Dispatches: Tabloids' Dirty Secrets

7 February 2011

***Strictly embargoed until 00.01 on Monday 7th February 2011***

***Any use of information in this release must credit "Channel 4's Dispatches***

Secret tapes expose a culture of paranoia and pressure at the News of The World under Andy Coulson editorship, Channel 4's Dispatches reveals

An investigation by Channel 4's Dispatches into the fall out from the resignation of the government's Communications Director Andy Coulson over phone hacking at the News of the World reveals secret tapes exposing a culture of paranoia and pressure under his editorship.

The programme learns that in this culture some employees at the newspaper secretly tape each other and their boss. 

Dispatches have tracked down some of these tapes including one of Andy Coulson giving a standard pep talk to a journalist.

Coulson has claimed he was unaware of phone hacking at the paper. But the tapes reveal the hands on nature of his editorship and the pressure he placed on staff to deliver scoops.

Coulson says:  "Basically we have a really tough year ahead of us... people are making redundancies... we've all got to justify our existence... It means that I need more stories. I need more exclusives, and I need it to be self generated stuff... being a News of the World reporter is no longer about... going out and covering a story... it's about self - generating."

The journalist raises the issue of Ian Edmondson, the news editor since sacked for phone hacking - who the journalist is unhappy working under. Coulson sings Edmondson's praises: 

"I've got total and complete faith in Ian, I think he is a great operator and I think he's doing a brilliant job and in that context you've got to make it work with him... I'm not going to get into the detail of who's right and who's wrong. The bottom line is they're the news desk... It's got to work. ... and I look at your by-line count and I think to myself this isn't working for anybody."

There is no direct evidence of phone hacking on the tapes obtained by Dispatches. But the source who provided them confirms secret taping was common among staff at the paper - and believes that other collections of tapes exist, which might provide damning evidence.

These findings will be broadcast in Dispatches: Tabloids' Dirty Secrets on Monday 7th February 2011 at 8pm on Channel 4

Notes to Editors:

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