Phone hacking and bribery: Justice and journalism both on trial

doi:http://journals.communicationethics.net/article.php?id=00059

Nicholas Jones

At the Old Bailey trial which began in late October 2013 into phone hacking and the alleged bribery of public officials there were repeated references to payments which were said to have been made to contacts and sources who supplied information to the Sun and the News of the World. This paper explores the culture of paying cash to get facts to support a reporter's story line - a practice which splits journalistic opinion

Keywords: phone hacking, bribery, journalism on trial, Leveson

Note on the contributor

After starting as an editorial assistant on trade newspapers in 1959, Nicholas Jones signed a four-year indentured apprenticeship with the News, Portsmouth, in 1961. He was awarded the proficiency certificate and diploma of the National Council for the Training of Journalists. In 1966 he was appointed local government correspondent of the Oxford Mail; joined The Times as a parliamentary and political correspondent in 1968; and in 1972 became a news producer at BBC Radio Leicester, the start of a thirty-year career with BBC radio and television.