Senior ranks of Murdoch’s The Sun arrested over corruption allegations
News Corp’s problems in the UK have returned to the top of the agenda after several senior members of staff at tabloid newspaper The Sun were arrested over the weekend.
The Sun is the daily sister title to the now defunct News of The World which was closed down by Rupert Murdoch over phone hacking allegations last year.
Among the five staff arrested, reports The Guardian, were the newspaper’s chief reporter, deputy editor, picture editor, deputy news editor and chief foreign correspondent. They were arrested by police investigation allegations of corrupt payments to officials. A police officer and a member of the armed forces were also detained.
The arrests are understood to have come as a result of information provided to the police by the company itself.
The arrests has returned the issue to the top of the British news agenda with both The Observer and the Independent on Sunday splashing on it today.
The arrests came just a few days after four current and previous staff were also arrested including the paper’s former crime editor, former managing editor, the current executive editor and a news desk staffer.
The seniority and number of editorial staff arrested is globally unprecedented. The scandal has so far seen a total of 30 arrests.
News Corp’s British operation News International has denied speculation that The Sun may also be closed down. CEO Tom Mockridge – a Kiwi who has worked in Australia – said in a memo to staff: “You should know that I have had a personal assurance today from Rupert Murdoch about his total commitment to continue to own and publish The Sun newspaper. Murdoch was reported to be flying to the UK to take charge of the new crisis.
News Corp also owns News Limited in Australia.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Piers Morgan must be a nervous chap these days.
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Suddenly, TEN looks like a nice safe spot for Lachlan to park his corporate behind for awhile, no?
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Closing down The News of the World sets a very interesting precedent…
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Wondering if Rupert is studying the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act? And if he is, whether he might be considering a change of career.
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And don’t forget the email chain that James Murdoch ‘didn’t read’
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How can you blame him Busty St Clair, I’m sure he would have got around to it if the email system had not undergone an “e-mail stabilization and modernization program” in which it was ‘routinely’ deleted.
Its a wonder they can manage to host a website online, news archive and photo gallery archive+sales when they cant even keep emails for more than 3 years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02.....wanted=all
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