Witness Statement of Dominic Mohan

8/3/2019 Witness Statement of Dominic Mohan

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NI Group LimitedD. J. MohanFirst Statement=DJM1"14 O ctober 2011

IN THE MATTER OF THE LEVES ON INQUIRY INTO THE CULTURE, PRACTICES ANDETHICS OF THE PRESS

WITNESS STATEMENT OFDOMIN IC JAMES MO HAN

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State w ho you are and p rovide a brief summ ary of your career history In the m edia.I am. the Editor of The Sun. I was ap pointed in August 2009.I began my c areer in the m edia in 19 90 at the press agency, the London News Service. Ithen worked at a num ber of newspapers including The Sunday Mirror and The Ne ws ofThe W orld. I joined The Sun as a reporter in 19 96 . In 19 98 I was p romoted to Editor ofBizarre and he ld that post for f ive years. In 200 3 I was g iven my ow n wee kly opinioncolumn and in 200 4 bec am e Associate Ed itor (Features). In 20 07 , I was m ade Dep utyEditor and in 2009 1 was made Editor.Expla in how you understand the system of corporate governance to work in practiceat the new spaper w here you are e m ployed w i th p ar ti cular emp has is on sys tem s toensure law ful, professional and e thical conduc t,There are a num ber of different ways in which w e strive to ensure that eve ryone O n thepap er behaves in a lawful, professional and ethical wa y.( i) T h e P C C C o d eThe m ain guide to ethical conduct for Sun joum.alists in their day -to-day w ork is the PCCCode, wh ich we take ve ry seriously. All joumalists are aw are that the PCC Code forms partof their obligations under their contract of em ploym ent and the Code is incorporated in thestaff handbook and H R policies displaye d on the New s International (NI") intranet.To ma ke it even m ore explicit, a direc t oblig ation to adhe re to the PCC Code or fac edisciplinary procee dings, wh ich in the m ost seve re cases could lea d to dismissal, is beingwritten into all new staff contracts.

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The im portance of the Code is also underlined through regular discussion of it, as we ll astraining sessions. For exam ple, if the circum stances surrounding a story proposed at thedaily new s conference raise issues of privacy versus public interest, then there w ill oftenbe a discussion concerning the PCC Code. Depe nding on the story, those discussions ma ythen continue p rivately a mong senior executives a fter the= . meeting. W liere diffioult issuesarise, we will often liaise with the PCC pdor to publication. Thisis mainly undertaken by ourExecutive Editor, Fergus Sha nahan, and our Manag ing Editor, Richard Caseby.W e have reg ularly invited the PCC to run training sem inars forSun journalists. There we re.five such sessions in 200 9 and two in 20 10 , which involved the PCCs assistentdirec tor,W ill Gore, lead ing the g roup through sb( real- l i fe PCC c omp laints covering issues ofpd vac y, m ental hea l th, acc uracy, report ing of suic ide a nd report ing of chi ldren. Iunderstand the c ase studies discussed in these sessions appe ar behind tab 13 of file 21 ofthe bundle of docum ents provided to the inquiry on beha lf of NI (the "NI bundle).Any failure to com ply w ith the PCC Code c an. result in a PCC a djudication being p ublishedin all editions. I am proud that as Ed itor I have only ha d one pa rtial PCC com plaint upheldag ainst the paper.( i l) Tra in ing sessio nsIn add ition to the PCC training sem inars, we hold other training sem inars. Re ce ntexamples are:( i ) A sem inar held in January 20 11 led by Lucy M cG hee , director of comm unications

at the W est London M ental Hea lth Trust, for about a dozen new s staff on thecorrec t terminology to use in relation to patients being c ared for in secure units.She also examined the work carried out by m edical staff at Broadmoor Hospital.Training sessions held In S eptem ber 20 11 on the latest NI guidelines on the newBribery Ac t. These were hosted by R ichard Caseby, the M anaging Editor, JustinW alford, the Suns in-house lawyer and a lega l team from Allen & O very LLP wh ohelped draft the g uidelines. To date, about t00 S un staff have attended thesesessions on the Bribery Ac t guidelines.

We are also preparing to schedule other sessions this year on suicide (the Samaritans);HIVIAids (National Aids Trust) and travellers and gypsies (Friends, Families andTravellers).( tT i ) Ro le o f lawye rsThe two S un lawyers, Justin Walford and Ben Beabey , also have an important role to play.They g ive pre-PU blication adv ice to senior exec utives and journalists on libel, privacy,contem pt, confidence, d ate protection and c opyrigh t. In add ition there is a rote of night

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law yers, usual ly barristers, wh o read copy for libel. The law yers also dea l with post-publica tion com pla ints and litiga tion in consultation with the M anaging E ditor. In the pre-publication process the lawyers responsibility is to give advice about any potential breachof law or indeed the PCC Code and to assist in finding leg ally safe and ethically soundwa ys of publishing stories. Their advice is always c onsidered seriously by S un executivesand journalists, although any final decision to publish remains with the Editor.( iv) In ternal pol ic iesThe N I staff handbook is a com prehensive g uide to behaviour expec ted by the com panyand is issued with all staff contracts. This contains copies of a number of company policiesand g uides on, for exam ple, da ta protection and freed om of information. There is also theNe ws Corp S tandards of Business Conduct book which sets out c lear ly the conductexpec ted of all employee s in the group. Thls has recently been upda ted and issued in hardcopy to all staff. I understand that copies of all of these doc um ents have bee n include d inthe NI bundle.In addition, a new process for paying c ash to sources w as introduced in S eptem ber. Arequest for any cash p aym ent must now be fully logged and signed for in ink by the h eadof department, the Ed itor or Deputy Editor, the Ma naging Editor or Deputy Manag ing Editorand the journalist who req uested it. The log g ing hook ha s a disclaime r stating that thejournalist has bee n trained in the B ribery A ct and wil l not contravene the N I policy. Idescribe the previous practice in relation to r~ash p aym enls at paragraph 46 below. Thereare a lso certain proce dures in place in relation to paym ents to contributors, w hich Idescribe atparagraph 4 5 below.(v) Discipl ineO n the rare occasions that standards are not met, then we have disciplinary procedureswh ich de al with this. This is an HR process ied by the M anag ing E ditor. For examp le, in20 07 , a new s reporter wa s given a f inal written wa rning for incorrectly ide ntifying anIndividual as a p rostitute. In O ctober this year, a m em ber of our online staff was sent awarning letter atter publishing the wrong ve rdict in the Am anda K nox appea l ag ainst herconvictions on The Suns we bsite. (The Italian Court had found h er g uilty of slande r but notmurder.)(v i) Read ersFinally, the S uns read ers are also a g reat barome ter and I pa y close a ttention to theirletters, phone ca lls and em ails. These c an otten give e xcellent insigh t into wh ether wehave g ot something right or not and this is a useful sott control.What Is your role in ensuring th a t th e corp ora te gov ernance d oc um ents and all

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relevant policies are adhered to in practice? If you d o n ot con s id er yours e l f toberespon sible for this, ple ase tel l us who yo u consider to hold that responsibility.As E ditor, I ha ve ultimate responsibility for ensuring that our corporate gove rnance systemon the p aper w orks and is adhe red to in practice. O n a da y-to-day basis I delega te theseresponsibil ities to the M anag ing Ed itor. He is responsible for log ging cash p aym ents,neg otiating w ith ed itorial dep artment hea ds and the leg al dep artment over individualqueries regarding, for example, the Bribery Act compliance, organising training seminarsforstaff and liaising with the HR dep artment and m e over any disciplinary issues.M y w orking day is dom inated by considerations and de cisions relating to the increasingrestraints and restrictions to which w e are subjec t in the sph ere of libel, privacy injunctions,the PCC code and, in the latest instance, the new B ribery Act. M uch of my tim e is spentdiscussing the se issues w ith the Ma nag ing Ed itor, m y Associate E ditors and the S unslegal team.E x p la i n w h eth er th e d ocum ents and policlee referred to above are adhered to inpract ice , to the best of your know ledge.To the best of my k nowledg e, the policies referred to above are adhe red to in practice andthis com pliance is the subject of a numbe r of ch ecks. For exam ple, senior executives andthe lega l team wh o read c opy imm ediately before publication are aware of the PCC Code,and hav e undergone PCC training seminars (see parag raph 7 above), and they cansugg est halting publication should they suspec t any breac h. The senior executives caninvestigate further and should any breach be discovered they can admonish the journalistimm ediately, or in a serious case, e scalate the issue by referral to the M anag ing Ed itor andEditor. I have m entioned at parag raph 1 3 above some exam ples of disciplinary action wehav e take n. I understand that details of dism issals for misconduct are c ontained in N rsresponse to the docum entary requests made by the inquiry.If the PCC Code is breached , a com plaint is received and it is found to have m erit, then acorrection wil l be p ublished. Any published correction as a result of a PCC com plaint isneg otiated directly w ith the PCC wh o in turn liaises with the c omp lainant. Corrections arenever plac ed further back in the new spape r than the original article, exce pt for thoseconnected w ith page one stories where the correction is published on page two. However,in July, we c arded a front-pag e cross-reference h eaded "Judge is cleared" which referredto a clarifying story on pag e 2 following the conc lusion of an investigation by the O ffice forJudicial Comp laints (the =O JC"). A judge h ad bee n accused of being "inf luence d byalcohol" at a tdal in Sw indon whe re he acq uitted a ma n of raping an eight yea r-old g irl afterthe jury failed to reach a ve rdict. According to the original story in the Sun, the g irls motherhad likened the judg es behaviour at trial to that "of a person influenced by alcohol". The

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judge com plained to the PCC about the Suns projection of the story. Whe n the O JCrejected the mothers claim and cleared the judge , the clarifying story, wh ich had beenneg otiated w ith the judg e through the PCC, wa s published . A copy of the story is attachedto this statement beh ind lab (a) of e xhibit DJMI.Explain whether these practices have changed, either recently as a result of theph one h ack ing m edia interest or pr ior to that point, and i f so, wh at the reasons forth e change were.We a re ahN ays reviewing our practices and p olicies. For example: p rivate investigators canno longer be used a t NI without the e xpress permission of the Chief Exec utive O fficer;, as Inoted a bove, a new system of governance for cash pa ym ents was introduced inSe ptember 201 1 in light of further allegations during the police investiga tion into The New sof the W orld; staff have a lso been underg oing training cove ring jouma listic pra ctices,particularly in relation to the new Bribery A ct; and a new whistle-blowing helpline is nowavailable.Where does the responsibility for checking sources of information (including th emethod by which the information was obtained) lie: from reporter to newsed itora/show biz editorlroyal ed itor to editor, and h ow is this done in pm ctica (w ithsome rep resentative exam ples to add c larity)?The responsibil ity for ch eck ing sources of informa tion lies firstly w ith the reporter, thenupwa rds through the New s Editor and then, depending on the story, to senior editors and

myself. Howe ver, in practice, confidential sources belong to the reporter and he is under nocom pulsion to reve al them . R elat ionships in the new sroom are bui l t on trust andexpe rience and rep orters are expe cted to reassure their editors as to the verac ity andleg itimate p rovenance of their sources without a lwa ys spec ifica l ly reveal ing them.Re porters are expe cted to beha ve p rofessional ly, lawful ly and ethical ly and they areresponsible for adhe ring to the PCC Code a s required by the staff handbook. (Se e answe rto question 2). They w ill inform their desk h ea d of a story they are w orking on and thecircumstance s behind it. If the journalist need s guidanc e on any e thical m atter they consulttheir desk he ad or the M anag ing Ed itor who m ay in tum consult with the Ed itor. I t isimportant for jouma lists to hav e an ave nue of neutral consultation open to them (to theMa naging E ditor) wh ich takes them outside the w hite hea t of the d ai ly new s produ~onprocess.The S uns stories come from ma ny sources: big a g encies like the Press Association whoare contracted to supply the new spaper;, a network of smaller regional ag encies who a repaid for each story; press releases and m em bers of the public. Some tipsters respond toour in-paper phone line, text number and em ail address which offers them the ch ance tosupply stories in excha nge for paym ent. Like a l l of our suppl iers, these sources are

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expec ted to act in a lega l and ethical way a nd if we have reason to suspec t that they ha venot done so, then we w ill not publish a story.In addition to these sources, our reporters are expected to nurture a number of private,personal and reliable sources. If a story is obtained from such a source in confidence thenthere is no obligation on the journalist to disclose tha t source . In fac t, the PCC Code saysthat they ha ve a = moral obligation" to protec t it. Reporters are ge nerally unwilling to sharethese sources bec ause they ow e their sources that duty of confidence and also becausethey are the lifeblood of their career, should they wish to chang e em ployers. Onc e a sourceis nam ed a nd shared with others the rep orter loses control over wh ether that source mig htbe identified in any com plaint or liUg ation. An editor may be therefore aw are of the g eneralarea a certain story came from and the legitimacy of the source, but not necessarily theirp r e c i s e id e n U t y .It depe nds on the individual story but corroboration and/or guidance about the ac curacyand c ircum stances of the story wil l usually be sough t from a spok esm an, ag ent or theindividual concerned. To give a broad exam ple, a story m ay be m entioned by the New sEditor to the Editor in conference or outside that me eting. Myself or a senior executive m ayask w hat the source is on the story and w hich rep orter is involved. W e w il l then hav e aclea rer idea on the likely ve racity and provenance of that source. I may ask for the reporteror the N ew s Editor to try and spe ak to a c orroborative source and/or che ck with anindividual, ag ent or orga nisation concerned . M yself or a fel low senior executive w illsome times then spea k to one of our own contacts or a representative, de pend ing on thesubject, for our own reassurance - but it very much dep ends on the Irldividual story.He re is an exam ple of the ge rmination of a front page story: on 5 O ctober 201 1, a reporterreceived information that a high -profi le ac tor had been a rrested for child abuse. Hetelephoned the local police press office later that day. They confirme d that a man ha d beenarrested in the local area for that offence, and confirmed hls age ; both the a ge and areacorresponded with wha t we knew a bout the actor. Whe n I asked the N ew s Editor about thesourcing, I w as told that the informa tion had com e from a legitimate source to a trusted andexperienced reporter and that the police had confirmed key elem ents. I therefore ran thestory on page one the following da y.W hen a tipster rings the new s desk hotl ine after read ing our pag e two ad vertisem entasking rea de rs to call in with stories, he /she w ill spea k w ith the N ew s Editor or one of theAssistant New s Ed i tors. The N ew s Edi tor wi l l ask the source how they know thisinformation, why the y think it to be true and wh o else m ight c orroborate their assertions.Depending on the story, the source m ay be aske d for docume ntation, photographs or anyother ma teda l that mig ht support their story. If the N ew s Editor conside rs the tip to be

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interesting and p otential ly true, a reporter wil l be a ssigned and they wil l be exp ected topursue evidence that mig ht prove the story, for exam ple, m ee ting the tipster, following thetipsters other lea ds, using the reporters own c ontacts and p utting any alleg ations to asubject or ag ent. If the N ew s Ed itor or one of his assistants believes that the informationm ay ha ve bee n obtained through suspect m eans or that purcha sing that inform ation wouldbe in breac h of, say, the B dbery A ct or the PCC Cod e, then the story wil l be de clinedunless an overriding public interest is identified.W hen the source is a regular source and h as a p roven track rec ord of supplying reliabletips the informa tion may , on occa sion, be put direcU~ , to the subject or ag ent at the hea rt ofthe story. More usually, a story is second a nd som etime s third sourced before it is put tothe subject.TO wh at extent Is and should an editor be aw are of the source s of the Inform ationwhich make up the ce ntral stories featured In your new spap er eac h da y (includingthe method by which the information was obtained)?As i said above, an editor may be aw are of the g eneral area a particular story ca me fromand its leg itimac y, but wont necessarily know the identity of ~ e source. It is difficult to saywh at the position normally is, as it vades so m uch from da y to day. If there are a numbe r ofcontroversial stories in the pa per, I wil l often deleg ate the ch eck ing of some of them tosenior editors, so that I can focus on others.Exp la in the extent to wh ich you consider that eth ics can a nd should p lay a role int he pr in t m edia, and w hat you consider ethics to m ean In this context.Unde r my e ditorship, I think ethics have p layed a strong role and hug ely inf luence m ydecision-making.

As Ed itor I have a lways been de termined to foster a culture of honesty, integrity and highethical standards at the Sun. Like me, all the journalists use the PCC Code as their startingpoint in any debate ove r editorial ethics and behaviour. Our experience ove r many years indea ling w ith dilemm as in newsg athed ng and p ublication of controversial ma terial has builta we alth of informal precede nt wh ich we c an draw on when we ma ke de cisions. Thatdec ision-making proce ss olten involves m y m ost senior editors, the M anag ing Editorandthe in-house law yers. Staff at a m ass marke t tabloid newspape r like the S un are constantlyhaving to balance the public interest against an individuals right to a private I~. Plea serefer to my answer to question 18 for further d iscussion of this point.There a re boundaries and m any exa mp les of occasions when stories have not been runfor ethical rea sons despite their potential ed itorial and com me rcial value. M uch .privateinforma tion is often exclud ed from publica tion as is certain detail and pictures in sexual,

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murder and suicide c ases. There are also numerous examp les of information rega rdingmilitary operations being left out which w e felt m ight enda nger the lives of forces pe rsonnelor the public.I have chosen not to run details of high- profile first trimaster preg nancies on a num ber ofocca sions despite their obvious com me rcial appe al. In January last yea r, The S un leamedthat X-Fa ctor host, Dannii M inogue, wa s preg nant. After discussions with the singersrepresentatives, we learned that she had not yet had h er 12 w eek sc an. W e did nottherefore run the story, although a nother pape r did. Last m onth, I dec lined the wad dingphotographs of a newly-married shark attack victim because of the associated sensitivities.Similarly, we agreed not to publ ish a story of a g ay m an being held in custody in SaudiArabia a fter discussions with the Foreign O ffice . Details of a we ll-known "IV a ctresssbattle w ith d epression werent published after discussion with he r ag ent; the c elebrity latersold her story to another newspap er.The S un is a powe rful force for good. It has a strong moral com pass and I am proud to beits Editor. There a re m any exa m ples of how B ritains best-selling new spap er uses itspopularity to inform and im prove the lot of ordinary people.( i )

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The S un was the first m edia organisation to launch a wh olehearted ca mp aign tosupport the He lp for Heroes charity cam paign in 20 07 . By Ma y 20 11 the charityannounced it had raised over 10 0m to help injured service personnel providIngdirect, prac tica l support. An exam ple of The S uns work on this ca m paig n isattache d to this stateme nt behind tab (b) of exhibit DJM1 .In 2008 the S un launched The M imes" , an annual awa rd schem e to honourexcellence a nd bravery in the a rmed forces at a time whe n many of those m akingsacrif ices in faraway war zones w ere suffering from publ ic neglect. The awa rdsnight is attended by m em bers of the royal family and is televised in a primetimeprogram me attracting over 5 m viewers. An examp le of The S uns work on thiscam paign is attached to this statement behind tab (c) of e xhibit DJM1.

( i i i ) In 20 09 wh en the jobless total excee ded 2 .5m , The S un launched a d edicatedwee kly section called S unemploym ent for reade rs seeking w ork. In May this yearthe Sunemployment roadshow visited Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiffand Hastings. Thousands of people attended the Q&A sessions with businessleade rs, recruitm ent experts and m ajor emp loyers in eac h region. Since thecam paign f irst launched over 50 ,000 people ha ve been found work or trainingthrough it and it has rec eived the bac king of the Ch ance l lor of the E xche quer.Exam ples of The S uns work on this cam paig n are attached to this stateme ntbehind tab (d) of exhibit DJM1.

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During .our recent education week cam paign, The S un launched a we bsite "Hold yeFront Page ", w hich tells the g reat stories of 2 ,00 0 years of history and scientificbraakthmug h as if they we re Sun front pages. The idea ha s already p roduced abestselling book wh ich was cele brated at the time by Tony Blair, the former primem inister, as an e xcel lent teac hing aid. E xam ples of The S uns work on th iscam paign a re attach ed to this statement behind tab (e) of exhibit DJMI.After the dea th of the singe r Amy W inehouse earlier this year, the Sun Joined in apartnership with her father to launch a drug aw areness cam paign. Examp les of TheSuns work on this camp aign are a ttach ed to this stateme nt behind tab (f) of exhibitDJM1.Last year the S uns Ha iti chari ty single, ma sterminded by the m usic m ogul S imonCowell~ raised m ore than 1 m for disaster rel ief . Exam ples of The S uns work onthis campa ign are attached to this stateme nt behind tab (g) of exhibit DJM 1.

! believe it is this unique com bination of m aterial that ma kes The S un Britains best-sellingnewspap er. That said, publishing a da ily newspape r for eight mil l ion reade rs each da ywhe re thousands of articles are published ea ch w eek m eans that we work in a fast-movingenvironment where dec isions have to be m ade quickly. Mistakes ca n be m ade. If they are,then I endeav our to correct them as swiftly as possible and for myself and m y exec utiveteam to leam from them . -"Exp la in the extent to wh ich you, as a n ed i tor , fe l t any f inancia l and/or com m ercia lpressure f rom the propr ietors of your new spap er, or anyone else, and w hethe r anysuch pressure af fected a ny of the d ecisions you ma de a s editor.

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Clearly the new spape r business is a high ly pressurised one with intense c omp etition and Iam expec ted to produce a lively and e ntertaining new spape r with interesting and e xclusivecontent. I have never, however, felt under inappropriate pressure in that context.Explain the extent to which you, as an editor, had a financial incentive to printexclusive stories.The S un sells almost three million copies and ha s nearly eight m illion reade rs a day. S omeexclusive stories help d rive c irculation and I am paid a fair salary and bonus to produce a nentertaining and successful newspaper.Expla in whe ther , to the bes t o f your knowledge , your new spape r used, pa id o r hadany c onne ct ion with pr ivate Inve stig ators in order to source stories or Informa tionand/or paid or received payments In kind for such Information from the police,publ ic o f f ic ia ls , mobi le ph one com pa nies or others with acc ess to the sam e: I f so,

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please provide de ta ils of the num bers of occasions on which such investigators orother external providers of Information were used a nd of the a m ounts pa id to them .The Sun has used private investigators in the past to assist jouma lists on stodes, but I amnot aw are of any private investig ators being com m issioned unde r my e ditorship. Iunderstand tha t our pay me nt system is currently being review ed to provide the Inquiry withinforma tion requested c oncerning paym ents mad e to private investiga tors from 20 05onwards.The S un does, however , reg ularly use news ag encies and search ag ents to t race the

ad dresses and telephone num bers of people w e w ould l ike to contact in connect ion withstories. They are typical ly desk-based indiv iduals or ag encies w ho source ad dresses andother informa tion.from publicly ava ilable database s (for exam ple, historica l elec toral rolls,Compa nies H ouse records, Land Re gistry records and leg itimate telema rketers telephonelists).It typically c osts between 5 0 and30 0 to obtain an add ress for an individualfrom such anage ncy. Last year, The Sun paid app roximately 1 65,0 00 in fees to a small number of suchagents.To the best of my knowledge , The sun has neve r knowiqgly pa id or ma de paym ents in kindto police, public officials or mobile phone comp anies for information.W ha t w as your role in Instructing , paying or hav ing any other contact w ith suchprivate Inve stig ators andlor othe r external providers of inform ation?As a reporter and Sh owbiz Edltor, I regularly instructed a nd pa id tipsters, freelanc ers, newsag encies and, on a few occasions, search ag ents.I f such Investigators or other external providers of Inform ation were use d, w ha tpolicylprotocol, if any, w as used to fac i li tate the use of such inve stig ators or otherexternal providers of information (for example, in relation to how they wereIdenti fied, how they w ere ch osen, how they w ere pa id , the ir rem it , how they w eretold to chec k sources, wh at me thods they w ere told to or perm itted to emp loy inorder to obtain the Informa tion and so on)?I do not bel ieve there is any spe ci f ic p rotocol that g ovem s the h iring of pr iva teinvestiga tors, search a ge nts or other extem al providers of information, other than the newrequirem ent for the CE O s authorisation in relation to private investiga tors. As in ourdeal ings w ith any news ag ency, com pany or f reelance jouma l ist, there is a ge neralexpec tation that all e xternal p roviders w il l fulfi l their obliga tions leg ally a nd e thically. Thepape r generally uses search ag ents that we trust on the basis of experience.

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I f there wa s such a pol icy lprotocol , explain whe ther i t wa s fo llowed , and i f not, wh atpractice w as fol lowe d in respect of al l these m atters.See my a nswer above.Explain whether there are any situations in which neither the existingprotocol/po l icy nor the p ract ice we re fo llowed a nd, wh at prec isely hap pe ned l fai ledto hap pe n in those s i tuat ions. Wh at fac tors were in play In dec iding to dep art f romthe p rotocol or prac tice ?See my answer above.Explain the extent to w hich you are a wa re of protocols or po lic ies ope rat ing at yournew spap er in relation to expe nses or rem uneration pa id to other external source s ofinform at ion (whe theractuaUy c omm issioned by your newspap er or not) .The m ajority of pay m ents ma de to external, suppl iers are through the E ditoria lComm issioning Sy stem ("ECS "). This is used to pay indiv iduals, news and pictureag encies using a self-bill ing system in which an invoice is not needed to generatepaym ent. The pa yme nt is requested by the journalist and signed off by the releva nt deskhea d before being submitted to the M anag ing Ed itors office for app roval. The paym ent isthen m ade electronically d irect to the rec ipients bank ac count.Cash paym ents to sources are also made through the E CS, U nder the new paym entspolicy introduced in September 20 11 , cash payments must now be logg ed and signed off insequence by the head of department, the Editor or Deputy Editor, the Managing Editor orDeputy Manag ing Ed itor and then the journalist who requested It. Prior to September 2 01 1,there wa s a similar signing p roced ure but one w hich e nded w ith a nyone from the relevantdesk c ol lec ting the c ash. W ith the new system , the j0 uma list wh o f irst requested them oney m ust sign a book and a disclaime r outl ining tha t they ha ve h ad training in theBriberyAct and will follow NI com pany g uidelines on the use of the cash.Non-contributor paym ents, for example, studio fees and m odel ag ency c osts are ma dethrough the Comm on Approval Sy stem ("CAS"). This is a conventional acc ounts payable.acc ounting system , in wh ich the Supplier is paid on receipt of an invoice.Exp la in the p ract ice of your new spap er in re lation to pay m ent of expenses and /orremuneration paid to other external sources of information (whether actuallycom m issioned by your new spap er or not).

48 Please refer to my answer to question 16.(18) In respect of editodal decisions you have made to publish stories, explain the

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factors you hav e taken into ac count In balancing the p r lvata Interests of Indiv iduals( inc luding the fac t that Inform at ion m ay h ave been obtained f rom paid sources In thecircum stance s outl ined und er quea tion 11 above ) ag ainst the publ ic interest In a freepress. You should provide a number of examples of these, and explain how youhave Interpreted a nd a ppl ied the foreg oing publ ic Interest.The PCC Code sp ecifies that everyone is entitled to respec t for his oi" her private andfamily life, home , hea lth and correspondence, including dig ital com munication. Editors arealw ays e xpec ted to justify intrusions into someones private life w ithout their consent. Weoften talk to the PCC pre-p ublica tion and listen to the ir advice be fore dec iding wh ethe r topublish or not. Like other pop ular newspa pe rs w e ca n be controversial and do revea linforma tion about individuals in the public e ye, c elebrities and sports stars. I often dec ideto leave out certainprivate details but, if they a re a public figure, publication is balancedag ainst the indiv iduals previous public d isclosures of information and their responsibilities.For instance , I bel ieve that a sportsma n wh o trad es on a fam i ly ima g e to securesponsorship and c omm ercial deals ha s a responsibility to behav e in a c ertain way .Therefore it m ay be justifiable to expose tha t individual for indiscretions or lapses in theirbehaviour.

But the p ublic interest is extrem ely d ifficult to define and has to be assessed on a story-by-.story basis. It is a grey area , involving a ba lancing e xercise and I believe w e g et it rig htmore often than we g et it wrong.As referred to in my answer to question 8, there have been a number of exam ples wh en Ihave c hosen not to publish details about sensitive operational m ilitary informa tion, detailsof individuals pregnanc ies and health for ethical reasons. We w ill also routinely leav e outdetails and pictures of high-profile individuals home s, car num ber plates and familymembers.Last month, The S un exposed an individual who w as a senior mem ber of the B rit ishNa tional Party. The Suns reporter posed as a symp athiser to Infiltrate a g roup who ha dt rave l led to a Na zi eve nt in H unga ry. The subject wa s spotted and p hotograph edperforming a Hitler salute. This photog raph, together with the story, was published in thepape r and online and the individual in question subsequently lost his job. We published thisstory beca use I believe there is a c lear public interest defe nce in exposing the sinister sideof a m em ber of an orga nisation, which is trying to appe al to voters as a m oderate andcred ible political party. A copy of our front pag e on this story is attach ed to this statementbehind tab (h) of exh ibit DJMI.In May this year, The Sun revealed how the ca ptain of the Doncaster rugby lea gue teamsuccessful ly bet on his own teams defeat. The investigation showed h ow m atches are

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fixed; how the Doncaster captain bet his team w ould lose iq a Cha llenge Cup m atch by 38points; how a top rugby leag ue offic ial persuaded him to try and lose a gam e and howplaye rs pull tricks to swing a m atch . The Doncastar cap tain wa s fined and banned for 18months by the sports governing body. It was a trad itional investiga tion in the p ublic interestexposing w rongdoing in a sport popular am ong our readers. A copy of our front page onthis story is attached to this statement behind tab (1 ) of exhibit DJMI.

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54 .The S un has also exposed a court clerk wh o was alleg edly offering to wipe da ngerousdrivers convictions for financial g ain. The M ag istrates Court worker alleg edly boa sted thathe could clea n licence s for 5 00 cash. W hen w e hande d our informa tion over to policethey a sked if w e c ould hold off from publication for 24 hours to help their investiga tion. Iagreed and the detective in the case thanked us for our patience and the wa ywe handledthe ca se. A m an wa s later charge d w ith taking a bribe, misconduct in a public office andperverting the c ourse of justice and fa ces trial. I believe there w as a clea r public interest inexposing this crim inality. A cop y of thestow w e ran on this is attached to this statem entbehind tab (j) of exh ibit DJMI.

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Publishing in the public interest deserves to be considered in a w ider context than thejudge me nt of individual stories. It is in the public interest that a m ass m arket of reade rs iseduc ated in the significant issues of the day so tha t the country ca n exist as a functioningdem ocracy. The S un does this by mixing informa tive a rticles w ith entertainment in such apopular way that it sells 3m c opies a day on a Sa turday (acc ording to ABC figures) andcomm ands a readership of 7.8m (according to an NR S survey). In the pa st year 19 m.people in the U K h ave read a c opy of The Sun, which a mounts to 38% of the ad ul tpopulation. Each year 22 .5m UK adults have some form of interaction with The Sun eitherin print or online.To put this in context, the d ay a fter M icha el Jac ksons death, The S uns circulat ionincreased by more than 325 ,00 0 c opies - more than the c ombined total paid-for circulationof The Guardian and The Independent on any g iven day.Millions of ordinary w orking p eople d o not turn to The Financial "lime s or The "1 3m es tolearn, for example , about the latest attemp t to solve the G reek d ebt crisis. They discove r itin The Sun. A double pag e spread on July 22 hea dl ined "1 O we O uzo" described thebackg round to the 1 00 bn Eurozone bailout agreed at an em ergency summit in Brussels.I t was acc ompa nied by a g raphic de tail ing the debt, unem ployment rates and relativef inancial toxicity of 1 8 Europea n c ountries. It wa s popular, inform ative, educ ationaljournalism at its best, addressing the m ost imp ortant political issue of the yea r. On the nextpag e there was an article about how La dy G aGas father hired a stripper to teach h er pianoas a c hi ld . By creat ing a unique c hem istry of stor ies eve ry day The Sun e ducates,

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entertains and surprises Its mass audlenoe.Similarly, on Septem ber 30 2 011 , The S uns e~c luslve front page story concerned theManchester Unlt~3d goalkeeper David de Gee being caught shoplkting a doughnut from aTesco store. This ar~c le we nt around the world and ignbd d Lscussion and de bate onradio, "iV and social me dia. Inside the pa per that day, we laund~e d our new Hold Ye FrontP a g e e d u c . ,a f J o n a l w e b e l te w h i c h I" re f e r re d t o a b o v e .The S uns unique m ix of popular journalism g ives millions of peop le a sense of their ownplace in the nations pub~ life. It can m ake our readers smile andg lves a voice to theirpassions endpreJ~Jd lces. Our reade rs may be p rompted-to buyThe Sun to read the splashstory about the affair the Mane_.hester United footballer Ryan Glggs conduded with hisbrothers wife. But they w ill also discover more serious" elem ents inside. For examp le, TheSun mounted a "S haokle Britain" cam paign wh en Tony Blair refused a referendum on thenew E U Constitution; thousands of booklets "translating Eurospeak Into Sunspeak" w eredistributed in the UK and B russels in the best traditions of Thomas Paine, the 1 8th c enturypam phletee r. An example of f0he Suns work on this cam paig n Is attached to this stateme ntbehind tab (k) of exhibit DJM1 .

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60 Put simp ly, The Sun c onnects with the v alues, bread interests and obsessions of millions ofordinary working me n and women every da y and in doing so it serves a proper purpose inour democracy . It dtstlls oomplex Im portant Issues of the day, IncJuding politics, finance andlaw into concise reada ble copy w hioh" educ ates and enterta~ s. Publishing popularnewspapers is not a public service but the publication of comm ercially successful titles likeThe S un Is, I believe, in Itself In the p ublic Interest.

( tg) F.xplaln w hetheryou or your n ewspaper (to the beat of your knowled ge ) ever used orcomm issioned a nyone, w ho used comp uter hack ing in order to source storiesW o rfor any mason.

6t T o b e t h e b e s t o f m y k n o w le d g e , c o m p e e r h a c k i n g h a s n e v e r b e e n u s e d to s o u r c e s t o r ie sa n T h e S u n .

I believe that the fac ts stated in t h i s w i tn e s s s t a t e m e n t a r e tr u e .

SigI Iol!: :~ e d , .........................t4

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Documents

Witness Statement of Dominic Mohan