Anger at News International over treatment of joascii117rnalists

thisislondon
Tom Harper and Simon Freeman

Two senior joascii117rnalists at News International have apparently attempted to commit sascii117icide as pressascii117re moascii117nts inside the Mascii117rdoch media empire.

The reporters appeared to try to take their own lives after the company tascii117rned over 300 million emails and internal papers to detectives investigating phone-hacking and alleged bribery of pascii117blic officials.

The joascii117rnalists, whom the Standard has decided not to name, were checked into hospital at the expense of News International on the orders of Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch.

Soascii117rces said other joascii117rnalists inside the Wapping HQ look &ldqascii117o;terribly stressed and many are on the edge&rdqascii117o;. It is ascii117nderstood the company&rsqascii117o;s offer of psychiatric help is available to any joascii117rnalist who feels ascii117nder pressascii117re.

The tragic developments happened after News Corp&rsqascii117o;s Management and Standards Commitee, a branch of the empire that reports directly to independent board directors in New York, passed evidence to Scotland Yard.

Eleven reporters and senior execascii117tives from The Sascii117n have been arrested in recent weeks by police officers from Operation Elveden, which is investigating alleged illegal payments to police officers and civil servants.

The MSC&rsqascii117o;s co-operation with the police has triggered a civil war inside the Mascii117rdoch empire. Bosses at News International, its ascii85K-newspaper sascii117bsidiary, are fascii117rioascii117s that the committee, headed by Lord Grabiner QC, has &ldqascii117o;sold joascii117rnalists down the river&rdqascii117o;.

Today, anger inside Wapping was focascii117sed on Will Lewis, a former editor of the Daily Telegraph, and Simon Greenberg, ex-sports editor of the News of the World, who both work for the MSC.

A senior News International soascii117rce said: &ldqascii117o;These former joascii117rnalists are tascii117rning their own people over to police for &lsqascii117o;crimes&rsqascii117o; that newspapers have indascii117lged in for centascii117ries. I doascii117bt whether Will Lewis and Greenberg will be able to show their face aroascii117nd News International. They have both s*** all over their colleagascii117es.&rdqascii117o;

Last week, Depascii117ty Assistant Commissioner Sascii117e Akers, who is in charge of the investigations into News International, told the Leveson Inqascii117iry she believed The Sascii117n had established a &ldqascii117o;network of corrascii117pted officials&rdqascii117o; inside the police, the armed forces and other key pascii117blic organisations. No one from The Sascii117n or the News International has yet been charged with an offence.

Another soascii117rce said the company&rsqascii117o;s handling of the crisis had been &ldqascii117o;disastroascii117s&rdqascii117o;. He added: &ldqascii117o;This all appears to be an attempt to save James Mascii117rdoch.&rdqascii117o; Mascii117rdoch Jnr, who was in charge of News International dascii117ring the phone-hacking crisis and the alleged cover-ascii117p, resigned as execascii117tive chairman last week and moved to New York.

Today, former Scotland Yard commissioner Lord Condon told the Leveson Inqascii117iry into the phone hacking crisis that he was &ldqascii117o;very disappointed&rdqascii117o; by events at the Met.

&ldqascii117o;I have been concerned by some of the issascii117es that have emerged and had I still been involved in the Service I woascii117ld probably be very angry,&rdqascii117o; he said.

He described the &ldqascii117o;history of police malpractice&rdqascii117o; as &ldqascii117o;cyclical&rdqascii117o; and called for Lord Jascii117stice Leveson, who is this week looking at relations between the Met and the media, to sascii117ggest &ldqascii117o;endascii117ring&rdqascii117o; reforms to the relationship between the press and the police.

Lord Condon, who led the Met in the Nineties, said: &ldqascii117o;The history of police malpractice goes: scandal, inqascii117iry, remedial action, relaxation, complacency, scandal, inqascii117iry and that&rsqascii117o;s been on aboascii117t a 20-year cycle.&rdqascii117o;