Entries from November 2010 ↓

It’s taken  over 4 months to respond to a simple request for an internal review. The Information Commissioner’s Office has issued guidance stating that they consider 20 working days from the date of the request for review to be acceptable, and in no case should the total time taken exceed 40 working days.

And guess what? The government say it is in the public interest for you not to know the contents of the ministerial wine cellar!

Andy Coulson was interviewed as a witness by police on Thursday but that information was not released to the media until after the deadline for the Saturday papers.

Today we see the Government announcing a new initiative – “the Whitehall hit squad” first thing in the morning. As ever, this is before they make a statement to the House of Commons. This is an attempt to set the media agenda for the week.

It will probably work. Why? Spin, fear and the indifference of some senior lobby journalists who are key to deciding if a story is “important”.

For example, we still have no comment from the BBC’s chief political reporter Nick Robinson on the Coulson affair – even when Murdoch is trying to buy BSkyB. If you take time to think about it, it’s at best an odd omission.

The PM’s personally appointed Director of Communications is interviewed by the police and Nick Robinson doesn’t report or comment on it.

That’s why it’s up to you to make sure your own personal networks are kept informed. Please send the link to this story to your colleagues and friends.

Mr McMullan told Sky News:

“It seems there is one rule for Andy Coulson, who has got David Cameron standing next to him, and another rule for the journalists who are being thrown to the wolves.”

Mr McMullan told Sky News: “I think there is now such a weight of numbers of people who have experienced what happened first-hand that it is going to be very hard to ignore, which is why I am perplexed that Andy Coulson keeps making absolute denials about absolutely everything.

“Surely the best course would be to say ‘Some of my investigative journalists hacked into people’s phones because that is the best way to get a story, a decent investigation in the public interest about matters of corruption’.

“Why is he turning his back on us when he should be standing up for journalism and journalists?”

Mr McMullan added: “I initially stood up for the principle of hacking into people’s phones if it is in the public interest and I expected someone like my former boss, Andy Coulson, to back me up on that.

“I have now got a letter from the Metropolitan Police asking me to come in under caution and yet they have invited him in as a witness.”

He said: “Since this first broke, lots of my former colleagues have rung me up and we have spoken about it and I think I have counted 13 people who have either said ‘Yes, I transcribed celebrities’ messages and gave them to Andy’ or ‘I specifically hacked into a politician who we may have thought was being corrupt on his direct say-so’.”

Mr McMullan confirmed he had now submitted written evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee, saying: “The parliamentary committee investigating this has asked for my submission, which I emailed them yesterday.

“Do I have to lie to them or is it not time to say the truth, which is that, yes, I hacked into people’s phones, which is just one small tool
in an armoury of tools that an investigative journalist will use?”