Daily Mirror publisher to review editorial controls

Trinity Mirror move comes as share price falls amid allegations that phone hacking was not confined to News of the World Trinity Mirror has begun a review of its editorial controls and procedures amid allegations that phone hacking was not confined to the News of the World. The six-week review is being led by Trinity Mirror’s group legal director Paul Vickers and will include all of the group’s national and regional newspapers, including the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, the People and the Daily Record. Trinity Mirror’s share price fell 9.8% on Monday amid investor concerns that the hacking scandal was not restricted to News International, following allegations about its papers over the weekend. Its shares were down another 1.4% by 10am on Tuesday, to 42.9p. Former Daily Mirror reporter James Hipwell reiterated his earlier claim that hacking was widespread at other newspapers, including the Mirror . A separate report on BBC2′s Newsnight alleged the use of phone hacking and private detectives was widespread at the Sunday Mirror . Trinity Mirror described both sets of allegations as “unsubstantiated”, saying its journalists “work within the criminal law and the Press Complaints Commission code of conduct”. A company spokesman said today: “We can confirm that we’re conducting a review of editorial controls and procedures.” Sources at the company indicated it was a “review rather than an investigation” into the company’s editorial controls and procedures and was a response to general concern about newspaper practices rather than to specific phone-hacking allegations. Rival newspaper group, the Daily Mail & General Trust, on Tuesday ruled out an internal review into phone hacking. The DMGT chief executive, Martin Morgan, reiterated comments by Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre last week that the company was not involved in any hacking. “I have received assurances that we have not published stories based on hacked messages or sources obtained unlawfully,” said Morgan . “We have strong processes and procedures right across the group.” •

Posted by on July 26, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.