Political Fall Out to the 'Hacking the Dead' Scandal

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

PMQs is going to be interesting today and there's a special debate planned as well. Politicians and big news organisations make no secret of their close ties. The Coulson connection is doubtless going to be made awkward for the PM by his enemies... although at least Coulson was one of the few that actually resigned over the original allegations. The committe that investigated at the time was lied to. Now the finger is pointing at the police taking money for information. Cable, caught saying he would oppose Murdoch over the Sky bid, now sounds very sensible.

Any thoughts?

Didn't Cameron spend Christmas day with Rebekah Brooks at her home? I thought they were great friends.
Would love the fall out to include his scalp...

Cameron's simply the one who's PM when the shit finally hits the fan. Blair & the rest of the 'undignified sycophants' (Hugh Grant) must be feeling particularly lucky today. Milliband, for all his posturing now, was happy to attend a Murdoch party just 3 weeks ago. They're all neck-deep in it.

Didn't Blair fly half-way round the world to press palms with Murdoch and get him on board for his 97 campaign?

yes, Blair did. He sold his soul to the devil many times over & has managed to walk away unscathed. Canny man.

and as regards Cable, I wish he'd kept his big mouth shut. I wonder what the public reaction will be if this BSkyB deal still goes through?

It's a shame that hacking wasn't properly dealt with when it happened (circa 2002 - the first prosecution in 2007) - self regulation FAIL, and clearly no appetite to ensure thorough investigation then.

Here's the latest from the BBC - on day of Coulson's arrest. It quotes DC who was speaking this morning.

I agree meditrina. I'd like to know why, so long after the event, it turns out there are 4000 names in the notebooks and not just the few minor celebs and royals that we were told about initially. In 2007 it could be attributed to a rogue reporter and be believed. When 4000 names are involved, it's a completely different matter.

I thought DC's speech was interesting. Saying he would have accepted Wade's resignation is very important. And saying he still considers Coulson a friend is a nice touch. Would have been very easy to stand up and say words to the effect of 'Andy who?'

I think its the right time (as Hugh Grant put so eloquently) to bring in some proper regulation of the press.

I'm all for freedom of speech but the idea of self regulation was dodgy to start with and now it's obvious to everyone it's not working.

I'm getting to the point that I hate to say it but we need some proper privacy laws. If it means that some politician's footballers get away with a few affairs so that people like the 7/7 victims and the Dowler's don't have to suffer from the hands of these heartless wankers then that's a price I'm willing to pay.

niceguy. Privacy laws could also incorporate politicians, I would not like to see the freedoms of the press have curtailed. It should be common sense and respect that they don't hack into the Dowlers, Kate McCann etc. We should be very careful about curtailing freeedom of speech and the press.

This is an interesting article from a woman who's of the opinion that the hacking culture at the NOTW was not necessarily a thing of the past. Worth reading.

bobthebuddha... I'm absolutely certain that the tactics employed by the NOTW weren't confined to one or two reporters or even one or two newspapers. People who left the NOTW at the time will now be working at other publications and they'll just be more careful about covering their tracks.

There are lots of separate issues here but my heart sinks at yet another example of knee-jerk politics and scapegoatism.

Should there be new privacy laws? Yes, imo, but they need to differentiate between a footballer who has an affair which affects no-one but the people involved, and a politician who steals public money.

Should any one media group ever be allowed to grow to the size of Murdoch's empire? No. We need effective regulation - stronger competition laws maybe? And should the same laws be applied to Tesco's and other global companies? If so, can we do it in the UK when they are unregulated elsewhere?

Should the individuals at the top be punished? They should definitely be identified, their connections with politicians should be unravelled and they should be made to guarantee that they will obey both the spirit and the letter of the new laws.

Should the police be prosecuted for accepting bribes? Of course, if they did.

However, it's about more than whether or not Rupert Murdoch and Rebecca Wade knew about the phone tapping. Each individual reporter has his/her own conscience. Why were these switched off? Because of their desire for money and personal advancement. How can these desires ever be so powerful that they are allowed to overrule every decent human instinct? How has this selfishness been able to grow to this extent?

And what is the responsibility of the general public in all this? These journalists constantly whine that if there wasn't a desire for this sort of information they wouldn't feel compelled to go raking about in people's rubbish bins for it. Isn't there some truth in that? When you see a particularly intimate piece about some celebrity, do you ever think 'I wouldn't want to share that information with the nation' or 'I wonder how the reporter got hold of this information'? I never used to, I must admit, but I shall now.