Trouble

Tabloid Hacker Claims Cover-Up

Newly published letter says he had support of staff.

More trouble for the Murdochs: Clive Goodman, the former royals correspondent for News of the World, says in a newly published letter that phone hacking was “widely discussed” at the U.K. tabloid, and his own activities pursuing the royal family had “the full knowledge and support” of top editorial staff. Goodman, in the 2007 letter, also claims that hacking was openly discussed at editorial meetings until former editor Andy Coulson told staffers not to mention it, and that Coulson had promised him his job back if he did not implicate anyone else in his scandal. News International provided a copy of the letter to an investigatory committee but redacted the most explosive allegations against Coulson. The letter also casts doubt on heir apparent James Murdoch's testimony that he had no idea about the so-called "For Neville" email that had transcriptions of the hacked voicemails.