Hack Attack: The Inside Story of How the Truth Caught Up with Rupert Murdoch

by Nick Davies

The definitive book on how the News of the World phone-hacking scandal reached the highest echelons of power in the government, security, and media in the UK, from the journalist who broke the story. At first, it seemed like a small story. The royal editor of the News of the World was caught listening to the voicemail messages of staff at Buckingham Palace. He and a private investigator were jailed, and the case was closed. But Nick Davies, special correspondent for The Guardian, knew that it didn't add up. He began to investigate, and ended up exposing a world of crime and cover-up, of fear and favor―the long shadow of Rupert Murdoch's media empire.

Hack Attack is the mesmerizing story of how Davies and a small group of lawyers and politicians took on one of the most powerful men in the world―and beat him. It exposes the inner workings of the ruthless machine that was the News of the World, and of the private investigators who hacked phones, listened to live calls, sent Trojan horse emails, bribed the police, and committed burglaries to dig up tabloid scoops. Above all, it is a study of the private lives of the power elite. It paints an intimate portrait of the social network that gave Murdoch privileged access to government, and allowed him and his lieutenants to intimidate anyone who stood up to them. Spanning the course of the investigation from Davies's contact with his first source in early 2008 to the resolution of the criminal trial in June 2014, this is the definitive record of one of the major scandals of our time, written by the journalist who was there every step of the way.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Journalism, History, Business, True Crime, Crime

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Neil Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freedom of the press and freedom of speech are such fundamental cornerstones in the foundations of democracy that it becomes an affront and outrage to the principles by which we live and are Governed when the Fourth Estate abuses its protections and priviledged position in undermining the very Democracy that vests so much trust and empowerment in it. Nick Davies' account of the systemic abuse by the Murdock Tabloid press of that trust as revealed by the hacking scandals is not so much a tale of biting the hand that feeds as one of visciously savaging and maiming it.

Davies' book is fundamentally about power and the casual, arrogant abuse of power; it is also about truth or the lack it. For in a democratic political system, abuse of power & corruption cannot live in the open; they need to be covered by a web of deceipt , lies and secrecy. The book depressingly shatters ones' confidence not only in the Journalistic profession, but also in the Police, regulators and ultimately in the highest institutions of Government who not only Toadyed up to and schmoozed with seedy muck-rakers, but actually recruited one of their ringleaders and brought a criminal into the heart of Downing street.

More shocking than the phone hacking itself are the passages detailing the influemce of Murdock and his Lieutenants on political decision making and policy arising from the Politicans' fear of bullying or "monstering" at the hands of Murdock henchmen.Daives meticulously and painstakingly outlines his own trail in uncovering the scandal; every second chapter chronociles his steps, progress and setbacks in his investigation, while the alternate chapters construct a fly-on-the-wall narrative of what was going on pieced together from interviews with Journalists, investigators, politicans, police officers and testimony from the Leveson enquiry.

Whilst Daives is undoubtably fearless, brave, determined and crusading, he does adopt a moral high ground position which is somewhat dismissive of those he considers beneath him intellectually; one suspects there is a mild case of, if not quite vindictiveness, then certainly minor score settling and belittling. He also loses the run of himself somewhat in exaggerating the influence of the Murdock press over such monumentous events as the decision not to join the Euro, to go to war in Iraq, as well as fiscal policy under the Labour Governments. A rant against neoliberalism is also completely out of place in the final chapter.

Despite these minor flaws, the Central achievement of this book is that, by exposing the truth about power and how absue of power corrupts the truth, it restores faith in the ability of Journalism to be a force for good, for truth and for justice to prevail in the democratic system that guarantees Journalism its freedoms. Daives expose is evidence that honest, open journalism can act as a powerful antedote in overcoming and exposing its own darker side.

[Louise Ebenhöh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't miss the epilogue of this book. For those of us who followed the phone hacking scandal from the beginning, this was a great overview and a blow by blow rapid-fire account of how it started, developed into the biggest scandal in British journalism, and how it ended. It is also a fascinating study in determination on the part of the author, who broke the story originally and who followed it through despite having a full case-load of other stories to write. Nick Davies is the writer who brought us Flat Earth News and Dark Heart (read them if you haven't) - and deserves every award going for his Olympic level persistence in seeing this battle through. As he mentions in the epilogue, the war's not over. His reflections on what it all means was truly fascinating and a fitting end to this marathon of brilliant investigative journalism.
And don't miss the epilogue. Have I said that already?

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[Horza]

This is a book about power.

Some investigative journalism is involved, but as Davies points out early in piece, his inquiries were not a Watergate-style mystery chase. Clear evidence indicating that sustained phone hacking had taken place at the News of the World and other publications was there in the public record, following it up wasn't a matter of hunting down unlisted numbers and working dead drops with mystery sources but one of forcing the Metropolitan Police to release the mountain of incriminating evidence they had seized and withheld from victims and the public at large.

While investigative reporting got the ball rolling, the crucial tool was the court system. Much of this book is the story of Davies' efforts to inform, recruit and collaborate with other journalists, lawyers and hacking victims to pursue News Limited in court, in the process forcing Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service to reveal the hard evidence needed to break down the official fiction that hacking had been limited to a rogue reporter.

This effort was crucial, for while it was clear to Davies that the collapse of the rogue reporter defence was a matter of time, the breakthrough that (momentarily) severed the political class’s deference to Murdoch -- the Milly Dowler revelations -– came just in time to scupper News Limited’s bid for the remaining stake in BSkyB, and with it complete dominance of UK satellite television and untold riches.

Interestingly, this campaign was substantially assisted by Max Moseley, the former F1 boss, a hacking victim, and, crucially, an old man with nothing to lose and large trust fund to pour into the litigation efforts of those who had suffered similarly at News Limited’s hands.

As it was, the final chapters of the book are a grim reminder of just how fleeting these moments of accountability are. Once the white heat of public outrage cooled, Fleet Street and News moved in to trash the Leveson inquiry findings, joined shortly thereafter by Number 10, foreclosing the possibility of any serious change to the old arrangements. New laws were introduced making it harder for journalists to keep sources and material secret from the police – as if police efforts to prosecute News were hampered for want of evidence – and business as usual resumed. The acquittal of Rebekah Brooks, assisted by the deletion of email archives and Murdoch-funded legal team that vastly outgunned the Crown Prosecution Service serves to underline the point: shame, outrage and hard facts come off second best in a collision with a shitload of money and power.

[Alena · Rating 4 out of 5]

"So it was that a whole generation of English men and women were told that they should lose the welfare state and the trade unions and the protective laws for which their ancestors had fought and the balance of power should be tipped backwards by a century and more, because this would make them free; and, in case they hesitated for a moment and questioned the idea that the wealthy elite would know and care more about their welfare than their own parents and grandparents, they were also offered a little cash. "Vote to return to laissez-faire capitalism, and we will cut your taxes. You may lose your society but you will gain a bigger TV." A very great theft was organised on the simple basis that its victims had nothing to lose but a decent life."

[Keen Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It’s fair to say that reporting is a great deal easier than most reporters like to pretend. People tell you things; you do your best to check them out; and then you tell a lot of other people what you’ve found. There are some hidden subtleties in there and a few simple skills, but generally speaking, there is nothing very clever about it.” is how Nick Davies describes his craft.

It’s important to note just how vitally important this book and other books like it are, especially in the current political landscape. As Murdoch owns so much of the media, many of these books don’t get the exposure or praise that they deserve and as a result many can miss out. This sits alongside “Dial M For Murdoch.” as a hugely significant source on what was going on in the UK mainstream media for far too long, and not just in the papers, but also in the corridors of power elsewhere.

We cannot underestimate the patience, willpower and sheer strength of character it must have taken Nick Davies, Alan Rusbridger and many others to go through with this long term investigation, especially when most people were vehemently against them in the initial stages, many of the major news organisations were not only reticent to back them, but went out of their way to rubbish them, the likes of Boris Johnson and Stephen Glover who would later go onto change their tune. Let’s not forget “The Guardian” were taking on the largest news organisation in the country and the largest police force and the largest political party and, for good measure, the Press Complaints Commission. To call them brave is a vast understatement, their persistence and determination and not to mention damn hard work, eventually lead to one of the most shocking scandals to surface in the UK in recent times. Quite simply this is one of the most important pieces of journalism to emerge in the UK in the 21st Century.

Davies really does uncover quite a disgusting world, crawling with serpents, reptiles and plenty of vermin. He shows how a succession of governments and leaders has allowed Murdoch to grow from a relatively unknown Aussie outsider in the 60s to the political king maker he is in the UK today, as Davies illustrates, “Since 1979, no British government has been elected without the support of Rupert Murdoch.” Reading some of the ways in which our senior politicians and even prime ministers have ran scared of Murdoch and his minions is depressing as it is shocking, we know what to expect from tabloids, but we at least expect a bit more from our democratically elected figures. On the evidence here we seem to have a succession of cowardly, privately educated stooges who do what they are told by Murdoch, no matter the real cost to the people they are supposed to represent. It surely brings up some serious questions regarding the standard of our so called democracy in the UK. These are the same people who sneeringly condescend to those who chose not to participate in the voting process and they wonder why so many people feel disenfranchised and apathetic to them and what they stand for?...

Make no mistake about it, the conduct of most of the so called journalists, people playing at policemen and politicians here is largely vile and disgusting and almost nothing to do with genuine journalism, law enforcement or genuine democracy whatsoever. The connections of various senior politicians, journalists, police and prime ministers is a deliberately murky scene of mutual back scratching, mutual interests and keeping themselves in power with no concerns or respect for trifling laws. It’s the sort of situation that makes a mockery of western democracy and the kind of thing that many think only happens in other countries.

Starting way back with the so called “Iron Lady”, we find that she certainly was for turning when Murdoch appeared. In fact it would appear that she was positively spineless, supple and supine in the ways she was willing to move to accommodate Murdoch’s increasing demands. Her shameless bending and manipulation of the rules, ensured that Murdoch got what he wanted and his then rival, Robert Maxwell, was shot down. Moving into the 21st Century, aside from Tony Blair being appointed godfather to one of Murdoch's kids, we find Andy Coulson moving from the editor of one of Murdoch’s nationals to working closely with the prime minister of the UK. The whole charade of democracy stinks and the evidence uncovered in Leveson clearly raises so many worrying issues around why Murdoch is still allowed to thrive to the extent he does in the UK today.

“The world’s greatest newspaper 1843-2011.” was the declaration from the front page of the last ever “NotW” showing exactly how contrite, humble and honest they really were. “Unbelievable, unspeakable and despicable.” were Mitsubishi’s thoughts as they pulled their advertising from the doomed paper. Nothing appeared to be too low or morally or ethically unacceptable, as long as they could get to what they thought was their story. These are people who went about their jobs with a bullying arrogance and entitlement, acting with total impunity. This is only the stuff we know about, it makes you think what other stories and poison was hiding elsewhere, not least in the millions of emails they managed to delete before the police got to them. You had a situation where tabloid journos, so drunk on power and importance they were even staking out the homes of police officers in a bid to dig dirt.

Clearly the vast majority of people at the London Met are like most other people in that they try to a decent job, but the problem was that a tiny minority at the senior level were making it very hard for the others to do this. It’s important to understand how the London Met’s inaction made so much of this possible. “Set aside for a moment the question of why the police acted as they did. The immediate point is that by opting to say nothing, the effect was to enable the success of a dishonest conspiracy that was taking place outside Scotland Yard, at the headquarters of Rupert Murdoch’s UK company.” Scotland Yard chose to sit on a mountain of evidence for over four years, denying, deceiving and deliberately misleading many, many victims and investigators as to how much information they really had concerning the victims of phone tapping. Senior members of the Yard were also being regularly wined and dined by senior members of News International whilst the so called investigation was going on.

His description of officers descending on the offices of News International offices is the stuff of Keystone cops, “As four officers started to collect paperwork from Goodman’s desk, they were confronted by executives who argued that they had no right to search a journalist’s property, which has some special protections in law. The officers hesitated. Somebody called in a couple of photographers who started taking pictures. The inspector in charge reported that he feared they would be attacked. Outside the building, more officers were barred from getting through the front door. Three News International lawyers turned up, took the four officers into a conference room and persuaded them to stop searching …The managing editor, Stuart Kuttner, joined the lawyers and physically blocked them. The raid was abandoned.” Later on Scotland Yard sneakily closed down their operation without telling anyone or even completing the investigation.

Never under estimate the ego and greed of those in power and never forget of their potential for outright incompetence. The lengths Cameron went for Murdoch, possibly arranged over the many meals they shared together. He took away 28.2% of Ofcom’s budget for 4 years and then froze the BBC license fee for 6 years too, all which was of great help to Murdoch’s empire. Then of course there’s are the many texts from Rebekah Brooks to David Cameron, the following one was sent before giving a significant speech read, “I am so rooting for you, not just as a personal friend but because professionally we are in this together. Speech of your life? Yes he Cam!” When things really started to go against Brooks and News International, none other than Tony Blair came slithering in the shadows hissing to help her in any way he could, in spite of it directly going against his own party’s interests, but just like Cameron and all good politicians, he has long since mastered the act of saying one thing to the public, and saying something entirely different when they think no one else can hear them.

The conclusions and results of the Leveson enquiry were immensely disappointing and not particularly effective. The fact that Murdoch and his many minions are still allowed to work in the UK and continue to do what they do speaks volumes about the British establishment and the ruling elite and what it really stands for. Toward the end Davies quotes the economist Joseph Stiglitz, “Those at the top have learned how to suck money from the rest in ways that the rest are hardly aware of. That is their true innovation.” He closes by saying, “For a while, we snatched a handful of power away from one man. We did nothing to change the power of the elite.”

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[Abhinav · Rating 5 out of 5]

First five-star review of 2016.

A riveting account of how one journalist from the Guardian dared to take on News Corp, one of the world's biggest media conglomerates and expose the wrongdoings of its British tabloid "News of the World", later known as the 'phone-hacking scandal'.

A brilliant work of investigative journalism that deserves to be read. Highly recommended.

[Nick Soulsby · Rating 5 out of 5]

just closed Nick Davies’ “Hack Attack.” It’s the account of the ten year battle to finally bring to light the role of Rupert Murdoch’s News International organisation in using illegal means to acquire information; the way the organisation deliberately attacked individuals and their families if an individual dared to protest their behaviour; how News International created a climate in which neither police, regulators nor politicians dared tackle their corruption because the consequences would be massive assaults and vilification by a news organisation that owned a vast percentage of news coverage online, on paper and on TV in the U.K. and internationally. It’s about how that organisation explicitly and knowingly lied over the course of a decade to the police, to the regulator, to the courts, to all the democratically elected representatives of the British people.

Here are a few numbers. In the court trials that took place over the last few years, the representatives of our democracy, the Crown Prosecution Service, were able to muster £1.7 million, one full time solicitor and one administrative assistant to make the case. News International spent £30-40 million aggressively defending its representatives and deployed an army of legal representatives and support staff. Why does it matter? It’s an example of what happens when greater powers are invested in private corporations than in our public services. The corporation is able to devastate any attempt to make them take responsibility for the harm they’ve done to the public good. The government that the people have elected to represent, as best as possible, their collective interests and to protect them from harm is no longer able to wield true power in the face of the buying power possessed by the corporations. There is nothing defending the lives and well-being of the public; we are all at risk.

It goes deeper. News International is an organisation that recognises that governments are the only bodies able to exercise any control over their behaviour. Therefore News International deliberately advocates the shrinking of governments, the reduction of their revenue, the weakening of their regulatory powers, the most stringent controls over their spending. News International does so in order to ensure that it possesses a competitive advantage over the only organisation able to exercise any restraint upon their corruption. It attacks tax levels, attacks public service in general, in order to reduce the expertise and skills available to the judiciary, to the police force, to the tax authorities, to all levels of our political establishment making it less likely wrong-doing will be detected, prevented or punished.

The hacking scandal was not a case of a few celebrities getting their fingers burned. Of the hackers exposed after all those years, one had hacked a minimum of 5,500 people, another had hacked a further 1,600. Those people included the family and friends of a couple who’s child was abducted. It included the family and friends of a murdered school girl – the newspaper’s representatives went further and didn’t hand over evidence that at the time they believed indicated where the girl was, they wanted to claim credit themselves and to sell more papers so didn’t give it to the police. News International went after the family and friends of two girls murdered in the town of Soham. In other words, if you, your family, your parents, your children, your friends – anyone you know – gets caught up in a tragedy, all their conversations and information (medical records, police records, bank records, employment records, diaries, etc.) and yours too would immediately have become something News International stole and used to make profit for their company.

News International destroyed 210 million emails during the course of the investigations. The leaders within the police service who led the early investigations were being wined and dined by, and were friends with, the people they were meant to investigate – the police deliberately misled parliament, the public, the courts and the inquiries. The Press Complaints Commission which was meant to ensure that newspapers respected the laws of this country saw its role as being to deflect criticism away from its richest benefactors and was too scared to speak out against them because it would mean News International (the Sun, the Times, the News of the World, Sky News) would send teams out to attack and slur them. The governments, both Labour and Conservative, were too busy trying to ensure good coverage and to avoid attempts to undermine them with sleaze stories, critical coverage and attacks that they were unwilling to speak out and decided instead to give jobs to people who had broken the law, to attend their parties, call them friends, privilege their views. News International was allowed to tell your government and my government what their policies should be. Surely that’s meant to be the right of the people?

At root, in amidst the sheer scale of it all, there’s a simpler story of bullies and damaged people who gain satisfaction from the exercise of power over ‘the little people'; it’s a tale of people who grew up as we all did on the bible tales of doing unto others as you would have done unto yourself…Then abandoned that in favour of personal profit over any moral consideration.

It’s an amazing book. Well written, lengthy but with so many moments of stunning revelation that you’ll barely be able to close your mouth at times for sheer fury. I found myself punching the air through sheer frustration as the suit-wearing white-collar criminals slipped through the net (while setting themselves up as judge and jury over everyone else.) Amazing. Nick Davies’ “Hack Attack”. An amazing book and I’d like to bow respectfully to the author for what sounds like a harrowing experience over more than a decade.

[Julian Douglass · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book and fantastic expose on Fleet Street. It reads like a thriller although you know the ending to it, which makes it much better. Good writing and storytelling with the back and forth between what was happening during the expose and all the behind the scenes stuff leading up to the troubles. Fantastic read. Good job.

[Alpheus Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A true and honest account of blackmail, intimidation, malice, invasion of privacy and toxic falsehood. We know it's a nasty, selfish and crooked world at times, but when those who practise such malice, bullying and corruption have such a strangle hold on our police and our politicians we should become concerned...very concerned. Guardian journalist, Nick Davies has written a gripping account of his David and Goliath struggle with Rupert Murdoch and the Fleet Street hacks. Davies claims only a pyrrhic victory but he does for a short period of time strip the veneer from the corporate monster and expose the rot and power that threatens our democracy. He's a brave man and this is an important account of corruption and abuse of power from a corporation that wields enormous influence, not only in Britain, but the USA and Australia and threatens the very principles on which our governments were established. As a previous reviewer suggest...make certain you read the epilogue....Highly recommended.

[Alpheus Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A true and honest account of blackmail, intimidation, malice, invasion of privacy and toxic falsehood. We know it's a nasty, selfish and crooked world at times, but when those who practise such malice, bullying and corruption have such a strangle hold on our police and our politicians we should become concerned...very concerned. Guardian journalist, Nick Davies has written a gripping account of his David and Goliath struggle with Rupert Murdoch and the Fleet Street hacks. Davies claims only a pyrrhic victory but he does for a short period of time strip the veneer from the corporate monster and expose the rot and power that threatens our democracy. He's a brave man and this is an important account of corruption and abuse of power from a corporation that wields enormous influence, not only in Britain, but the USA and Australia and threatens the very principles on which our governments were established. Highly recommended.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Davies' narrative jumped around a lot and, while interesting at first, got rather tedious after a while. It was sad to see the dishonesty among news organizations and the financially powerful. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, and I guess I wasn't (entirely), but it was still sad.

It didn't take too long to note that the political right were the bad guys and the political left the good guys. I thought it interesting that when someone's illegal and/or immoral actions were exposed by Murdock's papers, it was terrible that his(her) life was ruined, but when investigations by Davies or his allies were published and ruined someone's life it was just that wrongdoer getting what he(she) deserved.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even if (like me) you followed these events in the Guardian, it is great to have the whole story set out in book form, and of course with the early stages augmented by more recent material covering the same periods. Reading the story as a continuous narrative emphasises the criminality of the Murdoch empire, but given that I'm finishing the book during the UK election campaign I'm still very conscious of the power of the Murdoch press. How could so much and such pervasive criminality have been exposed by Nick Davies, and yet people are still willing to buy and - presumably - be influenced by Murdoch's newspapers?

[Rob Adey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars both for Nick Davies' excellent work on this story (the most shocking revelation of which is that people who aren't on Seinfeld actually use voicemail), and for the book, which does a great job of making a long and complicated series of trials and inquiries involving several Dunbar numbers of players pacy and clear.

A bonus is the unexpectedly hardboiled language Davies occasionally uses (chasing leads "from hell to breakfast"), and the revelation that he worked on the story while galloping around on a horse, occasionally pausing to phone ideas to his answer machine.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nick Davies, the reporter who first broke the hacking scandal in the UK, tells the story of his experience in this page-turner of a book. Though I wished he'd talked more about the implications of the scandal in terms of privacy rights and freedom (both of individuals, and of the government to function without interference from power-brokers), it's an eye-opener. And though this particular story happened in Britain, it certainly made me consider the role the media--and particularly Murdoch and company--play in US politics. It ain't pretty.

[Steve White · Rating 3 out of 5]

I originally heard about this book on the ABC's "Conversations" with Richard Fidler and was very intrigued.
The book is well written but at times extremely in depth where I found myself confused and often going back over paragraphs. It's clear that Davies has put a great deal of work and hours into this book and should be congratulated.
The fact that I just couldn't quite give it four stars was that if felt like a textbook and at times a little droll.

[K C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting review of the history and details of the Murdoch phone hacking scandal including the behind the scenes investigations and information that I had either missed in the news coverage, or that wasn't revealed at the time. Explains why Rebekhah Brooks was acquitted for lack of evidence against her and how much evidence was either destroyed or never found.

[Jim Arkedis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great commentary on power, press, and the Murdochs. Found myself skimming the long-ish sections about minutiae of the investigations and prosecutions -- they are necessary additions to document for history, but not terribly compelling for the reader. Davies is at his best when he steps back and analyses his industry.

[Jane Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many of us followed the hacking scandal in fits and starts, as it unfolded in the media. Here, Nick Davies, who was instrumental in exposing what was going on, brings the story together, and tells us what the papers and the BBC didn't tell us. It's riveting and very disturbing stuff, about the power of a media mogul to destroy democracy. The epilogue is a brilliant summary of neoliberalism.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult, unsettling read but more from content than style. Style is straightforward chronology. The hypocrisy and cynicism of journalists and police is eye opening. End comments were sobering, door is open and unlikely to close.

[Beth Shultz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting at times, but basically boring. The worst of journalism on display. But what else is new? Won this book from goodreads.

[David Brady · Rating 5 out of 5]

A searing account of a period in which tabloids ruled all and for which they fought tooth and nail to protect at the expense of its victims and it's investigators. Wow. Just bloody wow. Read it.

[Jessica Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an example of excellent journalism and why we need it.

[M Eve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extremely detailed. This would be a fascinating textbook 'auxiliary read' for journalism students.