(News Of The World) Hacking Row: British MP Calls For Murdoch Evidence

[Turborama]

Source: Sky News

Andy Winter, Sky News Online -

There has been a call for Rupert Murdoch to be asked to give evidence over the News Of The World phone hacking row - as MPs referred the matter to the Commons' Standards and Privileges Committee.

The Sunday newspaper at the centre of the allegations is owned by News International Ltd, part of Mr Murdoch's News Corporation.

It comes after another former News Of The World journalist claimed Downing Street spin doctor Andy Coulson would have been "well aware" of the widespread use of phone tapping at the paper when he was its editor.

During a House of Commons emergency debate, Labour MP Tom Watson suggested Mr Murdoch, Chairman of News Corp which has a controlling stake in Sky News owner BSkyB, should be asked to help the investigation.

A member of the culture select committee which reopened the inquiry into press standards last year, Mr Watson also said Rebekah Brooks - chief executive of News International and a former deputy editor of the News Of The World - should be called.

Read more: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/Phone-Hacking-Andy-Coulson-Under-Pressure---Rupert-Murdoch-Urged-To-Give-Evidence-In-Tapping-Row/Article/201009215723851?lpos=Politics_Top_Stories_Header_2&lid=ARTICLE_15723851_Phone_Hacking:_Andy_Coulson_Und

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Phone-hacking row: government backs new inquiry

Pressure mounts on Andy Coulson, as MPs call on the powerful standards and privileges committee to summon witnesses such as Rupert Murdoch to give evidence

Hélène Mulholland, political reporter
guardian.co.uk, Thursday September 9 2010

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch should be called to give evidence to a new inquiry into the News of the World phone-hacking row, MPs were told today as they agreed to refer the issue to the Commons' most powerful committee.

Amid calls from MPs of all parties for parliament to stand up to the "red topped assassins" of the media, the government backed a motion for hacking to be investigated by the standards and privileges committee.

Tom Watson, a former Labour minister, told MPs that Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, should both be called as witnesses by the committee following their refusal to appear at a previous inquiry held by the culture committee on the same issue.

The decision to launch the new inquiry piles pressure on David Cameron's director of communications, Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor, who has repeatedly denied any knowledge of the illegal eavesdropping for which ex-royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed in 2007.

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/09/phone-hacking-row-new-inquiry

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The Guardian have been doing a lot of coverage of this. Here's the homepage with loads of articles: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/news-of-the-world-phone-hacking

Here's a good example...

Phone hacking was rife at News of the World, claims new witness

• Ex-NoW journalist says Andy Coulson 'must have known'
• Speaker paves way for second committee to investigate
• Poll finds 52% think PM's communications chief must go

Nick Davies
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday September 8 2010 21.00 BST

A former senior News of the World journalist has gone public to corroborate claims that phone-hacking and other illegal reporting techniques were rife at the tabloid while the prime minister's media adviser, Andy Coulson, was deputy editor and then editor of the paper.

Paul McMullan, a former features executive and then member of the newspaper's investigations team, says that he personally commissioned private investigators to commit several hundred acts which could be regarded as unlawful, that use of illegal techniques was no secret at the paper, and that senior editors, including Coulson, were aware this was going on.

"How can Coulson possibly say he didn't know what was going on with the private investigators?" he asked.

Coulson has always said he had no knowledge of any such activity. News International has maintained that royal reporter Clive Goodman, jailed for hacking phones belonging to members of the royal household, was the only journalist involved in the practice.

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/08/phone-hacking-news-of-the-world-witness

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

1. Why in God's name did the US Federal District Court ever give

this scumbucket American citizenship is beyond me.

The first time I ever saw a News of the World was back in 1981 when my husband and I went to Ireland for a delayed honeymoon. I took one look at that rag and knew whoever owned it was an a**hole. It was then and still is nowthing but a disgusting rag...

Thanks to the Federal Courts we now have to put up with Faux News and the garbage they spew.

[Ozymanithrax]

2. Because there is no "no Scumbags" rule in the laws and regulations governing naturalization.

And a good corporate citizen with lots of long green is desired by the system. If he had not broken any laws, had the means to take care of himself, he is let in.

[Turborama]

3. Rupert Murdoch accused as MPs vent anger on NoW phone hacking

Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday September 9 2010 21.30 BST

Rupert Murdoch was today accused of knowingly appointing Rebekah Brooks as chief executive of News International even though she had admitted that the News of the World had made illegal payments to the police, as Labour MPs intensified their attacks on the media mogul by using parliamentary privilege to round on his senior executives.

In a parliamentary debate on the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World, in which Conservative MPs voiced concerns, the Metropolitan police were also criticised for evasiveness in their investigation of the illegal practice.

Tom Watson, a Labour member of the Commons culture select committee, placed Murdoch in the line of fire by accusing him of appointing Rebekah Brooks as chief executive of News International knowing that she had broken the law over payments to police.

Brooks admitted in evidence to the Commons culture select committee in 2003 that the News of the World had paid police officers in the past for stories. This was condemned by the committee and by the Met as illegal. "When Rupert Murdoch appointed Rebekah Brooks he did so in that knowledge," Watson said of the ruling from the Commons committee.

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/09/rupert-murdoch-phone-hacking-mps