Media Matters, a Media watchdog group, has called for an investigation into an allegation on a right-wing news network, Fox News, that TV channel had hired a private investigator to hack into the phone details of their reporter.
New York writer Gabriel Sherman’s article quoted unnamed executives: “This was the culture. Getting phone records doesn’t make anybody blink.”
The writer Sherman has been working for the past month on the ongoing Fox News saga, wrote this in his latest article:
“Fox News also obtained the phone records of journalists, by legally questionable means. According to two sources with direct knowledge of the incident, Brandi, Fox’s general counsel, hired a private investigator in late 2010 to obtain the personal home- and cell-phone records of Joe Strupp, a reporter for the liberal watchdog group Media Matters. (Through a spokesperson, Brandi denied this.)”
Bradley Beychok, president of Media Matters said the organization is “considering all legal options”.
“From what we witnessed with Rupert Murdoch and News Corp’s prior phone hacking scandal, it’s critical for an immediate investigation of Roger Ailes and any other current or former Fox News employees who may have been involved in this illegal practice,” Beychok wrote. “Roger Ailes and Fox News broke the law by hacking into the phone records of Media Matters employees. Anyone involved in the illegal hacking should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and we are considering all legal options.”
Rupert Murdoch's cable TV channel, Fox News general counsel Dianne Brandi had ordered an investigation into the reports.