Martin Hickman

When I started this book, I had two concerns; firstly, wasn't the story of News International too recent? I felt that I pretty much knew what had happened. Secondly, if a book was to be written, was Tom Watson the correct person to write it? Watson has had more than one run in with Mr Murdoch and his crew.

The second point was soon answered, in the preface, Watson admits his lack of empathy with the Murdoch clan. He, very honestly, lays out his position and assures the reader that he intends to be as neutral as possible in the text. I found it very easy to differentiate between the small amounts of bias and the much greater amount of solid fact and genuine reportage.

As to whether the book was necessary at all, the answer to that objection came almost as quickly. Before I had reached the end of the first chapter, I had already learned several facts of which I was unaware. The book also provides a good chronological record of the way in which the cancer of corruption within News International, and indeed, the media in general, spread. It is fascinating to observe the way in which a story that would have been shocking, but would have been forgotten after a few days, became bigger and bigger as News International obfuscated and down right lied its way deeper and deeper into the mire.

One of the great advantages of an old fashioned book is that, once the facts are put down in black and white, they remain, unaltered. I have a nasty suspicion that in these days of electronic information, people of power, such as Rupert Murdoch, will have the ability to re-write history on the hoof. These three hundred and fifty pages are set, if not in stone, at least in indelible ink, and that is important. This is a story that must not be forgotten because, if we forget our history, we are condemned to repeat it.… (more)

A fascinating, and frankly frightening, account of the phone-hacking scandal that has dominated British politics for the last eighteen months or so. This book has been exhaustively researched by Tom Watson MP and Martin Hickman (an investigative journalist for "The Independent"), and puts forward the story of the demise of the News of the World following the squalid tactics employed by its journalists in their relentless search for celebrity gossip to satisfy the demands of a prurient readership.
All three leading political parties emerge as guilty of at best kowtowing to Murdoch, though it seems probable that senior Conservative and Labour figures over the last twenty years have been guilty of far worse collusion. The damning detail is appalling. Watson is to be commended for his doggedness, as are the various lawyers who have bravely represented claimants against News International as any such stand seemed to be an open invitation to the News Of the World Team to turn their investigative teams (including their phone and computer hackers) upon them.
I was rather surprised by the timing of publication, and might have expected that it would be more appropriate after the final reports of the Leveson Inquiry had been published. However, I also believe that it was important for the contents of this book to be available to as wide a readership as possible as soon as possible.
Utterly compelling.… (more)