Home Delivery

May 28, 4:30 PM | Traffic

Search for :

South Jersey news - Mob Scene - Jobs

options

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Report: Murdoch's phone hackers targeted 9/11 victims

Over the last few days, many people -- myself included -- have asked variations of this question: Will the Rupert Murdoch/News of the World phone hacking scandal, which some are calling Britian's Watergate, reach us here in America, where the modern-day Citizen Kane's holdings including the Fox TV and movie empire as well as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.

The answer may be yes: A report in a rival British tabloid the Daily Mirror makes an allegation that, if proven true, many Americans will find just as revolting as the phone hacking of 13-year-old morder victim Milly Dowler, maybe even more so.

Did Murdoch's London-based News of the World contact a New York City private investigator about phone hacking American victims of the 9/11 attacks?

The pair chatted behind closed doors as a former New York cop made the 9/11 hacking claim. He alleged he was contacted by News of the World journalists who said they would pay him to retrieve the private phone records of the dead.

Now working as a private investigator, the ex-officer claimed reporters wanted the victim’s phone numbers and details of the calls they had made and received in the days leading up to the atrocity.

A source said: “This investigator is used by a lot of journalists in America and he recently told me that he was asked to hack into the 9/11 victims’ private phone data. He said that the journalists asked him to access records showing the calls that had been made to and from the mobile phones belonging to the victims and their relatives.

“His presumption was that they wanted the information so they could hack into the relevant voicemails, just like it has been shown they have done in the UK. The PI said he had to turn the job down. He knew how insensitive such research would be, and how bad it would look."

Indeed. That said, this article raises more questions than it answers, and I would note a couple of major caveats. One, the story is pretty thinly sourced, as we say in the business. Two, the Mirror is a non-Murdoch-owned British tabloid driven by the same kind of competitive pressures that led to this whole scandal in the first place.

But I think the significance is this: Given the scandal in the UK, the American activities of Murdoch-controlled journalists -- at both his British publications and his U.S. emterprises -- deserve closer scrutiny, including from law enforcement. Maybe Murdoch's journalists' alleged illegal activities stopped at the far shores of the Atlantic, but we should find out for sure.

Posted by Will Bunch @ 7:58 PM Permalink | 46 comments

Comments

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:28 AM, 07/11/2011

Weeeeee, spin, spin, spin! Save your money, no need to buy the all day pass for Moorey's Pier.

— DavidAG

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:28 PM, 07/10/2011

If illegaslities occured, those responsible should pay the price for their transgressions.

Next faux outrage.

— georgel

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:04 PM, 07/11/2011

All I needed was to read Huffington post and I stopped. If that is a source for you, I need to read nothing further.

— georgel

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:46 PM, 07/10/2011

bill.fatkins proves what would people do for 10 cent per post. Merdock may be stealing his childs education money and future; but bill is getting paid 10 cents and he is ecstatic :-) It is about time that Murdoch pay for supporting the oppression in China and trying to establish the rule of the few in the western world.

If Soros is spending his money on media matters; he is trying to stop oppression of the few. He did the same in the eastern europe during the communist rule to bring an end to the rule of the few.

— Seed

Comment removed.
Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:03 PM, 07/10/2011

Will, you say the report is pretty thinly sourced but those with short attention span would not read past the headline and read until the next to last paragraph where you state this. Aren't you falling prey to competitive pressures?
If these reporters extended their hacking to 9/11 victims there will be quite a backlash here in the US especially if parts of Murdoch's US operations are implicated. but at this point there is no proof of the same shenanigans happening here.

— DuncanIdaho

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:21 PM, 07/10/2011

"Murdoch-controlled journalists" as if all the journalists are mindless drones of his. I still settle for them than the Soros-controlled "journalists".

— palmyra21

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:12 AM, 07/11/2011

Based on how angry Cameron & other British pooh bahs are, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Murdoch sees himself as a newspaper man, so bet the ranch he's personally involved. Heck, even Brett baier of FoxNews covered this (unless he's become a pawn of Soros' too!!!).

— yobill626

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:49 AM, 07/11/2011

I wonder if the DN could be sued to close it's comments section like they did domelights. You really seem to get off on insulting each other and Will Bunch's columns are meant to provoke this reaction.

— gemini48

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:14 AM, 07/11/2011

According to the NYTimes' David Carr, when News Corp executives met with News of the World staff this week, they alluded to future disclosures that would be even more damaging than what has emerged so far. 9/11 victim hacking would certainly fit the bill -- and given how the Murdoch tabloids operate, it would not be surprising at all.

— tomB

46 comments | View All Comments | View All By Latest

View comments: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

About Will Bunch

Will's new book: Learn about it here and purchase it here.

Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.

E-mail Will by clicking here.

PLEASE COMMENT WITH PASSION...

...but not with racial slurs, potentially libelous allegations, obscenities or other juvenile noise. Such comments will, at our discretion, be deleted in their entirety, and repeat offenders will be blocked from commenting. ALSO: Any commenter advocating killing any government official will be immediately banned.

Thanks.

Advertise Here

Atrios
Kiko's House
Suburban Guerilla
Booman Tribune
All-Spin Zone
Philly (Dragonballyee)
Afro-Netizen
Rowhouse Logic
MyDD
Bad Attitudes
Billmon
iFlipFlop
CorrenteWire
upyernoz
Tattered Coat
Fables of the Reconstruction
Slacktivist
Citizen Mom
The Next Mayor
Philly Future
Philadelphia Will Do
Philebrity
Young Philly Politics
Phillyblog
Welcome to Phillyville
Phawker
A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
Keystone Blog
Philadelphia - America's Hometown
BlankBaby
Above Average Jane
Phillyist
Metroblogging Philadelphia
The Clog
Josh Marshall
Daily Kos
Juan Cole
Oliver Willis
Andy Borowitz
War and Piece
Wonkette
BuzzFlash
Raw Story
Cursor
Crooks and Liars
Swing State Project
Kevin Drum
Talk Left
AmericaBlog
Hullabaloo
Mad Kane
Think Progress
Jesus' General
The Carpetbagger Report
Majikthise
Echidne of the Snakes
David Sirota
Glenn Greenwald
TBogg
Fire Dog Lake
Taylor Marsh
Matthew Yglesias
Jon Swift
Drudge Report
Beer Leaguer
The 700 Level
Dick Polman
Balls, Sticks and Stuff
Shallow Center
Philling Station
Phillies Nation
A Citizen's Blog
The Good Phight
Romenesko
Editor and Publisher
Pressthink
Buzzmachine
The Inksniffer
Media Bloodhound
Eat the Press
Mickey Kaus
Media (Huffington Post)
Blinq
The Corner
Instapundit
Andrew Sullivan
Free Republic
James Taranto
Blonde Sagacity
ScrappleFace
Blogorrhea

Get it now

Subscribe to the RSS feed

May
April
March
February
January
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
January 2008