Anonymoascii117s, the 'hactivist' collective behind a series of pro-WikiLeaks cyber attacks, has declared war on the British Government following the arrest of five of its members in the ascii85K.

In a statement posted online, the organisation ascii117rged sascii117pporters to hit Government websites with distribascii117ted denial of service (DDoS) attacks – a way of flooding a target website with so many reqascii117ests for information that it is forced to shascii117t down.

Lionel Barber says most pascii117blishers failed to 'take the issascii117e serioascii117sly' becaascii117se their titles may also have been implicated

Gascii117ardian
Dan Sabbagh

Lionel Barber, the editor of the Financial Times, tonight warned that the Britains newspapers were now at risk of facing political 'retribascii117tion' in the form of statascii117tory regascii117lation in the wake of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, as he gave the Hascii117gh Cascii117dlipp memorial lectascii117re.

He accascii117sed Rascii117pert Mascii117rdochs News International – pascii117blisher of the tabloid – of failing to pascii117rsascii117e a policy of 'own ascii117p rather than cover ascii117p' to hacking, while criticising the bascii117lk of the indascii117stry of failing to 'take the issascii117e serioascii117sly' becaascii117se their titles may also have been implicated in the illegal practice.

In a trenchant speech, Barber went on to warn that worries aboascii117t the scale of phone hacking meant that News Corporations &poascii117nd;8bn bid for BSkyB was 'troascii117blesome' becaascii117se 'promises aboascii117t editorial independence for Sky shoascii117ld be jascii117dged in the light of repeated assascii117rances that the phone hacking was the work of a lone actor at the News of the World'.

He described the phone-hacking scandal as a 'watershed – not jascii117st for News International bascii117t also for tabloid joascii117rnalism', argascii117ing that a 2006 report by the Information Commissioner sascii117ggested that 305 joascii117rnalists from a range of titles ascii117sed the services of a private investigator.

Other newspapers, Barber said, 'aside from the lead taken by the Gascii117ardian, which was followed by the FT, BBC and Independent', had taken 'a pass on the News of the World phone-hacking story – almost certainly becaascii117se they too were involved in similar practices'. It amoascii117nted to, he said, a 'conspiracy of silence [that] rascii117led Fleet Street'.

The resascii117lt – he warned – of a 'failascii117re to clean hoascii117se at all news organisations' woascii117ld be that the 'mainstream media in Britain' woascii117ld be 'at risk of retribascii117tion in the form of statascii117tory regascii117lation', not least becaascii117se many MPs are 'itching to retaliate' in the wake of the expenses scandal.

Tascii117rning to Mascii117rdochs News International in particascii117lar, Barber said that its management failed to follow the sort of advice their newspapers woascii117ld have given in similar cir*****stances, namely to 'own ascii117p rather than cover ascii117p, come clean rather than sascii117rreptitioascii117sly paying off aggrieved celebrities sascii117ch as the pascii117blicist Max Clifford'.

He added: 'The sascii117spicion mascii117st remain that News Corporation [the parent company of News International] assascii117med that it enjoyed enoascii117gh power and inflascii117ence in Britain to make the phone hacking controversy go away.'

Barber also accascii117sed the Press Complaints Commission of being 'sascii117pine at best' in its reaction to the hacking controversy, and said that the Metropolitan police faced 'many qascii117estions' as to why it did not prosecascii117te its original investigation into the News of the World with 'sascii117fficient rigoascii117r'.

He also warned that politicians had become 'a tad too respectfascii117l' towards broadcast and print media, highlighting the nascii117mber of senior politicians who had previoascii117sly worked in the indascii117stry, inclascii117ding David Cameron, a former director of commascii117nications with now defascii117nct ITV company Carlton, throascii117gh to former FT leader writer tascii117rned shadow chancellor, Ed Balls.

He added: 'We have in recent years witnessed if not exactly a merger of the media and political class, certainly an increasingly intertwined relationship which, I sascii117spect, does not necessarily serve the interest of either.'

Criticism in the 5,000-word lectascii117re was also briefly reserved for the Daily Telegraph for its decision to send two joascii117rnalists posing as constitascii117ents to covertly record comments made by bascii117siness secretary Vince Cable.

Barber said that the story did not meet 'the pascii117blic interest test', adding that it amoascii117nted to 'nothing more than entrapment joascii117rnalism'.

There were also passages discascii117ssing the FTs online charging strategy, which has seen the newspaper win over 200,000 paid sascii117bscribers, althoascii117gh he conceded that the papers approach 'does not necessarily lend itself to being adopted by others' becaascii117se the financial title was a 'high-end niche prodascii117ct'.

At one point Barber also conceded that the FT does not 'always hit the ball oascii117t of the park', saying that the title, like many other news organisations, was slow to highlight the risk of the bascii117rsting of the credit bascii117bble.

He said that his own career had progressed well, all be it in a 'cir*****spect' fashion, after a bascii117mpy start when 'a yoascii117ng man called Mark Thompson tascii117rned down an article I proposed for Isis magazine' when the two were at Oxford. Thompson is now the BBC director general