Sun Crisis Deepens

Today another twist occurred in the crisis at The Sun; Trevor Kavanagh, its associate editor, launched a scathing attack on the police. He called the arrests of five senior journalists heavy handed, out of proportion and an attack on freedom of speech. Many reporters at the Sun feel like they are being unfairly treated, they believe that their colleagues are being arrested because they did their job. They also feel betrayed by their News Corporation bosses and fear for their jobs, even though Rupert Murdoch has promised to keep the newspaper open, unlike its sister paper, News of the World. Kavanagh believes that the company has deliberately framed the recently arrested journalists to get out of jail themselves. This is a very serious accusation.

My feeling is quite the opposite, the police investigate crimes and the reporters at the Sun are being investigated by the police. Everyone in the country should be subject to the same laws, no special privileges for one profession or another. If reporters are guilty of corruption, then they should be sent to prison like everyone else. This claim that it attacks the freedom of the press is ridiculous and just plain silly, News Corporation are trying to turn public opinion against the police by calling the investigation a “witch hunt”. We all know why they want the investigation to stop, the further the police delve the more dirt they will find on Sun reporters. This could do a further blow to the Sun in a time when newspaper circulations are in perpetual decline.

Yet the virus that began with 2011’s hacking scandal hasn’t stopped at the Sun, it has spread to America too. In the States there is a law called the “Foreign Corrupt Practices Act” concerning bribery of foreign officials and other illegal activities, the FBI is looking into both the hacking at the News of the World and the bribery claims at the Sun. This could significantly damage Murdoch in the USA, many in his American press and media companies want him to let the UK companies go as the Americans feel they are being dragged down by the revelations about their British counterparts.

Regardless of what happens as a result of these arrests, Murdoch’s media empire is collapsing with the UK being the first country to lose his slimy grip. When it does, I will celebrate.