Letter from News International Limited
to the Clerk of the Committee
1. Could you let me know the date on which
the Executive Chairman instructed editors of News International
titles not to use photographs of Kate Middleton taken by paparazzi?
Mr Hinton instructed editors on 9 January 2007
not to use photographs of Kate Middleton taken by paparazzi.
2. In answer to Question 91 in oral evidence
on 6 March, Mr Hinton described the contract between the News
of the World and Glenn Mulcaire; and he described "a second
situation" in which Clive Goodman had been allowed to pay
cash to a contact, and he said that the detail of how he was using
that money was not known to the editor. Mr Hinton went on to say
that "That is not unusual for a contact, when you have a
trusted reporter [...] to be allowed to have a relationship which
can lead to information and which involves the exchange of money".
What was it exactly that Mr Hinton was saying was not unusual—was
it the existence of "a relationship which can lead to information
and which involves the exchange of money" or was it the fact
"that the detail of how he was using that money was not known
to the editor"?
Mr Hinton meant that in the case of a trusted
reporter it was not unusual for there to be a relationship with
a contact which could lead to information and which involved the
exchange of money, and that the detail of how the money was used
might not have been known to the editor.
3. At the time that the contract between the
News of the World and Glenn Mulcaire was agreed, who, beyond the
editor of the paper, had to approve or be informed about such
contracts or arrangements? Have procedures for authorising such
contracts or arrangements been changed since Mr Goodman was charged?
The relevant editorial department head and the
managing editor and / or his / her deputy.
Procedures for authorising such contracts have
not changed. (The Goodman case did not relate to the contract
between Mulcaire and the News of the World.)
However, in the wake of the Goodman case the
protocol for cash payments were reviewed and amended. The protocol,
policy and process now in place (to which every member of staff
is required to strictly adhere) are as follows:
1. Cash payments are to be kept to a minimum
and are the exception.
2. Requests for Cash Payments must be accompanied
by compelling and detailed written justification signed off by
the relevant department head.
3. Information supplied on Cash Payment Request
documents must be accurate and comprehensive.
4. In the exceptional event of a requirement
for a Cash Payment to a Confidential Source, the following applies:
a. If the department head / staff member
requesting the payment asserts that the identity of the source
must be withheld, he / she is required to demonstrate clear and
convincing justification for such confidentiality.
b. A memo detailing the reason for making
the payment to a Confidential Source has to be provided to the
Managing Editor's office.
5. Every cash payment request must be signed
off by the relevant Department head.
6. Thereafter, details of the intended recipient's
name and address are verified via the electoral register and /
or via other checks to establish they are correct and genuine.
7. Further, any journalist requesting a cash
payment is required, after following the process set out above,
to personally endorse by his / her signature each page of the
relevant documentation.
8. Finally, every request for a Cash Payment
must be accompanied by the appropriate supporting documentation
with a copy of the relevant story attached.
We believe this approach is appropriate in those
rare instances of cash payments.
June 2007
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