A man reads a copy of the Guardian newspaper in central London 2009. Police probing … Police probing the phone hacking scandal said Friday they were seeking a court order that would force The Guardian newspaper to disclose the sources for its reports on the affair. London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) said it was "seeking to identify evidence of potential offences resulting from unauthorised leaking of information". The Guardian's editor Alan Rusbridger condemned the move as "vindictive", adding: "We shall resist this extraordinary demand to the utmost". The daily has been at the forefront in exposing the voicemail hacking scandal at media baron Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World tabloid. The Guardian said the police intended to go before a judge at the Old Bailey in London, England's central criminal court, on September 23, to apply for an order under the Official Secrets Act 1989 requiring it to hand over documents relating to the source of information for a number of articles. It said the police thought the act could have been breached in July when the newspaper revealed that the voicemail of a teenage murder victim had been hacked into. The story led to a public outcry and News of the World closed shortly afterwards. In a statement, the MPS said it had applied for a production order against The Guardian and one of its reporters "in order to seek evidence of offences connected to potential breaches relating to Misconduct in Public Office and the Official Secrets Act". It said its investigation into hacking at the News of the World was one of its most high-profile and sensitive investigations. It therefore took concerns of leaks seriously "to ensure that the public interest is protected by ensuring there is no further potential compromise". The MPS paid tribute to The Guardian's "unwavering determination to expose the hacking scandal", and said it recognised "the important public interest of whistle-blowing and investigative reporting", which it was not seeking to prevent. "However, neither is apparent in this case. This is an investigation into the alleged gratuitous release of information that is not in the public interest." The Guardian's reporter Amelia Hill was questioned under caution earlier this month over alleged police leaks surrounding the hacking inquiry. In August, a policeman working on the probe was arrested over the unauthorised disclosure of information. The Guardian called the latest move an "unprecedented legal attack on journalists' sources". "It seems to me an extraordinarily heavy-handed use of the Official Secrets Act which is basically about espionage and international relations and things like that to defeat the privilege journalists have to protect their sources," Rusbridger told BBC radio. "What they are trying to do is to find out the source of the embarrassment of the articles -- and no doubt The Guardian's coverage was embarrassing to the police. "It looks vindictive and it looks ill-judged and disproportionate." The hacking scandal has led to the resignation of two of Murdoch's top aides and two senior police officers, and dragged in Prime Minister David Cameron after his ex-media chief, former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, was arrested Max Clifford thinks newspaper editors will be nervous after the dramatic decision to close the News of the World as he defends News International chief executive and former editor Rebekah Brooks. He describes how he spoke to her after he found out he was a victim of tabloid phone hacking and why he does not believe she was involved. The film was followed on air by a debate on the News of the World closure with Alan Johnson, Andrew Neil and Michael Portillo. There's a surprising interview from the 'Today' archive (from 2009) between James Naughtie and Will Hutton. Naughtie asks Hutton to speculate on the future of newspapers in the U.K. Hutton replies: Well I think there is going to be a transitional period. It could last 10 years, it could be as long as 20 years, in which the way we've done it over the last period is plainly going to be uneconomic and there are not going to be new ways of doing it that ARE economic, and I think that what's going to happen is that in Britain at least..I actually think the BBC..there's a grave danger it's going to become THE sole news provider in the country, with one or two organisations - maybe the Guardian/Observer, maybe News International, maybe the Daily Mail and General Trust organisations - just falling besides the wayside, and in this period actually people are turning more to the BBC. The evidence from OFCOM is that people are actually using television news and BBC radio more actually, not less. So we'll be in a danger...we'll be in a period when there'll be a monopoly provider... So, Will Hutton two years ago was predicting that the BBC was the main danger when it comes to a potential news monopoly in this country. That monopoly situation looks to be getting ever more likely. He does offer some hope though that after 15 or so years of the BBC monopoly people would be so fed up they'd be flocking willingly to pay for news online. Cold comfort.RELATED CONTENT
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The BBC is hysterical in the sustained attack on Murdoch. Give THIS a listen to if you want to hear the comrades in full battle cry. I was particularly amused when Humphrys pointed out the global reach of the evil Murdock empire. So unlike the BBC!! And if that was not enough, try THIS if you have a strong stomach. There is NO pretence of balance here, just unrestrained bias against Rupert Murdoch. Note the image they use to accompany their Jihad against NI.
Saturday, 17 September 2011
Police seek Guardian's hacking sources
According to Max Clifford-on This Week
AUDIO
1 all Fleet Street are very worried
2 the Police are very worried
3 only concentrate on News International.-(quoted at end of discussion circa 20 minutes)
Julian Assange anyone??????? Guardian!!!!! mmmmm.
Max Clifford thinks newspaper editors will be nervous after the dramatic decision to close the News of the World as he defends News International chief executive and former editor Rebekah Brooks.
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