Phone
The companys News International unit disclosed the case after the U.K.s Guardian newspaper reported July 8 that News Corp. paid more than 1 million pounds ($1.6 million) to settle lawsuits claiming newspaper reporters used private investigators who illegally hacked into mobile phones of prominent figures.
Aside from the Taylor case and the already disclosed 2006 arrests of a reporter and private investigator for phone tapping, News International said in a statement yesterday there is no evidence that any other reporters at News of the World hacked into voicemails or told private investigators to do the same.
There was no “systemic corporate illegality” to suppress evidence, News International said. In 2006, News of the World reporter Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were arrested for intercepting phone messages left for members of Prince Charles staff. They were jailed in 2007.
The Guardian in an e-mailed statement yesterday called on News Corp. to publicly release documents related to the Taylor case and documents from Scotland Yard with evidence from the Goodman and Mulcaire case.
Regarding the Taylor case, “neither this information nor any story arising from it was ever published,” News International said. “Once senior executives became aware of this, immediate steps were taken to resolve Mr. Taylors complaint.”
The Guardian reported Taylor was paid 700,000 pounds to settle the case. Alice Macandrew, a spokeswoman for News International, declined to disclose details of the steps taken.
Murdoch Comment
News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch said in a July 8 interview that he wasnt aware of any payment made to settle legal cases in which the companys reporters may have been involved in criminal activity.
News Corp. denied in its statement yesterday that News of the World executives “knowingly sanctioned” payments to illegally hack into phones and that police found evidence of staff hacking into thousands of mobile phones.
London police said July 9 they wouldnt reopen a prior investigation into phone tapping by the News of the World.
News Corp., based in New York, said in yesterdays release that it delayed making a statement until all the facts were analyzed and checked internally and externally.