I was wrong - Press regulation is not the answer

The British press can be extremely unethical at times, from the Daily Mail’s race baiting to the News of the World hacking the phone of a missing schoolgirl. The American media, for comparison, experiences far fewer accusations of unethical behaviour, certainly none on the level of the phone hacking scandal. Yet if I were given a choice of having either the British press or the American media, I would definitely choose the British press. Why? Well the primary job of the press is to hold the government to account, it is supposed to seek out corruption within our democracy and expose any corruption or unethical behaviour that they find. If the press does not do this, then it is not doing its job! The British press, for all its faults, does a reasonable job of this, the American media does not. There is a reason why it was a British newspaper, namely the Guardian, that revealed the information of the American government’s spying operations leaked to it by Edward Snowden, and not an American publication.

The conviction of Andy Coulson, and acquittal of RebekahBrooks, for phone hacking has brought the issue of press regulation back into the nation’s mindset. I used to support some form of press regulation as I felt that the actions of the press were so egregious that they simply could not be ignored. I honestly believed that regulation was necessary! But I was wrong. As terrible as the British press is at times, it does its job. Ian Hislop summed it up perfectly in an episode of Have I Got News For You.

A free press is necessary for a fully functioning democracy, if you start regulating the press you jeopardise one of the core tenets of democracy. If you don’t have a free press, then you don’t have a functioning democracy.

What I am not saying is that if we have press regulation, then Britain is suddenly going to become North Korea. What I am saying is that by regulating the press you have a government that is less accountable to its citizens and that won’t represent you. This means that public opinion will have even less influence over government decisions. We have seen what happens when governments get too close to the journalists, and it is not something that we can allow as a country. As horrific as the British press can be at times, regulating it is not the right answer. 

Leveson and the Press

After it was revealed in 2011 just how badly the British press behaves, the government called an inquiry into what had happened and what to do to prevent future bad behaviour. Lord Justice Leveson chaired the inquiry in which he listened to hundreds of witnesses, which included politicians, TV presenters, journalists, celebrities and ordinary civilians affected by the extreme behaviour of the press.

The report which was published at the end of November called for a new body to replace the Press Complaints Commission. The new body would be independent of both government and the press and would have the ability to fine companies that break the law up to £1 million. It should be noted that this would only apply to large organisations, not Twitter users or bloggers like myself.

The reaction to the report was not that surprising, nearly the entire press agreed with the Prime Minister, David Cameron’s, position that legislation should not follow as Leveson advised. The only exception was the Guardian which backed Ed Miliband’s approach of calling for full implementation of the Leveson Inquiry’s recommendations. J.K. Rowling and Gerry McCann both made statements expressing thing frustration at the PM, they felt as though they had been miss-led. Private Eye, which was actually praised in the report, complained that they proposed system would force them into joining the regulator despite good behaviour previously.

 This is a once in a generation chance to reign in the extremities of the press without damaging the all important freedom of the press. We must realise that too many people have had their lives torn apart by the excesses of the press and that this must stop. Labour is going to bring a vote in the House of Commons, which they will likely win thanks to rebelling Tories and Liberal Democrats, but unfortunately Labour does not have the ability to create laws and as such it will not actually go into law. This is quite disappointing, as the majority of the country backs the Leveson report.

Petraeus Scandal No. 2

David Petraeus has been engulfed in scandal again, only weeks after the details of his affair destroyed his career. The scandal only came to light when the Washington Post released a tape that had been leaked to it, the tape consists of David Petraeus speaking ‘off the record’ to Fox News contributor, Kathleen McFarland in early 2011.

In the tape McFarland is passing on some information from her boss, chairman of Fox News Roger Ailes. She explains to Petraeus that Ailes wants him not to accept any position the Obama administration offers him, except chairman of the joint chiefs, resign in six months and run for President (as a Republican). As the conversation continues Petraeus reveals that this is not really new information, the owner of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, had already approached Petraeus about running for President against Obama and promised him to ‘bankroll’ Petraeus’ campaign! At one point McFarland says the following:

“The big boss [Murdoch] is bankrolling it. Roger’s going to run it. And the rest of us are going to be your in-house.”

This should prove to everyone, what many people already believe, that Fox News is a media wing of the Republican Party. Simple as. You can argue whether that is good, bad or it doesn’t matter, but you can’t argue whether it is a wing of the party.

Regardless of the fallout from this case, we should take note of this in the UK. When speaking to Lord Justice Leveson Murdoch claimed he never asked a politician anywhere for anything, anyone could tell that he was lying. This proves it, Murdoch meddles in politics wherever he is, he is dangerous and he must be stopped, he simply has too much power. 

Leveson Report

In a move that has angered much of the public, the Prime Minister David Cameron had rejected proposals put forward by Lord Justice Leveson. To make matters worse for Cameron, he looks set to experience another humiliating defeat in the House of Commons as Labour will force a vote on the proposals. The vote should get the support of most of Labour and the Liberal Democrats as well as about 70 Conservative backbenchers. Unfortunately the vote will be non-binding as Labour does not have the power to introduce legislation.

So what is in the report causing such political angst? Well basically, Leveson calls for the setting up of a regulatory body that would be independent of both government and industry with the ability to fine organisations up to £1 million! The report castigates much of the press for their activities Leveson wrote that they have "wreaked havoc on the lives of ordinary people." Throughout the months that Leveson was listening to hundreds of testimonies, there were a number of specific stories that stood out. When Joanna Yates disappeared in 2010 her landlord, Christopher Jefferies was, in Leveson's words "the victim of a very serious injustice perpetrated by a significant section of the press". Leveson described the hunger of news organisations for stories on Madeleine McCann and her family as "insatiable." In most people's minds, it was the revelation that Milly Dowler, a murdered schoolgirl, had had her phone hacked by News of the World that started the avalanche of public anger that led to the Leveson inquiry. In July last year it seemed that barely a day went past when more people weren't added to the list of hackees. The families of 9/11 and 7/7 victims were hacked as well as those of dead soldiers and murder victims. The public revolution for the tabloids grew everyday.

The report was also critical of Jeremy Hunt and his handling of the BSkyB takeover bid. Hunt was at the centre of wider criticism of politicians' closeness to the press, particularly Murdoch titles. Leveson said that the huge amount of contact between Hunt's special advisor Adam Smith and News Corp lobbyist, Frédérick Michel was a serious problem that Hunt failed to address. Yet overall politicians were not heavily criticised notably Leveson cleared the government of being unfairly influenced by News Corp during the BSkyB takeover bid.

What happens in the next couple of moths will be of paramount importance to the nature of our press for the next generation. Parliament has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stop the unethical and unnecessary excesses of the British press without harming free speech and with the support of the public. If Cameron rejects the idea, it will only be a matter of time until the 2011 press scandal returns in a new form.

The Collapse of the British Establishment

It has been over two months now since the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal was first made public, yet its affects still dominate news headlines. Accusations that senior politicians were involved in paedophile sex rings have been swarming on the internet for over a week. Yesterday one of those accused hit back, Lord McAlpine called the speculation “wholly false and seriously defamatory”. The rumours started as a result of a BBC Newsnight investigation into abuse in north Wales children’s homes. In the broadcast a man stated that he had been abused by a senior Conservative from the Thatcher era, although McAlpine was never named. On Twitter however, his name was banded about as the abuser, and it is true that Steven Messham (the victim) did believe that McAlpine was the abuser. He has since reversed his accusation after being shown a photograph of McAlpine and has apologised for falsely accusing him. This has led Newsnight into some serious trouble, what sort of shoddy journalism was at work when they didn’t even both to confirm that McAlpine was definitely the abuser?

It would seem like this scandal is intent on destroying the BBC and Newsnight’s reputation. Although I have no doubt that the BBC will continue as the world’s largest broadcaster, I fear for Newsnight’s future. The programme usually has excellent journalism and to cancel it would be a travesty.

If we move away from this scandal alone you begin to realise something: The British Establishment is collapsing. It really began back in 2007/2008 when the economy went into freefall, the institutions that had caused the crash saw their reputation plummet: Banks. Yet it also tarnished politics, why had the government massively deregulated the financial sector? And why did the opposition say nothing about it? Move alone to 2009 and politics has a scandal of its own, this time over expenses. Many MPs and Peers had made unfair, and sometimes illegal claims for expenses. Since then a number of politicians have gone to jail, destroying politicians’ already abysmal reputation. In 2011 the police, press and politicians all got caught up in one massive scandal. It all started with revelations that the News of the World had hacked the voicemail of murdered schoolgirl, Milly Dowler, in 2002. Soon it became clear that thousands of people had been hacked, the families of dead soldiers and victims of 9/11 and 7/7. The public’s complete revulsion of what was discovered resulted in the News of the World being closed. The scandal turned to police when people questioned their relationship with journalists and the possibility of corruption. Public anger also erupted over the closeness of senior Tory politicians with the press, particularly PM David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt.  Since then numerous branches of the press have shown to act unlawfully, particularly Murdoch papers; the Sun, the Times and News of the World all being implicated. As well as that, senior executives within Murdoch’s company News Corporation have been arrested surrounding the scandal. Then you move forward to this year, banks saw their reputation further damaged as three British institutions were found to have dodgy, and sometimes illegal dealings. The current abuse scandal threatens to further destroy the establishment’s reputation. The public are at record low levels of trust with banks, politicians, police, the press and now the BBC. The only nationwide institution still standing on high approval ratings is the NHS, let’s hope it doesn’t find a scandal of its own.  

Prince Harry Photos Published by the Sun

As you probably already know by now, pictures of Prince Harry naked in a Vegas hotel have been circulating the web for a few days now. Originally published by TMZ, an American gossip website, earlier this week the photos have been a hit on the internet. Oddly enough, until yesterday, no British paper had published the photos, the editors of the newspapers agreed with each other that they would not publish the photos. Some of the editors believe that they need to be on extra good behaviour as Lord Leveson is currently writing up his report with how to deal with the British press. They believe that by publishing the photos, which man y people believe are a complete invasion of privacy, will prove to Leveson that the press cannot regulate itself. Well it didn’t take long for one newspaper to break ranks; yesterday the Sun published the photos. This has angered some of the other editors, in one editor’s (anonymous) words; “they’ve just handed Leveson a loaded gun.” The Sun had two main arguments for publishing the photos: The first is that there is a public interest aspect, the fact that the images have been searched millions of times by Britons proves this. Secondly, they believe that since the pictures have been circulating online that there is no reason for the press not to print them.

The second argument is childish and quite frankly, stupid. Just because everyone else does something morally wrong, bad or illegal doesn’t mean you have to do it too. If all your friends shop lift, does that make it ok to shoplift? No. If everyone speeds, does that make speeding ok? No. Sorry to sound like someone’s mother, but it is a silly argument. The first is more difficult to attack, the public are certainly interested, but is it in the public’s interest to publish them? There is a fine, but important distinction between the two. Celebrities are entitled to a private life, without public scrutiny; there is a strong argument to be made that publishing of the photographs crossed the line between public and private life. Whatever the arguments, it will surely affect Leveson’s judgement. 

Do We Need the Press?

The short answer is yes, but I do think that the results of the Leveson Inquiry should make us think twice about just how important the press is. Whilst the press was revealing stories of corrupt politicians, drunk celebrities and “broken Britain” the whole industry, with only a few exceptions, was rotten to the core itself.

One paper has already fallen victim to the post-Hacking scandal fury (the NOTW). News Corporation stopped trying to buy the remaining shares of BSkyB and took the decision recently to split the corporation in two.

I ask the question because I believe that the importance of the internet is much more important. The internet has allowed for journalism to turn to the ordinary civilian and power has been removed from powerful men. I don’t believe a free press is one controlled by a handful of people. Although papers like the Guardian and the Independent will be missed greatly if they ever shut down, but we may have to accept this. Thankfully both papers have an online service; the Guardian is the second most read British news website!

With declining revenue and falling paper sells we may have to accept the gradual disappearance of the printed news, but we need not worry too much. The internet will save us from completely losing the press, it is also a lot freer than the press and it allows for ordinary citizens to share their own opinions. Do you think I’d have my own blog if it wasn’t for the internet? No.

The internet, not the press, is the saviour of our democracy. 

Minister for Murdoch Survives Commons Vote

Jeremy Hunt managed to survive a parliamentary vote yesterday despite losing the support of the Liberal Democrats and having the opposition of the Labour party. One of the most notable moments was when the Shadow immigration minister, Chris Bryant directly accused Jeremy Hunt of lying. Despite the fact that you are not allowed to accuse ministers of lying in parliament, the speaker of the House allowed it this time.

The public are wondering why Cameron is continuing to back Hunt, despite his unpopularity and the widespread belief amongst the public that he was biased has lied to parliament and has broken the ministerial code. I am angry that more Conservatives did not vote against Hunt as they know damn well that he is guilty – they just don’t want to embarrass their party. To the two Conservatives who voted against Hunt, I congratulate, they put honour and decency before the party which is the way it should be.

Jeremy Hunt in Parliament Yesterday

Murdoch's A Liar!

The Inquiry had a big day yesterday, former PM and Chancellor Gordon Brown attended to give evidence to Lord Leveson. Also present was the current chancellor, George Osborne. Possibly one of the biggest moments of the Leveson Inquiry was when Gordon Brown flatly contradicted Rupert Murdoch over evidence given to the Leveson Inquiry. Both men spoke under oath, so if either is found out to be lying they could be in a lot of trouble.

When Murdoch gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry he claims that he received an angry call from Brown who said “your company has declared war on my party, so I have no choice but to declare war on your company.” Brown denies that any such conversation happened, so one of the men has to be lying. I would imagine most of the public would think that Brown is telling the truth and Murdoch is lying, Murdoch is a slimy man who cares only about making money and controlling politics. Despite the accusation of lying, Murdoch has issued a statement saying he stands by what he said.

It wasn’t the only thing that Brown revealed at Leveson, when giving her evidence Rebekah Brooks claimed that she had been given permission by Gordon Brown’s wife, Sarah Brown to publish a story. Brown denied than any sort of permission was given, which is understandable considering what the story was. When the Browns’ son was only four and a half month’s old the Sun (which Ms Brooks edited at the time) published a story on its front page that told the world that their son had cystic fibrosis. The vast majority of people will believe the Browns’ on this one, especially considering that they had yet to tell close family members. Even Louise Mensch, the Conservative MP most in love with the Murdoch media does not believe Ms Brooks!

Osborne’s appearance produced less headline material, yet he still denied emphatically that he or his party had got too close to the press, the Murdoch’s in particular. Osborne was questioned over his decision to hire Andy Coulson, just weeks after he resigned from the NOTW due to the phone hacking scandal.  

Today is another important day for the Leveson Inquiry with the former Prime Minister, John Major making an appearance.

Gordon Brown at the Leveson Inquiry

Blair at Leveson

Today former Prime Minister Tony Blair appeared at Leveson Inquiry. It was interesting to watch Blair being questioned on his relationship with the press, but on the whole nothing scandalous or shocking was revealed. Probably the most shocking part was when a protester entered the courtroom and started to accuse Blair of war crimes. The protester was quickly removed from the courtroom and not seen again.

Blair claimed that he did not do a deal with the Murdochs to get power and once in power went against the Murdochs’ wishes more times than he went along with them and claimed that there was nothing out of the ordinary about phoning Rupert Murdoch in the ten days before the Iraq War in 2003. He claimed that he had problems with the Daily Mail, calling it a “personal vendetta” as it frequently attacked his family, particularly Cherie, and he found that difficult to deal with. Blair said he did not believe the attacks on his family were “real journalism”. Blair told the Inquiry that between 2006 and 2011 his family lawyers had sent 30 letters of complaint to the Daily Mail concerning stories about Cherie.

“The Daily Mail… have attacked me, my family, my children, those people associated with me, day in, day out. Not merely when I was in office but subsequent to it as well. They do it very well, very effective. It’s very powerful.”

When asked about why he didn’t tackle the press Blair said he would be unable to do so as it would have opened up the wrath of the press and attempting to tackle the power of the press would have taken up a sizeable portion of government time and side-lined other, more important issues.

“My view is, and I think it’s still my view actually, that you would have had to clear the desk, this would have been an absolute major confrontation. You would have had virtually every part of the media against you in doing it. And I felt that the price you would pay for that would push out a lot of the things I cared more about.” He said it would be “A long, protracted battle that will shove everything else to the side”

Although he acknowledges the political difficulties of doing so he says that now is the time to tackle the press, in the wake of the hacking scandal and the Leveson Inquiry it would be possible and the public would be prepared to listen. Blair has urged politicians across the board to support Cameron if he tried to tackle the press as he cannot be left alone to do this.

Blair at the Leveson Inquiry yesterday

(Another) Scandal for Hunt

Yesterday was a bad day for David Cameron and the Culture, Media and Sports Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. In December 2011 Jeremy Hunt was handed the task of deciding whether or not News Corporation should be allowed to purchase the remaining shares of BSkyB, of which they already owned 39%.  Jeremy Hunt was only handed this quasi-judicial role after it had been taken from the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, who was deemed unsuitable to perform the job by the PM.  The problem was that Cable had been caught by journalists saying he had “declared war on the Murdochs” and would not let their company, News Corp, take over the remaining shares of BSkyB. As the decision was supposed to be taken in a quasi-judicial fashion Cameron decided it would be inappropriate to allow Cable to make this decision. So the job was handed to Hunt instead, what is uncomfortable for Cameron is that a month prior to his decision to give the job to Hunt, due to Cable’s strong views, Hunt had emailed Cameron saying that blocking the bill would cause “our media sector to suffer for years” and that “I think it would be totally wrong to cave into the Mark Thompson/Channel 4/Guardian line that this represents a substantial change of control given that we all know Sky is controlled by News Corp now anyway.”

The issue here is that, if Vince Cable was inappropriate due to already strong views on the subject, why was Hunt appropriate considering he also had strong views? This is not going to help the current government’s image as one that is too close to the Murdochs.

The Brooks Arrested!

Yesterday Rebekah Brooks, along with her husband Charlie Brooks and four others were charged with perverting the course of justice. In a statement made yesterday Charlie said his wife had been the “victim of a witch hunt” (I find this hilariously ironic, considering the sheer volume of witch hunts that Rebekah Brooks has started during her time at Murdoch’s company) and Rebekah claiming that the decision to charge her was “unjust and weak”.

So what have they been charged with? Well Rebekah has been charged with three counts of perverting the course of justice. The alleged crimes occurred between the 6^th and the 19^th of July 2011, Brooks and her counterparts are accused of trying to conceal evidence from the police, all of which they strongly deny. Here’s a quick time line of some of the events of that period

4^th of July – The Guardian reveals that NOTW hacked Milly Dowler’s phone

5^th of July – It is revealed that Madeleine McCann’s parents, 7/7 victims’ families were also hacked

6^th of July – Cameron promised to open an enquiry (Now Leveson)

7^th of July – NOTW closes

8^th of July – Andy Coulson Arrested

15^th of July – Rebekah Brooks resigned as CEO of News International

17^th of July – Brooks arrested and released on police bail

19^th of July – Brooks appeared in front of a Commons Select Committee

The second charge relates to Rebekah Brooks and her PA, Cheryl Carter, who are accused of removing, permanently, seven boxes of material from News International between the 6^th and the 9^th of July 2011. The final charge relates to the final four days of the period (15^th – 19^th of July), they are all charged of trying to conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from the Metropolitan Police.

Although these are only charges, and the suspects are presumed innocent until proven otherwise, it’s still extremely embarrassing for the government. David Cameron once socialised with people who are being charged with a very serious crime.

Rebekah and Charlie Brooks making a statement yesterday

Coulson & Brooks at Leveson

The past couple of days will have been hotly anticipated in number 10, the former communications director for No.10, Andy Coulson appeared at the Leveson Enquiry on Thursday. Rebekah Brooks, former CEO of News International and good friend of David Cameron appeared yesterday.  Unfortunately they were not able to talk about phone hacking as they are both on police bail after being arrested in relation to the hacking scandal.

Coulson is particularly important as he was hired by David Cameron to be the communications director for him; he was sounded out by George Osborne. He told the enquiry that his hiring was not part of some grand scheme to get Cameron closer to the Murdochs, although I’d be extremely surprised if this never crossed Cameron’s mind. What is important to note is that Coulson had £40,000 of shares in News International, something he should have declared when he took office in the government, yet he never did claiming he was ‘too busy’ and didn’t notice the personal benefit to himself if News International did well, making him totally inappropriate as the government’s communications director. Coulson told the enquiry that even after the hacking scandal was blown wide open by the Guardian David Cameron, nor any other member of the government, questioned him on his knowledge of phone hacking despite the widening public interest in his part.

Rebekah Brooks caused more problems for the government, she told the enquiry that how after she was arrested she received messages of support from No.10, No.11, the Home Office and the Foreign Office. This reveals just how close the Murdoch press got to the very heart of government. She admitted that David Cameron had indirectly contacted her with a message that went along the lines of “I would have been more loyal to you had Ed Miliband not been on my tail”. What was even worse for the government was an email recovered from Brooks’ smart phone from Fred Michel [the PR man for News International] that read:

“Hunt will be making references to phone hacking in his statement on Rubicon this week. He will be repeating the same narrative as the one he gave in Parliament [a] few weeks ago. This is based on his belief that the police is pursuing things thoroughly and phone hacking has nothing to do with the media plurality issues. It’s extremely helpful… He [Hunt] wants to prevent a public inquiry.”

This is clearly bad for Hunt, Ed Miliband is already calling for his resignation (again). The email seems to suggest that Hunt was asking the Murdochs how he should handle the phone hacking scandal. I do not see Hunt being able to stay on for much longer due to this scandal.

"Murdoch Not Fit to run a Global Company"

A damning report was published today by the Culture Media and Sports Select Committee which accused Rupert Murdoch of not being a fit person to run a major global company. The report was even harsher on three of Murdoch’s “underlings”, Colin Myler, Tom Crone and Les Hinton who were accused of miss-leading MPs and could have to face the House of Commons.

Although the report is extremely damning it did not receive unanimous support from the committee, the four Conservatives voted against the report due to harsh attack on Murdoch. The report was able to pass as the five Labour members and the one Liberal Democrat member voted in favour of it. Louise Mensch is a Conservative member of the committee, in defending her decision to vote against the report on Newsnight, she appeared to think that the public would agree with her. Has she got any idea of public opinion? There is a massive anti-Murdoch swing in the general public and most people will be delighted with the report that so vilifies Murdoch. At a time when the fallout from the Jeremy Hunt scandal is deepening, this will harden the view that the Conservatives have become the party for Murdoch and could deal another blow to the Conservatives.

Although the Conservative members did vote against the report, they actually agreed with everything in the report apart from the one line. The rest of the report deals less with Murdoch and more with the lies told by Myler, Crone and Hinton to Parliament.

Murdoch must leave the UK once and for all; he still controls large parts of BSkyB and our press. The hacking scandal has created a very rare chance, for us to seize our democracy from the hands of Murdoch and return them to the people. His International Empire was founded in the UK with the Sun newspaper (which he took over), and we will be the ones to end it. Murdoch has had his time in power, the time for people power has returned.

The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee releasing the report yesterday

Revenge of the Murdochs

Today James Murdoch made an appearance at the Leveson Enquiry and released some explosive information. He has basically accused Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, of being corrupt. We all remember the scandal surrounding the Murdoch Empire that erupted last year, one of the effects of it was that News International stopped attempting to purchase a majority stake in BSkyB. Prior to this, Jeremy Hunt had been tasked with deciding whether or not the takeover would be fair and maintain a balanced media. Hunt was supposed to be acting in a quasi-juidicial fashion, taking a neutral stance and deciding whether or not the bid could go ahead based on evidence provided. What James Murdoch has revealed is that he had a huge amount of contact with Hunt throughout the whole process, with Hunt providing information that should have never been leaked.

Jeremy Hunt is facing calls to resign

The Conservative hierarchy in Downing Street have rallied around Hunt, especially the Prime Minister. They claim that the contact used by Murdoch is not trustworthy and that he was simply lying to make him seem like a big player to his boss, James Murdoch. Yet there is one big piece of evidence that throws the spanner into the works of this theory, an email from the contact to Murdoch on the 24^th of January 2011 explained how he had had a meeting with JH (supposedly Jeremy Hunt or one of his staff) in which they discussed the details of an address that Hunt would give the House of Commons the following day. In the email quite precise detail is revealed about how Mr Hunt was to reject calls for a review over the BSkyB bid, which would have slowed the process down for at least a couple of months.

Hunt is known to be a fan of the Murdochs, on his own website Hunt claims that the Murdoch Empire is essential to the health of British Media.  It may not prove his guilt but it does reveal that Hunt could not have approached this from a quasi-judicial perspective and should never have been chosen for this job.

Both Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband of Labour have called for Jeremy Hunt to resign over the scandal in a statement made yesterday Ed Miliband said: “He should resign. He himself said that his duty was to be transparent, impartial and fair in the BSkyB takeover. But now we know that he was providing advice, guidance and privileged access to News Corporation. He was acting as a back channel for the Murdochs.”

Although I do believe that the Labour Party should hold off calling for Mr Hunt’s immediate resignation I also believe that Cameron should not say he backs Hunt. Both should wait until all the evidence is in about this scandal, Hunt need time to reply to the allegations and Murdoch needs to provide more evidence of the alleged corruption.

Furious with the current coalition government for abandoning them the Murdochs' have taken their first revenge strike against the government. What is more important is that the tomorrow it is Rupert Murdoch's turn at answering questions at Leveson.

Rebekah Brooks and husband arrested

Today Rebekah Brooks and her husband, Charlie, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. This is the second time that Ms Brooks has been arrested as a result of the fallout of the hacking crisis at NOTW. Last time she was arrested on suspicion of intercepting voicemails but was never charged, this current arrest is for a far more serious crime. Perverting the course of justice is one of the most serious crimes in our legal system as it totally undermines the idea of bringing criminals to justice.

These arrests come the week that David Cameron finally admitted to riding a horse that belonged to the Met but was loaned to the Brooks.  Charlie Brooks is an old school friend of Cameron and this makes things extremely difficult for Cameron, he has been shown time and time again to have personal links to some of the biggest names in the NOTW hacking scandal and subsequent press enquiry.

This year is going to be as bad as 2011 for News International and its former employees, as the company lurches from crisis to crisis. It will surely mark the end of Murdoch’s dominance of British politics and the new political scene in 2013 and beyond will be unrecognisable when compared to the end of 2010.  If the enquiry is handled correctly and the police investigations carried out in the right manner then we may end up with a great press at the end… Somehow I don’t see us getting a free press at the end of this though; the press will still be controlled by a handful of wealthy, powerful men. The only way a press can be described as free is if it is controlled by as many people is possible.

The Worrying Relationship Between the Met & the Sun

Today Sue Akers, the deputy assistant commissioner spoke to Lord Justice Leveson to tell him of the “culture of illegal payments” by Sun journalists to police officers and other public officials. What she spoke of threatens to engulf the Metropolitan Police with many more arrests likely to come, it will be the most devastating issue for the Met since the organisation was branded institutionally racist by the MacPherson inquiry. It is horrifying to think that some of those who are meant to uphold the law and make our streets safe were performing illegal activities themselves. It is absolutely sickening and every police officer who took payments should be sent to prison.

Yet nobody really knows the full story yet, both the Leveson inquiry and the investigation by Sue Akers will continue for many more months and delve further into both the cosy relationship between the police and the press and other illegal activities. Most notably at Murdoch’s big names, the News of the World and the Sun. My only hope is that this time the investigation will produce meaningful results and that both the press and the police will complete the necessary reforms to give us a free but law abiding press.

Only an idiot would believe Rebekah Brook’s or Andy Coulson’s statements that they did not know about phone hacking or other illegal activities as well as denials coming from senior journalists at the Sun or NOTW. There is much evidence that take apart Brook’s and Coulson’s lies, Jeff Edwards was the crime correspondent at a Murdoch paper between 1980 and 1985 and says he lost his job because he was uncomfortable paying police officers. This isn’t a simple hunch that Mr Edwards has come up with, he was actually told that he’d lost his job because of his ethics.

Nobody really knows that will happen over the next year but it will be an important one for this country in terms of both the press and policing, I just hope both institutions can reform.

Sue Aker at the Leveson Inquiry today

The Future of Journalism

Today Murdoch flew in to deal with the crisis at the Sun newspaper. But what is the wider implication for the press in the UK of this scandal? Investigative journalism is required for a democracy to work properly, without them, politicians would not be kept in check and dirty deals could be done easily. So journalists are required, but that doesn’t mean the press will always be required. I don’t believe that the press will completely disappear from this country, but I do believe that its influence will significantly wane over the next few years. Unlike at the turn of the 20^th century, when the press was the only way to get news, there are two major sources that the public get their news, television and the internet today. Both are currently thriving and the internet is sky rocketing, broadband speeds are soaring and many more people have access to it than did a decade ago. Online journalism could be very profitable if companies use it right and it has huge advantages over conventional press and TV.

Most websites have a search function, this means that people can find information instantly, without having to flick through a newspaper to find the information they want isn’t there or listen to a 30 minute long news report to find another lack of information. Another advantage is websites can be updated very fast, as soon as new information becomes available or a story breaks a website can put it up in minutes, whereas TV needs to wait until their next news report and the press have to wait until the next day to report. Also people share internet stories on Facebook or Twitter, which allows the report to go viral. Another huge benefit of online is that people view it as “free” (ignoring broadband costs and buying a computer) whereas newspapers cost money. Websites can still make a lot of money through advertisements and if they successfully attract users can make a lot of money.

Over the next decade journalism will go through seismic changes, hastened by the Leveson Inquiry which is dredging up nasty details and as police investigations find out what really went on in News Corporation. Personally I will mourn the loss of the broadsheets like the Guardian and Independent as they are fantastic newspapers that do their democratic duties.

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. 

Scandal at the Sun

 Ever since the phone hacking scandal erupted last year, Rupert Murdoch has been mired in scandal after scandal. The most recent was at the Sun, one of his most important newspapers. Yesterday five senior journalists were arrested; this included chief reporter, John Kay, picture editor, John Edwards, foreign correspondent Nick Parker, reporter, John Sturgis, and even the deputy editor, Geoff Webster. The newspaper’s owner, Rupert Murdoch has stated that unlike its sister newspaper, the News of the World, the Sun will not be closed. Today’s arrests were not only significant because of the journalists arrested; an army officer, policeman and civil servant were also arrested. This is the first time that such arrests have been made under Operation Elveden, which is investigating illegal payments by journalists to get information. This crisis occurs during the Leveson Inquiry into press standards, which was set up after the fallout from the original scandal at NOTW. This, combined with evidence of harassment of people by journalists only further proves that there needs to be some sort of regulation of the press. This would not harm free speech, but strengthen the rights of individuals to privacy. The only reason you hear the likes of Paul Dacre claiming it would harm free speech is because of nasty practices going on in the Daily Mail, a newspaper which has been accused of dabbling in illegal activities by a number of high profile names.

We won’t know for a long time what the full extent of illegal activities at newspapers was, but unless a press regulator is created with real power, we will be looking at another press scandal in the future. This saga has shown that the press, particularly the tabloids, to be untrustworthy and must be dealt with harshly.

The Sun is the latest Murdoch newspaper to be mired in scandal