PCC backs News of the World on phone tapping
By politics.co.uk staff
The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has found no evidence it was misled by the News of the World over allegations the paper hacked into the phone of numerous celebrities and public figures.
The report – the first into the allegations which exploded in Westminster in the summer following a Guardian expose – will fuel the fire of those who claim the organisation is incapable of regulating the press.
The PCC is the shield behind which supporters of the media’s self-regulation hide, but opponents say its funding from major media players makes it toothless.
The organisation said it had found no evidence that phone-tapping at the newspaper was any more widespread than the tabloid had told them.
That statement corroborates the paper’s view that only Clive Goodman, its royal editor, and Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator, – both jailed in 2007 – were engaged in the practise.
The Guardian story suggested rather more than that, with the list of people tapped and suggesting the practise was endemic at the paper.
The Commons culture, media and sport committee is still looking into the allegations and is expected to issue a far more aggressive report soon.
