The ongoing investigations and recent arrests at News International have prompted two senior journalists there to consider suicide, the Evening Standard reported last night.
The paper says the reporters “were checked into hospital at the expense of News International on the orders of Rupert Murdoch”.
It says:
Sources said other journalists inside the Wapping HQ look “terribly stressed and many are on the edge”. It is understood the company’s offer of psychiatric help is available to any journalist who feels under pressure.
The tragic developments happened after News Corp’s Management and Standards Commitee, a branch of the empire that reports directly to independent board directors in New York, passed evidence to Scotland Yard.
The MSC is co-operating with the Metropolitan police investigations into allegations of phone hacking, computer hacking and payments to police and other public officials. Eleven people from the Sun have been arrested in recent weeks as part of Operation Elveden and released on police bail without charge.
Fleet Street’s self-imposed silence on this story is hypocritical.
While it’s sad that events led to the pair apparently trying to take their lives, both journalists have a long history of writing sensationalist stories about suicide attempts, often involving celebrities.
Over the years they’ve shown no regard to the effect and impact their stories had on the families and friends of the people they wrote about … so why the reluctance to publish their names now?