Caithness anger at Murdoch hacking scandal
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HUNDREDS of e-mails have been received by local MP John Thurso over the News International phone-hacking scandal.
The Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP yesterday described the public response as “phenomenal”.
“I have had hundreds of e-mails on this subject from people in villages and towns throughout the constituency,” he said.
“They have expressed their extreme displeasure at what’s going on and want to make sure that the Murdoch bid for BSkyB does not go ahead. It is clear a nerve has been touched. The response has been phenomenal and is one of the biggest I have had in my time as a member of parliament.”
He argued that the “match that lit the blue paper” were the allegations regarding the hacking of the mobile phone belonging to murdered school girl Milly Dowler.
The 13-year-old was abducted as she made her way home from school in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey on March 21, 2002.
The News of the World – one of the papers in the Murdoch stable until it was closed down earlier this month – was accused of hiring a private investigator to hack into her voicemail to try and get a story while she was still missing.
“People felt that was disgusting and when it emerged that phones belonging to victims of war in Afghanistan and terrorist attack had been hacked into as well the whole mood changed,” said the MP, who was a member of the culture, media and sport committee when it interviewed Rebekah Wade – now Brooks – in 2003 about press intrusion. She recently resigned as chief executive of News International.
John Thurso pointed out that it had been thought previously that phone hacking had been confined to a number of celebrities but then it became evident that thousands of people were involved and it was being done on “an industrial scale”.
He said the atmosphere in the House of Commons is generally one of relief that “the burden of kowtowing to the Murdoch press has been lifted” although he stressed that the Lib Dems have consistently argued that News International had too big a concentration of the media.
“There is also considerable disbelief about the sheer scale of the phone hacking,” said the MP who thinks that Prime Minister David Cameron will be “damaged but not sunk” by the scandal.
Mr Cameron appointed Andy Coulson – a former editor of the News of the World – as his director of communications although Coulson later resigned from the post.
“A lot will depend on the prime minister’s performance in the House of Commons on Wednesday (today). He will need a good explanation as to why he kept Coulson. It is going to be difficult for him,” said the MP, who argued that Conservative and Labour governments had been “too deferential to the Murdoch empire for too long”.
He felt “significant changes” will result from the controversy.
“This has been a game-changing experience and one that forces the nation to examine the relationship between the media, police and politicians. There has been collusion in certain areas which has been very unhealthy,” he said. The MP argued that the print media could be regulated in the same way as television but hoped any changes would be balanced.
“I hope they get it right. The danger is that there is an overreaction,” he told the Caithness Courier.
John Thurso said the press needs to be “strong, robust and free to criticise” and “able to do its job without fear or favour but within the law”.
As we went to press yesterday afternoon, Rupert Murdoch told MPs he was “appalled and ashamed” to learn that the phone of Milly Dowler had been hacked by the News of the World.
He said he was not aware hacking was more widespread than originally claimed and he had “clearly” been misled by some of his staff.
His appearance – the first time he has faced direct scrutiny by MPs during his 40-year media UK career – was, he said, the “most humble day of my life”. His son, James Murdoch, the chairman of News International, apologised to victims, saying he had great regrets.
He said he was “determined to put things right and make sure they do not happen again”.
