Press Council Complaints Commission report on phone message tapping allegations — November 9, 2009 — in light of The Guardian‘s June 2009 headline “Revealed: Murdoch’s £1m bill for hiding dirty tricks”:

“…13.3 Indeed, having reviewed the matter, the Commission could not help but conclude that The Guardian’s stories did not quite live up to the dramatic billing they were initially given. Perhaps this was because the sources could not be tested; or because Nick Davies was unable to shed further light on the suggestions of a broader conspiracy at the newspaper; or because there was significant evidence to the contrary from the police; or because so much of the information was old and had already appeared in the public domain (or a combination of these factors). Whatever the reason, there did not seem to be anything concrete to support the implication that there had been a hitherto concealed criminal conspiracy at the News of the World to intrude into people’s privacy.”

James Murdoch, earlier this year, before being evacuated out of Britain: “You talk about a reputation crisis — actually the business is doing really well. It shows what we were able to do is really put this problem in a box.”

How do you keep the headline “News of the World Hacks the Dead” in a box?

This story has now united thousands of British cast members, alive or otherwise — celebrities, politicians, royal family members, football stars, child murder victims, families of victims of crime, victims of the 7/7 bombings and fallen British servicemen — with one commonality: they’ve all been eavesdropped on by Murdoch’s News International.

But this isn’t just a gross violation on the part of a global media company. It’s a failure that goes to the heart of the British Press Council, the British government and the police. The pillars of Britain’s power structure were complicit in, if not covering up, then an obstinate refusal to dig deeper into News’ grave robbing.

canberra-calling.jpg

CANBERRA CALLING

Every Thursday, Crikey Editor Sophie Black and Crikey‘s Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane will talk the week’s events in the national capital.

Visit the podcast page on our website at 4pm AEST to download or listen.