The NY Times today has put the spotlight on a story which the Murdoch empire clearly hoped would go away, but today threatens to engulf them in scores of lawsuits from the rich and famous. According to the story, the illegal actions by reporters for the British tabloid News of the World, included hacking into the voicemail accounts of Princes William and Harry.
The story dates back several years and the story today seems clear that these activities were widespread and common by Murdoch reporters and editors (and other publications) and that Scotland Yard, when it began looking at the evidence, decided to confine its investigation to the two reporters involved with the hack into the princes' phone accounts.
By early January 2006, Scotland Yard had confirmed their suspicions. An unambiguous trail led to Clive Goodman, the News of the World reporter who covered the royal family, and to a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, who also worked for the paper. The two men had somehow obtained the PIN codes needed to access the voice mail of the royal aides.
The full story is a long one, but the long and short of it is that while both the Murdoch chain and Scotland Yard were doing their best to cover it up or ignore it, as more and more celebrities and politicians in Britain got word of what had happened, they began demanding police files to determine whether they too had had their accounts invaded....and the records showed that in scores of instances, they had.
The Murdoch empire, while continually trying to claim that the actions were confined to the two reporters identified with the hacks of the princes' accounts, have quietly paid out sums of over a million dollars in several cases. And this could be the tip of an avalanche as word of how widespread the practice was becomes more public. According to the Times account, reporters said it was common knowledge that accounts were being hacked by reporters and private investigators. As one put it, "Hell even the office cat knew that." Pressures from senior editors to "get the story" were intense and reporters clearly understood that you did "whatever it takes," to do that.
Murdoch's empire is a huge one and extremely wealthy, but one wonders if this could be big enough to force a huge financial payout to settle all potential claims. At the same time, all that money and clear political influence on Murdoch's part makes him an extremely tough adversary. He didn't get where he is today without knowing who to pay off and who to curry favor with.