So far 11 and counting, the latest arrest in the Rupertgate Phone-hacking scandal. Now that the BBC newsreaders strike is over, it was reported on the PM Program that former Managing Editor of News Of The World Stuart Kuttner was arrested in connection with the phone-hacking and bribery scandal this morning. As was eluded in Rebekah Brooks' testimony, Kuttner was the one who signed off on checks and generally oversaw the goings on with the staff. By the time this thing is over I suspect the only ones not facing any jail time will be the janitors . . .but even then I could be wrong.
As of this posting (10:00 am PDT) Kuttner is still in custody while questioning continues.
Meanwhile, the man known as Jonny Marbles is facing six weeks in prison for his Barbasol Surprise during the Murdoch hearings. Murdoch Sr. didn't want to press charges and Marbles claims he missed his target anyway so . . .the court wasn't amused.
Since I reported yesterday on the alleged dumping of e-mails over at News International, questions are starting to arise about just how deleted are deleted e-mails. Eddie Mair asks an expert who surmises e-mail considered spam is gone into thin air, while e-mails considered "received" are stored. Although most everything can be retrieved, some of it is difficult to ascertain who got what and who sent what. In short, it may be tough to prove a lot of potentially damaging communications. I'm sure the folks over here at Newscorp are thrilled about that.
So up today are two clips - one is from PM (top player) dealing with the latest arrest and second (lower player) is a special, also hosted by Eddie Mair entitled "Beyond Hackgate"from this morning (recorded at 1:00am PDT) where questions are asked just how this scandal is going to affect the long-term workings of government. An interesting panel and one you may want to keep for future reference as this thing heats up over here.
In the meantime, the saga continues.