Yet another reason not to trust the press

This is a story that the press has been very quiet on. In fact, it took an American newspaper to do the investigation. Few British news outlets have picked it up (except The Guardian, of course).

In short, British tabloid News of the World has been very naughty indeed. They have been breaking into voicemails of senior aides to the royal family:

Quote :

The government tonight came under pressure to set up a judicial inquiry into the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World after the paper confirmed that it has suspended a journalist while it investigates new allegations of the unlawful interception of voicemail.

The prime minister's media adviser, Andy Coulson, has denied a report in the New York Times which claimed he freely discussed the use of unlawful news-gathering techniques when he was editing the paper and "actively encouraged" a named reporter to engage in illegal interception of voicemail messages. Coulson has always denied knowing of any illegal activity by his journalists.

This is bad enough, in and of itself. But wait, there's more! It turns out that the bloody police have been involved, too. It's likely that more cases were involved, but...

Quote :

“There was simply no enthusiasm among Scotland Yard to go beyond the cases involving Mulcaire and Goodman,” said John Whittingdale, the chairman of a parliamentary committee that has twice investigated the phone hacking. “To start exposing widespread tawdry practices in that newsroom was a heavy stone that they didn’t want to try to lift.” Several investigators said in interviews that Scotland Yard was reluctant to conduct a wider inquiry in part because of its close relationship with News of the World.

Now, why on earth would the police not bother policing some obvious criminal activity. Could it possibly be that the news group in question has been helping to cover up their bungles?

It's unlikely you'll see this story in many places. Rupert Murdoch (of course it was his news group!) has tentacles in many places. But this is a scandal that requires some serious investigation. Illegal phone hacking with police collusion? I don't want to live in a country where this is tolerated.

ZoZo wrote:

Illegal phone hacking with police collusion? I don't want to live in a country where this is tolerated.

Well you could always move here.

Either way it sucks.

Are tabloids really treated as a credible news source in the UK? In the US they're mostly a joke.

Well, these are tabloid newspapers rather than supermarket rags. Think like the New York Post or Daily News. Actually, the Post is a good comparison here, since it's also owned by News Corp.

Penguin wrote:

Are tabloids really treated as a credible news source in the UK? In the US they're mostly a joke.

In the UK, "tabloid" refers to a smaller-sized newspaper. They are more likely to be full of shit, but many people see them as a source of news nonetheless.

One of the newspapers in the group, The Times, is also generally perceived as a "proper" newspaper. It was one of the ones which covered the Met's arse.

What? Newspapers doing illegal stuff to get news? Color me shocked!

ZoZo wrote:

In the UK, "tabloid" refers to a smaller-sized newspaper. They are more likely to be full of shit, but many people see them as a source of news nonetheless.

One of the newspapers in the group, The Times, is also generally perceived as a "proper" newspaper. It was one of the ones which covered the Met's arse.

Aren't the newspapers with a red border are usually the one full of shit? Such as the Sun.

ZoZo wrote:

In the UK, "tabloid" refers to a smaller-sized newspaper.

That's technically true in the US too, but much of the country doesn't get real newspapers in that size and only know the supermarket ones. The two papers I mentioned, the Post and Daily News, are tabloid newspapers in New York City. NYC also has a couple free morning tabloids, AM NY and The Metro (yes, from the same people behind London's).