The New York Times today unveiled the results of a five-month investigation into the News of the World phone-tapping allegations, revealing that the former editor Andy Coulson (now, of course, the Prime Minister’s media adviser) “actively encouraged” his reporter to make the interceptions.
My colleague George Eaton has covered the story in more detail but I just wanted to highlight one aspect: the findings have received very little attention from other newspapers.
Aside from the Guardian, which published a full account of the investigation, no other national paper gave it any space. The Times, the Telegraph, the Independent, the Daily Mail, the Sun and the Mirror all failed to cover the story at all. Considering that the investigation uncovers a widespread culture of phone-hacking at a major Sunday paper, with one source saying “Everyone knew. The office cat knew”, I would have thought that Fleet Street would have more to say about the low tactics employed by one of its number.
Of course, two other big stories were receiving a great deal of attention today, with further analysis of Blair’s memoirs and the resignation of William Hague’s special adviser occupying most journalists.
But the Times front page today featured neither story. Instead, a story entitled “Hawking: God did not create the universe” dominated, revealing that Stephen Hawking has changed his mind about the possibility of divine involvement in quantum physics. Hours later, the paper’s website is still covering the reaction to this news.
For the Murdoch-owned papers included in the list above, the motivation to ignore this story isn’t hard to fathom. Just as the Times recently ignored Mark Thompson’s comments about Sky, Murdoch’s other titles will be under orders not to inflate the criticism of their sister-publication.
But the silence on the Coulson story from the rest is almost eerie. Papers are usually desperate to expose each other’s failures. Why are they holding back?
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