, hospital, or, as is increasingly the case, private companies running public services that they should expect to be heavily scrutinised. It also serves as a warning to directors of private companies, arrogant councillors, and insensitive public providers, that they will not be able to bully active citizens who want to probe their activities and they will not be able to force the disclosure of sources or information that led to their exposure. consultation on the new guidelines from the ICO ends on April 22nd.
This evidence adds to Jude Law’s claims of phone hacking and alleges Andy Coulson knew about it . It come after the previous revelation that the News of the World also paid a close relative of Jude Law to tell them of his love woes. The fact that ten other journos are said by Dan Evans to know abut hacking is also fascinating – but they cannot be named for legal reasons.
Day 47: Phone hacking supergrass Dan Evans played a recording of a hacked message to Andy Coulson while he was editing the News of the World, the Old Bailey heard today. Evans told the phone hacking trial that after he heard Sienna Miller declaring her love to James Bond actor Daniel Craig, Mr Coulson was “really animated”.
View original post 821 more words
Westminster Confidential 