Rupert Murdoch and the mis-use of power

LONDON'S HACKING TRIAL: Here are the opening sentences of a revealing and hugely disturbing article by Nick Davies, the Guardian reporter whose revelations opened the nasty can of worms about phone hacking and other misdeeds by Murdoch editors and reporters in Britain:

This was no ordinary trial.

It was unusual in its sheer scale: more than three years of police work; 42,000 pages of crown evidence; seven months of hearings; up to 18 barristers in court at any one time; 12 defendants facing allegations of crime spreading back over a decade.

But what made it most unusual was what it represented. First, this was a long-delayed showdown between the criminal justice system and parts of Fleet Street, in which the reputations of both was at stake. Beyond that, however, this was a trial by proxy, in which Rebekah Brooks stood in the dock on behalf of a media mogul and Andy Coulson acted as avatar for the prime minister, with the reputations of Rupert Murdoch and David Cameron equally in jeopardy. Officially, the trial was all about crime; in reality, it was all about power.

For copyright reasons I cannot run any more, but here is the full article. It is well worth reading.