From Private Eye:
IN MARCH Rupert Murdoch met several of the Sun journalists who have been arrested over allegations of paying public officials. The way they were being treated by police, he told them as several tape recorders secreted around the room ran, was “just outrageous…
“I don’t know of anybody that did anything that wasn’t being done across Fleet Street and wasn’t the culture. We’re being picked on, I think... We’re talking about payments for news tips from cops. That’s been going on for a hundred years, absolutely… It was the culture of Fleet Street.”
...
“I’m sure we’ve made mistakes… We were working under the belief that the police were about to invade the building and take all the computers out and just put us out of business totally… If you want to accuse me of a certain amount of panic, there’s some truth in that. We might have gone too far in protecting ourselves, and you were the victims.”
http://www.private-eye.co.uk/...
I don't know what the laws are in the UK regarding the taping of conversations if only one party is aware of the tape, etc., but this feels like big news.
Remember, when Rupert appeared before Parliament with his son, James, he claimed he didn't know about the hacking and bribery because others in the company covered it up from him.
But here he is talking to a group of his reporters who have been arrested for activity that he condoned/encouraged - so he can't lie to them. So he basically says, "hey, we all knew everyone was doing it!" He assures them that he will stand up for them even if they are convicted.
He also tells them not to worry because the MSC (News Corp's in-house scandal investigation group) had stopped handing over evidence to the police. They "haven't given them anything in months".
Yikes. Gotta love the irony that Rupert's undoing may well be thanks to a secret recording. Cheers.