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the Times Phone-Hacking Trial

Editor of The Times reveals phone-hacking scandal hit the paper’s circulation

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

July 28, 2011 | 2 min read

The sales figures of The Times were affected by the handling of the phone hacking crisis, the newspaper’s editor James Harding has admitted.

Speaking to The Media Show on BBC Radio 4, Harding said that subscriptions had been cancelled to both the newspaper and the website as a result of the company’s response to the news that sister title the News of the World had hacked Milly Dowler’s phone.

"In the first couple of weeks after the Milly Dowler story broke we were acutely concerned about it and with good reason. There were some people who were not just disgusted by the News of the World but wanted to express that anger in any way they could," admitted Harding.

He went on to say: "I was very concerned for the reputation of journalism generally the moment I woke. We are now three and a half weeks, the better part of a month on.

"I think if you went round the country today and you said: 'Do you still think that's it's important in a free society that the press hold the powerful and the privileged to account?', I think they would say ‘yes’. If you said 'Do you think it would be a good idea for David Cameron and Ed Miliband to set the terms of the way in which newspapers work?', most people would say no."

Harding also stated his belief that Rupert Murdoch was no back in charge of the company after dropping his bid to takeover BSkyB and the resignation of News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks.

the Times Phone-Hacking Trial

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