The UK police arrested Sun newspaper journalist who may face charges for bribery, Journalism.co.uk reported.
According to Journalism.co.uk, the man has been “widely named by the press as the Sun’s Thames Valley district correspondent Jamie Pyatt.” News International hasn’t said who the man is, but has “confirmed that the man is current employee.” As Journalism.co.uk explained, Pyatt would be the first staffer from the Sun to be arrested as a result of the UK police investigations into hacking and bribery at UK newspapers.
According to the Guardian’s Nov. 5 report, Pyatt has been released on bail but must return for questioning in March 2012. The Guardian noted that Pyatt is the “sixth person arrested by detectives” investigating allegations of bribery at News International.
The New York Times noted that this arrest of non-News of the World employee “adds to woes of [Rupert] Murdoch’s British empire” by implicating or suggesting News International’s newspapers as a whole in alleged corruption and hacking. Previously, News International has claimed that News of the World contained all the illegal issues by arguing that former News of the World journalist Clive Goodman and former News of the World private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were “rogue” in their hacking.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, News International has created $30 million fund to pay out to phone hacking victims. The New York Times reported that the fund has been named the “Voicemail Interception Compensation Scheme.”
The BBC reported Nov. 3 that the UK police claim there may be as many as 5,795 phone-hacking victims. Four months ago, the police estimated there were 3,870 possible victims.
According to the Guardian, News Corp. lost $91 million by shutting down News of the World in July.