Do you remember the British phone hacking scandal that was revealed a few years ago? The employees, I mean journalists, of the now defunct tabloid, News of the World, published by News International, a subsidiary of the then British-based and wholly American-owned newspaper publisher News Corp, were accused of phone hacking, police bribery and exercising improper influence in the pursuit of news stories.
The scandal in fact goes back to 2005. After a story on a knee injury suffered by the Prince William was published, royal aides got suspicious that their voicemails were being intercepted. Their complaints sparked a police investigation. At first, News International claimed that the phone hacking was done by one reporter alone. In January 2007, the editor and a private investigator were jailed for hacking.
However, an investigative report by The Guardian revealed in 2009 that the journalists of the News of the World hacked the phones of up to 3,000 pop stars, sports stars and individuals in the government, police, military and among the royals, which means the phone hacking was more widespread. The police confirmed that as well, but the story somehow died down, possibly because of bribery. They did not open another investigation until 2011. In January, the police opened a new investigation into the allegations of phone hacking after several individuals including George Galloway, a member of parliament, claimed their phones were hacked. In weeks, a lot more potential victims of hacking were identified. Accordingly, not one or two journalists, but a desk staffed by a number of journalists were found to be involved in phone hacking. In July, it was revealed that phones of a murdered schoolgirl, victims of the 2005 London bombings and relatives of deceased soldiers were also hacked.
The result was a public outcry because it was not a matter of press freedom. There was a huge difference between journalism, even tabloid journalism, and what they did. As you recall, there were several high-profile resignations including CEOs. Several policemen were also involved the scandal for accepting bribes. Over 90 people were arrested and 26 of them were formally charged. The majority were journalists. After 168 years of publication, the News of the World was closed.
The whole story is quite interesting and I strongly recommend to google more and remember it, especially during these days while the Gülen Movement is trying to sell what's happening in Turkey as an attack on the freedom of press. The Gülenists detained in the latest raids, including journalists, present themselves as innocent victims being silenced by the government. I will not tell you about the latest developments as Daily Sabah has already published the details of the recent Dec. 14 operation.
It was revealed months ago that the Gülen Movement, which tried to take the place of the old "deep state" in Turkey for a few years, monitored the phone calls of more than 7,000 people including Turkey's top politicians and bureaucrats. Let alone journalist-police bribery relation in the U.K., Gülenist media reported an interim decision on the Oda TV case 21 minutes before the judge's declaration two years ago, which is evidence that the Gülenist so-called news media network is not interested in journalism. Let alone improperly influencing the pursuit of news stories, it is already known by the Turkish public that Gülenists first wrote a scenario, then published it on their media network and set their plot into motion. If this is a journalistic activity then we should redefine journalism. And if Prince William's knee injury could spark a police investigation, then nesting in the government, establishing a shadow state and wiretapping thousands of people necessitates something.
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