So says the New York Times in its detailed report on what the News of the World got up to with phone hacking during Andy Coulson’s time as editor:
A dozen former reporters said in interviews that hacking was pervasive at News of the World. “Everyone knew,” one longtime reporter said. “The office cat knew.”
One former editor said Coulson talked freely with colleagues about the dark arts, including hacking. “I’ve been to dozens if not hundreds of meetings with Andy” when the subject came up, said the former editor, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The editor added that when Coulson would ask where a story came from, editors would reply, “We’ve pulled the phone records” or “I’ve listened to the phone messages.”
Sean Hoare, a former reporter and onetime close friend of Coulson’s, also recalled discussing hacking. The two men first worked together at The Sun, where, Hoare said, he played tape recordings of hacked messages for Coulson. At News of the World, Hoare said he continued to inform Coulson of his pursuits. Coulson “actively encouraged me to do it,” Hoare said.
You can read the full story here.
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Fascinating article. Is it telling that it got printed just days after the Libel Tourism law came into effect in the USA?
There is a reason I don’t trust any of the British press, and the NYT article just reinforces that view. Speed and shock over substance, research and quality is the UK paper ethos now it seems, and it seems to hold for the broadsheets as well as the tabloids.
Seems I’ll need to stick to the foreign press to get decent and unpartisan analysis and reporting.
It is indeed a fascinating and disturbing article. But we mustn’t lose sight of another important question just because Andy Coulson is in the firing line: why on Earth did the police not investigate more thoroughly? Why did they withold relevant evidence from prosecutors?
As Jack of Kent says, we need a public inquiry: http://jackofkent.blogspot.com/2010/09/why-metgate-matters.html