29 September 2011

Kelvin MacKenzie Hacked? Oh the Horror.....

Like most people in this cuntry I was disgusted by the News of the World Hacking scandal. Be it the murdered teenager Milly Dowler or a Z-list celebrity, what the paper did was utterly inexcusable. That said there is one hacking victim whose plight makes me feel a little less outraged.

The Guardian notes that even former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenziewas hacked by the Sun's erstwhile sister paper the News of the World. In this week's Spectator, MacKenzie writes about the incident in terms that show the level of his distress at betrayal by journalistic colleagues.

He does little to hide his displeasure at discovering the truth about the News of the World's interception of his mobile phone voicemail messages.

He begins by explaining that he was called in by officers from Operation Weeting – the Scotland Yard investigation into hacking – and shown "a tatty binder with my name down the side." He continues:

"Sheet one had my name on it with a number by the side... The next page was more interesting. It had the pin code used to access my phone's voicemails.

Up to this moment I had always believed that the pin codes of mobiles were 0000 or 1111 and that's why it was so easy to crack. But no.

In my case it was something like 367549V27418. That surely must kill the idea that the hackers guessed or blagged the number – they must have had inside help from the phone networks."

It gets even more interesting by the time he is shown the final page. It contained six dates in 2006 that gave the time and duration of his phone being hacked. He writes:

"For the first time I felt uneasy. If you have been editor of The Sun for 12 years, if you have floated and run a public company as founder, chairman and chief executive, very little worries or concerns you any more; your nerve endings have become encased in cement.

But, oddly, I felt quite threatened by this invasion and understood more clearly why celebrities — no matter if they were A- or Z-listers — felt they had been violated."

I know this intrusion was unconscionable but I shed no tears whatsoever for a revolting little cumstain like Kelvin MacKenzie.

MacKenzie was the Sun's editor between 1981 and 1994. During this time the paper produce a host of quality stories (pah!) including:

- Elton John had sex with underage rent boys
- Elton John had taken the vocal cords from his guard dogs so that they did not disturb his sleep

Unsurprisingly the former Mr Dwight received a seven figure sum in damages for these stories!

A fabricated interview with Falklands veteran Simon Weston who had received serious burn injuries during an Argintniean Air Force attack on the vessel Sir Galahad at Bluff Cove.

Un funded story that actor Jeremy Brett was dying of Aids when in fact he was dying of a cardiomyopathy

The coverage of the Hillsborough tragedy and his continued unrepentance. To this day the Sun sells very poorly in Liverpool

The list goes on and on...

MacKenzie represents everything that is wrong with the shit that passes as journalism across a large swathe of the British Press. It would be somewhat fitting if he were photographed publicly masturbating over a Royal Family tea towel. Hmm if only my Photoshop skills were up to snuff....






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