[July 21, 2011] News Analysis: Phone hacking saga taints British media, police and politicians Tweet London, Jul 21, 2011 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The phone-hacking scandal looked set to continue to dominate Britain's news agenda, despite Prime Minister David Cameron delaying the parliament's summer holiday to answer questions from elected lawmakers. The scandal has ignited a firestorm of criticism over the past three weeks, with a series of serious revelations about journalistic standards, alleged police corruption and cozy relationships between politicians and News International (NI), the company at the centre of the allegations. It has so far also seen the resignation of Britain's top policeman Paul Stephenson for employing a former NI executive as a part-time media consultant. In addition, one of his most senior lieutenants has also resigned for failing to properly investigate phone-hacking allegations. Police handling of the scandal has also has been severely criticized. Public faith in police independence and integrity has been damaged and there could be worse revelations to follow. Police and journalists are also awaiting with some trepidation further allegations that senior police officers in the Metropolitan Police, London's police force and the premier force in Britain, took substantial payments from journalists for exclusive information. One claim made is that the private mobile phone numbers of senior members of the royal family may have been bought by a newspaper owned by NI. OUTRAGE AT MEDIA An angry public holds the British press in low regard and they face regulatory change, perhaps at the hands of politicians. It is the media in general, and newspaper journalists in particular, who have suffered the most serious damage to their reputation, and it was the fact that journalists at the NI newspaper the News of the World had authorized the hacking of the phone of a murdered schoolgirl that began the storm of criticism which has fuelled the current frenzied pitch of the scandal. The News of the World, a 168-year-old newspaper that made a healthy profit and accounted for 40 percent of the Sunday newspaper market, was closed by its owner NI, under the orders of Rupert Murdoch, the owner of NI's parent company News Corporation (NC). Murdoch's closure gambit seemed to be a failed bid in damage control as the News of the World was a very small part of his massive international media operations. The print industry, in any case, is known to be in decline. Murdoch had aimed to preserve his bid for full control of British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), which was about to be allowed by regulators. He is already the largest shareholder at BSkyB, with a 39.1 percent stake, and full control would have netted him tens of millions of pounds each year. The deal fell through in the face of massive public outrage and in the unusual agreement of all three major political parties, who united to condemn the sale in the House of Commons. Murdoch withdrew the deal, and it remains to be seen if he will be able to resuscitate it when the scandal has abated and the political atmosphere is more amenable in the months or years to come. What is certain is that the regulation of the printed press in Britain, whose ethics are self-regulated, is set to change. The Press Complaints Commission, which currently overseas enforcement of the regulation, is widely seen to have been ineffective and Cameron has announced an inquiry. Regulation through law looks a distinct possibility in the future. Several journalists have been arrested as part of the investigation into phone-hacking, and others are likely to be in the future. Court cases are likely to follow, along with prison sentences. The most high-ranking arrest so far is of Andy Coulson, the former deputy editor and editor of the News of the World who quit his job in 2007 when one of his journalists and a private investigator were jailed for hacking the phone of Prince William, third in line to the throne. Coulson was employed three years later by David Cameron as his media chief when he became prime minister. It is this link with NI, and what it says about his decision making, which is causing Cameron a great deal of political trouble. Coulson resigned from his job under Cameron earlier this year, and was arrested and questioned by police just over a week ago. PROBLEMS FOR MURDOCH'S MEDIA EMPIRE Murdoch's position as head of NI -- which controls the top mass market paper The Sun, the prestigious The Times, and leading Sunday newspaper The Sunday Times as well as satellite news channel Sky News -- has given him unrivaled influence over and access to British politicians for 30 years. His papers supported the Conservative party during the 1970s and 1980s when it won three general elections on the trot under Margaret Thatcher. As the Conservatives became unpopular in the 1990s, Murdoch adroitly switched support to Tony Blair's Labor party, which went on to win three general elections in a row. His influence has been strongly felt at the highest level all through that period, but now leading politicians have found their critical voice, and they feel they no longer need to pay tribute at Murdoch's 'court'. For Murdoch and his media empire, the fear is that further revelations will cause more damage and that the phone-hacking scandal will damage his operations in other countries, like the United States and Australia. The British scandal may also have implications for Murdoch's wider and much larger interests in the United States and elsewhere, which includes the Fox News channel. Questions being asked over whether News of the World journalists hacked into the phones of victims of the 9/11 terror attack and if alleged payments were made to British police to obtain these phone numbers could mean NI executives committed crimes punishable under American law as well. POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS Cameron's links with Coulson and his decision to employ him have caused embarrassment and have lost him credibility. In a bid to contain the issue before the summer holiday period, Cameron returned early from a government trip to Africa and addressed parliament on what should have been its first day of holiday. He answered more than 200 questions, and although main opposition leader Ed Miliband has gained considerable political capital from the events and has improved his popularity with the public, he failed to hurt the prime minister during the long debate. It was revealed that Cameron has links with senior NI executive Rebekah Brooks, who was editor of the News of the World when the phone hacking took place but who denies knowledge of it. She is a neighbour of Cameron in his Oxfordshire constituency. Cameron, along with Miliband, regularly attended NI parties where she was present, and Brooks was invited to Cameron's birthday party last year and also attended a party at his home this Christmas. Brooks was arrested over the weekend as part of the phone-hacking investigation, and Cameron's links with her are now looking increasingly embarrassing. His enemies will seek to prove that he had inappropriate conversations with NI executives against the backdrop of the BSkyB bid, and even if they fail to prove this they will continue to make as much capital as possible out of Cameron's embarrassing position. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg summed it up at a press conference on Thursday morning. Clegg, leader of the smallest major political party the Liberal Democrats, said, "Entirely innocent members of the public and their families -- not the rich, not the famous, not the powerful -- had their privacy abused in an outrageous way at a point of great vulnerability and anguish and anxiety for them." "Their faith in really important institutions in British public life, notably the police, which people rely on for their own sense of safety and security, has been shaken." "People's low opinion and cynicism about politicians and politics has probably just become a whole lot lower and more cynical still." [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]