U.K. PRESS COMMISSION TO PROBE HACKERGATE

Britain’s Press Complaints Commission said today (Tuesday) that it plans to reopen its inquiry into telephone hacking by Rupert Murdoch’s London tabloid, News of the World. Referring to its own 2006 conclusion that the hacking was limited to one rogue reporter working with a private detective — who were convicted and jailed for the offense — Stephen Abell, the PCC director, said in a letter to Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of Britain’s Guardian newspaper: “The commission came to a view — based on the information available at the time — as to whether it had been misled by the News of the World. Further information has, of course, since appeared.” The PCC noted, however, that it will delay further inquiries into the matter until after Scotland Yard and the British Parliament hold their own inquiries into the matter.