No inquiries, No charges, No evidence
LAST week the News of the World was the subject of some ferocious and, at times, hysterical attacks on its credibility, integrity and journalistic standards.
The onslaught was led by a series of reports in the Guardian newspaper and hastily followed by the BBC, Sky News, and ITN.
The essence of their campaign was that members of our staff have engaged in a widespread and unlawful conspiracy to access "thousands" of mobile phones.
However, as Andy Hayman - a former Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard, who headed an exhaustive nine-month inquiry into our journalistic conduct - says today: "My recollection is different."
He adds: "As I recall the list of those targeted, which was put together from records kept by Glen Mulcaire, ran to several hundred names.
"Of these," writes Hayman, "there was a small number - perhaps a handful - where there was evidence that the phones had actually been tampered with."
And of claims that the former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was a victim of hacking, Hayman declares they are "without any clear evidence".
Despite purporting to represent the highest standards in journalism, the Guardian's reporting was inaccurate, selective and purposely misleading.
It is a fact that one former News of the World journa- list - Clive Goodman, the Royal Editor - tapped into telephone voicemails.
A private investigator, Glen Mulcaire, contracted to the paper, did the same.
That happened in 2006. Both men went to prison. Goodman was subsequently dismissed and the editor at the time, Andy Coulson - now David Cameron's Press chief - honourably resigned.
As a result of these actions, this newspaper, in April last year, resolved a legal case brought against us by Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, after it was discovered that his voicemail had been illegally hacked into by Mulcaire.
On Thursday, Assistant Commissioner John Yates, one of Scotland Yard's most experienced detectives, confirmed that the police would not be reopening their inquiry into the affair - because no new evidence had come to light.
Forged
So let us be clear. Neither the police, nor our own internal investigations, has found any evidence to support allegations that News of the World journalists have accessed voicemails of any individuals.
Nor instructed private investigators or other third parties to access voicemails of any individual.
Nor found that there was any systemic corporate illegality by any executive to suppress evidence to the contrary.
If the police, or ourselves, had uncovered such evidence, charges would have been brought.
The Guardian slyly linked a separate investigation by the Information Commissioner to allegations of phone tapping.
That report, which named almost all national news- papers and covered activities as far back as 2001, referred to 23 journalists from the News of the World and The Sun.
Along with banks and government agencies, they had received confidential information through a private investigator which, the Commissioner deemed, breached the Data Protection Act.
The News of the World has a long and distinguished tradition. But we also accept that there have been times in our 165-year history when, like the rest of the media, we have made mistakes.
When we have done so, we have admitted to them.
No newspaper, least of all the Guardian, is perfect. Nor is our craft a perfect science.
Its practitioners are human. They misbehave and make mistakes for which they - rightly - pay a heavy price.
So let us remember that it was the Guardian that knowingly, deliberately and illegally forged a cabinet minister's signature to get an exclusive story.
It was the Guardian that cynically abandoned one of journalism's most fundamental and sacred covenants by revealing the identity of a confidential informant.
As a result of that betrayal, a Foreign Office civil servant - a 23-year-old woman - was sent to prison.
So, if the Guardian has any fresh evidence to support their claims against us, we invite them to pass it on to the police without delay.
Yesterday, in their editorial column, they proclaimed: "Decent journalism has never been more necessary . . . "
We couldn't agree more. It's time they practised what they preach.
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