The Phone Hacking Scandal

Abstract

On Monday, 4 July 2011, the Guardian first revealed that an investigator working for Britain’s (then) top-selling Sunday newspaper, the News of the World (NOTW), had hacked into the cell phone of the murdered teenager Milly Dowler. There was immediate public outrage and a huge amount of media coverage. Two days later, corporate lobbyists, public affairs directors, broadcasters, producers and politicians came together in an exclusive Westminster Media Forum to debate “industry priorities for the new Communications Bill.” In the introductory session, leading figures from Britain’s top media companies all agreed that the forthcoming legislation needed to focus purely on strategies for stimulating economic growth and promoting deregulation. There was not a single dissenting voice on the platform. I asked from the floor whether, given the breaking public scandal concerning phone hacking, there were any noneconomic priorities, for example the promotion of ethical behavior, that needed to be a policy focus.