A journalist at Rupert Murdoch’s the Sun tabloid has been arrested on suspicion of police corruption, British media reported on Friday, a development that spreads the taint of scandal to the country’s biggest-selling newspaper.
UK broadcasters and newspapers identified the journalist as award-winning editor Jamie Pyatt, whose name appeared on one of the Sun’s most sensational scoops — a story with a photograph showing Britain’s Prince Harry attending a costume party dressed in Nazi garb.
Reporters could not immediately confirm whether Pyatt had been arrested, although the Sun’s publisher, News International, confirmed that one of its current employees had been detained. Police said only they had apprehended a 48-year-old man “outside of London” and had brought him to the capital for questioning. Public records show that Pyatt lives in Windsor, just outside of London.
Word of Pyatt’s arrest first broke on Twitter, where photographer Alison Webster, who has worked for the Sun, said Pyatt had been arrested. When contacted by reporters, Webster said she was only repeating something she’d heard from a colleague.
Police said later on Friday that the suspect was bailed until March pending further questioning.
The Sun is Britain’s highest-circulation daily, putting out more than 2.7 million copies a day, according to Britain’s Audit Bureau of Circulation. It was once one of Murdoch’s most profitable papers and until recently wielded considerable political influence — the paper famously claimed to have swung the 1992 election in favor of Britain’s right-leaning Conservatives.
An ethics scandal at the Sun could mean further legal and financial problems for Murdoch’s global media empire, which has already had to write off US$91 million in costs linked to the closure of its News of the World tabloid. The paper was shut down in July after it emerged that its staff had routinely intercepted the cellphone voicemails of public figures.
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