Tag Archives: payments to police

Independent: Plan hatched by media figures to rescue News of the World

According to a report in the Independent today a group of media and business figures are putting together a plan to rescue the News of the World which published its last edition on Sunday.

This followed a week of shocking revelations and allegations made against the Sunday tabloid relating to both phone hacking and payments to police. According to the Independent’s report the group of figures is attempting to “revive the title as a responsible investigative newspaper”.

At the centre of the group is Susan Douglas, a former editor of the Sunday Express, a former deputy editor of the Sunday Times, and a former executive in numerous media organisations.

… Ms Douglas has been holding talks with leading media owners and venture capitalists, but said that a rescue attempt would need to be made quickly before the opportunity to save the 168-year-old title was lost.

You can read up on all the latest in the phone hacking scandal at this link.

Media Guardian: Rebekah Brooks asked for police payment details

The Guardian has reported that News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks has been asked by the chair of the home affairs select committee to provide details of payments allegedly made to police officers.

This follows the appearance of John Yates, the acting deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan police, before the committee on Tuesday, when he said the force’s special crimes directorate is “doing some research” into an admission in 2003 by Brooks, a former News of the World editor, that staff at News International had made payments to the force.

Keith Vaz MP, the chairman of the committee, wrote to Brooks on Wednesday asking her for information on how many officers were paid for tips or stories, the amounts they received and when the practice stopped.

Read the full Guardian report here…