This morning the next phase of the Murdoch story commenced, with the formal procedures of the Leveson Inquiry. By legal necessity has been split into two parts The first covering press standards in general, before a second part deals specifically with the situation at News International. The second part cannot occur till after the court cases have worked their way through the system.
Today started with an opening statement by the council to the Inquiry which was interesting. Amongst various pieces of information we had that from Mulcaires notes there are 28 identifiable NOTW journalists, from one set of figures there were 268 journalists employed by the newspaper, so that means that we are talking of at least 10% of the staff of the paper were involved in ordering information from one private investigator. On top of this we know of at least three more investigators who were employed to do things by NOTW reporters.
beyond this more detail of the Mulcaire notes were announced
Phone hacking: 'nearly 30 NI staff named in Glenn Mulcaire notes' | Media | guardian.co.uk
Mulcaire received a total of 2,266 requests from News International journalists, Jay said, 2,142 of which were made by four unnamed reporters. The most prolific of them made 1,453 of those requests.
A total of 690 audio tapes were also recovered from Mulcaire's office, Jay revealed, and there was a record of 586 recordings of voicemail messages intended for 64 individuals. The evidence was seized by Metropolitan police officers during a raid in 2006.
Mulcaire's 11,000 pages of notes mentioned 5,795 names, he confirmed, who could be potential phone-hacking victims.
Further to this they are saying that the evidence suggests that phone hacking covers a wider period of time than was expected.
Phone hacking: 'nearly 30 NI staff named in Glenn Mulcaire notes' | Media | guardian.co.uk
Jay also said the inquiry had seen documents that suggest Mulcaire was hacking into phone messages ago as early as May 2001.
It had been thought until today that the earliest phone hacking by Mulcaire occurred in 2002. The new date is potentially significant because it falls before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
This is something that should most definitely shake the US authorities out of their torpor. previous to now there has been no evidence pointing to hacking happening at the time of 9/11, but you would think that it would be impossible for investigation not to be announced.
There is also a passing remark covering concealed video filming, surveillance and other similar events, of which more will no doubt appear during the upcoming civil actions. Some of the statements given by individuals involved may come to be shown as economical with the truth more than they have been already.
Other details that appeared today is the news that several other UK newspapers were also included in Mulcaires notes. The Sun being the weekday Murdoch paper was the most obvious one, but there is also a name linked to the Daily Mirror, the UK's more Left leaning tabloid in amongst those identified. This could also be major, as depending on the timeframe when this occurred it could drag the editor of that paper into the frame, and that editor would be Piers Morgan, if it occurred when it is thought to have.
Tomorrow we have opening statements from at least the first couple of Newspaper organisations. but the true meat of the evidence will not start to appear till Thursday or Friday, when witnesses appear to start to give evidence. As yet there is no announced running order for these, but apart from a steady stream of celebrities (Hugh Grant, Sienna Miller and J.K. Rowling amongst them) no doubt there will interesting and outraged evidence from non celebrities, freelance journalists who observed from the edge, and people like Steve Nott who thinks he was the start of the whole thing (His webpage here) Although he says there is more to this than is on his site, which will come out during the evidence he is to give.
The later part of the days evidence consisted of a barrister for the Crown Prosecution service and Metropolitan police. His opening statement covered the timetable of the Inquiry, and hence the legal limits placed on what was allowed, plus what other investigations were upcoming
BBC News - Leveson inquiry: Hacking 'link to other papers'
He also spoke of the balance that needed to be struck between the press and the police.
"A healthy relationships between press and police can be mutually beneficial, but too close a relationship can, I would suggest, distort proper judgement by both parties. And there are competing considerations which do not always militate towards a common outlook."
Hearings will later examine the extent of unlawful conduct by the press, and the police's initial hacking investigation.
Lord Leveson actually started the day by informing the media that he was watching,
Phone hacking: 'nearly 30 NI staff named in Glenn Mulcaire notes' | Media | guardian.co.uk
Leveson said he had "absolutely no wish" to stifle freedom of speech and expression, and that the inquiry would monitor media coverage to see if it appears that anyone who speaks out is being "targeted adversely".
So any concentration upon people giving evidence by the tabloids will be seen as evidence for the Inquiry. He also informed that there will be provision for whistleblowers to give evidence under "Protected Measures" if they are afraid of criticising their employers or speaking truthfully about press ethics.