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Did Six Sun journalists bribe police? They are currently on trial facing accusations of bribery — or, in UK legal speak, conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office — the Guardian reported.
The UK prosecution accuses them of paying off public officials in exchange for “information about celebrities as well as high profile criminal investigations between 2000 and 2011.”
Collectively, they are accused of nine counts bribing officials working for hospitals, the police, the armed forces and prisons. The Press Gazette has a list of the individual charges and accusations against each of the six journalists. The journalists are:
- News editor Chris Pharo
- Former managing editor Graham Dudman
- Former deputy news editor Ben O’Driscoll
- Reporter Jamie Pyatt
- Picture editor John Edwards
- Former reporter John Troup
One charge reads: “Graham Dudman on days between September 5 2002 and November 4 2002 conspired together with another or others unknown, namely a police officer or officers, to commit misconduct in public office.”
The journalists all deny the claims, Press Gazette and the Guardian reported.
The Sun declined to comment to iMediaEthics about the charges.
Oh, now don’t tell me there is dark side of the Sun. This whole story reminds me of a stellar story from the land of the rising sun that describes this very kind of practice as being business as usual for Japan’s largest news daily. According to the author of Tokyo Vice, the paper encouraged crime beat reporters to ply their sources with gifts. I just wonder if British, American, as well as other news organizations operating there follow the same local practices and if not how they can compete with a homegrown press that puts sources on its payroll.