LONDON - Britain’s Trinity Mirror newspaper group yesterday announced a review into its editorial procedures following a tabloid phone-hacking scandal at its News International rival.
Nick Fullagar, Trinity Mirror PLC spokesman, said yesterday that the inquiry was not an investigation into claims of phone hacking, but he acknowledged that the scandal over the News of the World’s espionage campaign helped prompt the review.
“In light of recent events, we thought it was timely to look at our controls and procedures,’’ Fullagar said. “Clearly, after any significant event, it’s just good corporate governance.’’
The Daily Mirror has come under suspicion following revelations that the News of the World - recently shut down by publisher News International - routinely intercepted voice mails left for public figures. One former Mirror journalist has alleged that phone hacking was rife at the Mirror when former editor Piers Morgan was in charge.
Last week, The New York Times cited five unnamed former journalists at another Mirror property, a newspaper called The People, as saying hacking was commonplace there as well in the late 1990s.
The Trinity Mirror has not commented on the claims, although British media watchers have long suspected that the hacking extended well beyond the News of the World.
