Murdoch's World (54 page)
Authors: David Folkenflik
Page 149
“in hindsight, I regret”:
Rupert Murdoch testimony, Leveson Inquiry, April 25, 2012, morning session, p. 94.
Page 149
the first decade of the twenty-first century:
Description of BSkyB's financial standing drawn from BSkyB 2009 Annual Report; “BSkyB Profits from High Definition Services,”
BBC.co.uk
, July 29, 2010; News Corp 2011 annual report.
Page 150
convinced Rupert Murdoch to shift his support:
“Labour's Lost It,”
Sun
, September 29, 2009; Stephen Brook and Patrick Wintour,
“Sun
Turns Its Back on Labour,”
Guardian
, September 29, 2009.
Page 150
Tory stars embodied British privilege:
Andy McSmith, “George Osborne: A Silver Spoon for the Golden Boy,”
Independent
, June 19, 2010; Elizabeth Day, “George Osborne: From the Bullingdon Club to the Heart of Government,”
Observer
, October 1, 2011.
Page 151
The tabloids feasted:
Keith Gladdis and Sara Nuwar, “Parties with a Cocaine-Snorting Dominatrix,”
News of the World
, October 16, 2005; “Tories' Fate Is in Your Hands,” editorial,
News of the World
, October 16, 2005. John Bingham, “George Osborne: Tabloid âSpoiler' That Took on Life of Its Own,”
Telegraph
, September 12, 2011; Matthew Holehouse, “George Osborne Allegations: Andy Coulson's âFavourable' Editorial,”
Telegraph
, September 12, 2011.
Page 151
the two men discussed “politics and policy”:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit KRM29.
Page 151
Osborne told Cameron that they wanted:
James Chapman and Tim Shipman, “I Knew That Hiring Coulson Was Risky, Admits Osborne,”
Daily Mail
, June 11, 2012.
Page 151
“Have we any Tories coming to KRM party?” . . . “I will encourage”: Leveson Inquiry, exhibit FM21
.
Page 152
Cameron dispatched Jeremy Hunt:
David Leigh and Vikram Dodd, “Jeremy Hunt Visited News Corp in US as Murdochs Considered BSkyB Bid,”
Guardian
, April 25, 2012.
Page 152
James Murdoch invited Cameron to drinks:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit JRJM 10.
Page 152
“in return for Rupert Murdoch's support”:
Simon Kelner, interview by author.
Page 153
News International had additionally extracted promises:
George Eaton, “The Murdoch-Cameron Deal,”
New Statesman
, October 1, 2009.
Page 153
Kelner's
Independent
ran a marketing campaign:
Simon Kelner, interview by author; contemporaneous coverage.
Page 153
four months after Cameron's camp took power:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit FM 81.
Page 154
code-named Rubicon:
See emails in Leveson Inquiry, exhibit RMB 1, for example, Rebekah Brooks to Frederic Michel, June 27, 2011, “when is the rubicon statement”; Michel's reply: “Hunt will be making references to phone-hacking in his statement on Rubicon this week. . . .”
Page 154
Mark Thompson . . . joined other media executives:
“Mark Thompson Expresses âRegret' over Sky Letter,”
BBCNews.co.uk
, November 8, 2010.
Page 154
an independent analysis from Claire Enders:
Leveson Inquiry, annex 2 to submission by Claire Enders.
Page 154
News Corp officials countered:
Internal News Corp documents filed to Leveson Inquiry, exhibit VC 1â2, p. 66 (“Possible Acquisition by News Corporation of British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc./ Preliminary Briefing by News Corporation to the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and the Office of Communications”).
Page 155
Hunt and Michel kibbitzed back and forth:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit FM 8: text message Michel to Hunt, August 28, 2010.
Page 155
“a very useful meeting”:
Frederic Michel, questions from Robert Jay, Leveson Inquiry, May 24, 2012, transcript, p. 65.
Page 155
Michel also lined up government officials:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit FM 12, Frederic Michel text to Lena Pietsch, communications director to deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, January 13, 2011: “James could do the energy/environment event on 28th feb or 1st march: would that work for Nick? We are very keen to have him there.”
Page 156
“I would like to be able to show it”:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit FM 2, Fred Michel, email, October 7, 2010.
Page 156
“There is real unease in Libdem ranks”:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit KRM 18, Michel, email to Matthew Anderson, October 8, 2010.
Page 156
“What did you have in mind”:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit FM 3, Giles Wilkes, email to Michel, November 8, 2010.
Page 156
“Hi daddy!”:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit FM 8, Michel text to Hunt, November 9, 2010.
Page 156
Hunt then received direct legal advice:
“âI Just Heard James Murdoch Out,' Says Jeremy Hunt,”
Telegraph
, May 31, 2012.
Page 156
“You must be fucking joking”:
Leveson Inquiry, schedule of emails between James Murdoch and Frederic Michel relevant to KRM 18; James Murdoch, email to Michel, November 15, 2010.
Page 157
“James Murdoch is pretty furious”:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit AS 7, “Fortnightly Update 19 November 2010.” This memo is the source for subsequent quotations as well.
Page 157
James Murdoch and his family had joined the Camerons:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit JRJM 9.
Page 158
“UK Authorities have assumed that News exercises material influence”:
From “Possible Acquisition by News Corporation of British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc./ Preliminary Briefing by News Corporation to the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and the Office of Communications,” as cited above.
Page 158
actually undercover reporters for the
Telegraph: Robert Winnett, “Vince Cable: I Have Declared War on Rupert Murdoch,”
Telegraph
, December 21, 2010.
Page 158
“Just OfCom to go!”:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit JH 16, Jeremy Hunt, text to Frederic Michel, December 21, 2010. Subsequent text messages between Hunt and Osborne from same exhibit, sent on same day.
Page 159
the younger Murdoch dined with the Camerons:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit JRJM 9.
Page 159
the fresh face Conservatives wanted to put forward:
Richard Wray, “Jeremy Hunt: Ambitious Entrepreneur Still Has Much to Prove,”
Guardian
, May 17, 2010.
Page 160
“the look of an estate agent”:
Alan Bennett, “Diary,”
London Review of Books
, January 3, 2013.
Page 160
Just before Christmas . . . Ian Edmondson:
Vikram Dodd, James Robinson, and Nicholas Watt, “Met Police Reopen Investigation into Phone Hacking at News of the World,”
Guardian
, January 26, 2011.
Page 160
According to Michel's minutes:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit JRJM 5.
Page 161
Michel texted Gabby Bertin:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit FM 12.
Page 161
allowing News Corp to arrange its ducks in a row:
Michel emails cited in David Leigh and Nick Davies, “Jeremy Hunt and the Murdochs: How Minister Oiled Wheels of BSkyB Bid,”
Guardian
, April 24, 2012.
Page 162
“This is the second job”:
As cited in “In Quotes: Coulson Steps Down,”
BBCNews.co.uk
, January 21, 2011.
Page 162
“might be best to wait”:
Susan Beeby, email, cited in “Text Trail: Inside Jeremy Hunt's iPhone,”
Independent
, June 1, 2012.
Page 162
Coulson dined with him at Chequers:
“Andy Coulson Stayed with Cameron at Chequers After Resigning over Hacking Scandal,”
Daily Mail
, July 15, 2011. Also source for Craig Oliver's email to Hunt concerning view that James Murdoch would “pull a fast one.”
Page 163
“You were great” . . . “Merci”:
Leveson Inquiry, exhibit FM 8.
Page 163
the murder case . . . fell apart:
Nick Davies and Vikram Dodd, “Murder Trial Collapse Exposes News of the World Links to Police Corruption,”
Guardian
, March 11, 2011.
Page 163
News International admitted phone hacking:
James Robinson,
“News of the World Phone Hacking Victims Get Apology from Murdoch,”
Guardian
, April 8, 2011.
Chapter 13
Page 165
Bryant asked Brooks whether her newspaper:
Chris Bryant MP questioning Rebekah Wade (later Brooks) and Andrew Coulson amid hearings on privacy and the press, March 11, 2003, House of Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media, and Sport.
Page 166
“We have paid the police”:
House of Commons Select Committee on Culture Media, and Sport, examination of witnesses, March 11, 2003.
Page 166
“Do you declare how much, if any”: News International and Phone-Hacking
, Eleventh Report from House of Commons Committee on Culture, Media, and Sport, April 30, 2012, part 3.
Page 167
“We do not pay for interviews”: Ethical Journalism: A Handbook of Values and Practices for the News and Editorial Departments
, the New York Times Co.;
Los Angeles Times Ethics Guidelines; NPR Ethics Handbook; BBC Editorial Guidelines
.
Page 167
the
Telegraph
paid the equivalent:
“Daily Telegraph Paid £100k for MPs' Expenses Scoop,”
Press Gazette
, September 25, 2009.
Page 168
Networks evaded their own rules:
David Folkenflik, “ABC News Under Fire for Payment to Murder Suspect,”
All Things Considered
, March 19, 2010.
Page 168
he had an impeccable source:
Calder,
Untold Story
, pp. 254â255.
Page 169
“It was almost industry standard”:
Paul McMullan, interview by author.
Page 169
These highly trusted police officials:
Mark Hughes, “Royal Protection Officers âWere Paid for Information,' News International Emails Show,”
Telegraph
, July 12, 2011.
Page 169
Alex Marunchak . . . paid translator:
Tom Watson MP, interview by author; “NoW journalist Worked as Translator for Met,” BBC Channel 4 News, July 18, 2011.
Page 169
Neville Thurlbeck, had been an unpaid police informant:
Chris Greenwood, “News of the World Hacking Suspect Neville Thurlbeck âWas Police Informant,'”
Daily Mail
, July 19, 2011.
Page 170
proved that Lord Jeffrey Archer . . . had perjured himself:
“Archer Jailed for Perjury,” BBC News, July 19, 2001; personal biography, Neville
Thurlbeck.com
.
Page 170
Caught on video pleasuring himself:
Peter Burden, “Neville âOnan the Barbarian' ThurlbeckâNot Hard at Work,”
www.peterburden.net/archives/900
.
Page 170
blackmailed women who had taken part in a sex party:
Neville Thurlbeck, testimony to Leveson Inquiry, December 12, 2011, morning session.
Page 170
John Lyndon of the Surrey police wrote in a private note:
DCI John Macdonald, witness statement to Leveson Inquiry, quoting Lyndon's contemporaneous notes from April 23, 2002.
Page 171
the
Times of London
reported police had been given evidence
: Sean O'Neill and Roland Watson, “Hacking: Coulson Authorized Payments to Police for Stories,”
Times of London
, July 6, 2011.
Page 171
Sir Paul Stephenson . . . disclosed:
Statement from Sir Paul Stephenson, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, July 6, 2011.
Page 171
members of Parliament bluntly questioned Hayman:
Andy Hayman, testimony before House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs, July 12, 2011.