5 April 2012 Last updated at 13:29 ETSky News admits 'canoe man' John Darwin email hack
After his 'canoe death' stunt, Darwin allowed his sons to think their father was dead
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Sky News has said it illegally hacked emails belonging to members of the public on two separate occasions.
The broadcaster said it hacked emails from John Darwin, who faked his own death in a canoe, and his wife Anne.
A spokesman for Sky News said police "absolutely knew" the emails - which it passed to officers working on the Darwin case - were obtained by hacking.
Sky News said the action was in the public interest and amounted to "responsible journalism".
The second email hacking incident Sky disclosed targeted the accounts of a suspected paedophile and his wife.
The broadcaster released a statement which said: "Sky News is committed to the highest editorial standards.
"Like other news organisations, we are acutely aware of the tensions that can arise between the law and responsible investigative journalism.
"We stand by these actions as editorially justified and in the public interest."
Continue reading the main storyJust days after James Murdoch resigned as chairman of BSkyB, and with Ofcom reviewing whether Sky's a 'fit and proper' owner of a broadcasting licence, this story is embarrassing for the company.
Intercepting emails is illegal under the Computer Misuse Act, and there is no public interest defence. But Sky News has strongly defended its action, saying it was editorially justified, and it had never tried to conceal the facts.
In a blog, the head of Sky News, John Ryley, said the Crown Prosecution Service had acknowledged there were occasions when it was justified for a journalist to commit an offence in the public interest.
He said the Daily Telegraph paid for stolen data to expose the MPs' expenses scandal and the Guardian - which first published this latest news - had admitted hacking a phone in pursuit of a story.
The statement went on: "We do not take such decisions lightly or frequently.
"They require finely balanced judgement based on individual circumstances and must always be subjected to the proper editorial controls."
John Darwin was reported missing in a canoe in the North Sea in March 2002.
His wife Anne collected more than £500,000 in life insurance payouts while he hid in their marital home, allowing their two sons to think he was dead.
The pair were found guilty of the deception in 2008.
In the run-up to the trial former Sky News managing editor Simon Cole agreed North of England correspondent Gerard Tubb could hack into Darwins' Yahoo! email account.
A Sky source now has told the BBC that Mr Cole will be leaving the company in the coming weeks.
On his Twitter feed, Mr Cole later wrote: "I've been planning for some time to retire from Sky News after 17 years. This is unrelated to the Darwin story. There is no linkage. Fact."
Mr Tubb uncovered messages which cast doubt on Mrs Darwin's claim during her criminal trial that her "domineering" husband forced her to go through with the fraud plan.
Sky's parent company BSkyB is already under investigation by OfCom
Sky News said it supplied material it had gathered to Cleveland police which was "pivotal" to the court case.
A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: "Cleveland Police has conducted an initial review into these matters and can confirm that enquiries are ongoing into how the emails were obtained."
The Crown Prosecution Service said police inquiries were ongoing. "This remains an investigative matter... but, as with any case, we will provide advice to the police if required," a spokesperson said.
It is illegal to hack into emails under the Computer Misuse Act.
Tom Watson MP, a vocal critic of Rupert Murdoch journalists during the phone hacking scandal, said of the latest development: "There are many questions that need answering.
"The chair of BSkyB needs to say something on this and reassure viewers this has not been going on more widely."
Continue reading the main story“Start Quote
End Quote Peter Preston Former Guardian editorI don't see this as a story in the News of the World type at all”
He continued: "There are cases where the public is best served with journalists breaking the law.
"But it has to be done in extremis and I am not sure whether it was in these two cases. It is too early to know."
But Peter Preston, a former editor of The Guardian newspaper, said: "I think it's pretty clear there are [public interest defences for hacking the Darwins' emails].
"I don't see this as a story in the News of the World type at all.
"Nobody is saying there was not some real crookery here that the police weren't properly informed of."
He added: "It is when you get into the more seedy areas of stories, which don't have any public merit at all, the difficulties start."
Sky News is part of BSkyB, which is 39% owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
BBC Home Affairs Correspondent Matt Prodger said: "It's extremely sensitive, because Sky News is a subsidiary of BSkyB, which is currently under investigation by Ofcom to see whether it is fit and proper to continue holding a broadcasting licence.
"So it is a real blow to yet another part of the Murdoch empire."
4/05/2012
Sky News admits 'canoe man' John Darwin email hack
Wikileaks' Julian Assange Slams Media for Libelous Coverage
WikiLeaks' Julian Assange said today that he's made 75 official complaints over shoddy reporting of his extradition battle.
Assange claims he has been subjected to inaccurate and libelous media coverage. Assange itemized the complaints in a written statement to Britain's judge-led inquiry into media ethics, which is examining the standards and practices of the UK's scandal-ridden press.
Assange said in a statement released Thursday that he had been subjected to "ongoing, widespread inaccurate and negative media coverage."
Assange wrote: "Those who have been the subject of ongoing, widespread inaccurate and negative media coverage - as I have, possibly on a scale not seen since the abuse of the McCanns - know that the harms created for individuals and small organizations or groups by a failure to maintain high ethical journalistic standards can be severe, consequential and almost insurmountable."
He listed 75 complaints made to the UK's press watchdog over repeated articles reporting that he had been charged with rape when in fact he has only been accused of the offense.
The 40-year-old Australian denies any wrongdoing.
He is waiting to hear the outcome of his appeal to the UK Supreme Court against being extradited to Sweden.
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The Guardian reports:
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has launched an attack on the Press Complaints Commission, claiming he has been subjected to inaccurate and negative media coverage "possibly on a scale not seen since the abuse of the McCanns".
Julian Assange: "Press standards matter"He says the soon-to-be-extinct complaints body stood idly by as he "suffered extensive libels" in the coverage of his battle with Swedish authorities over sexual assault allegations.
Assange, who is out on bail awaiting a British court decision on his appeal against extradition to Sweden, has told the Leveson inquiry says the PCC found it "perfectly acceptable for newspapers to say that I had been charged with rape as being 'charged' with an offence is seen as the same as a mere allegation".
In a written statement to the inquiry he said his experience with the PCC provides a "unique" case study at the damage that can be wrought by a flawed regulatory system to an individual involved in a "high profile and political" situation.
Assange added: "Press standards matter. Those who have been the subject of ongoing, widespread inaccurate and negative media coverage – as I have, possibly on a scale not seen since the abuse of the McCanns – know that the harms created for individuals and small organizations or groups by a failure to maintain high ethical journalistic standards can be severe, consequential and almost insurmountable."
He told how he complaint about 45 articles in newspapers including the Observer, the Guardian, the Daily Mail, the Independent, the Evening Standard and the Sun, which he referred to "charges" against him or said he was "facing charges" or had been "charged".
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