In May 2009, a reporter working for the News Corp-controlled UK newspaper, The Times, hacked into the email of an anonymous police blogger. Today, The Times’ editor, James Harding, apologized to the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics saying, “I sorely regret the intrusion into Richard Horton’s email account by a journalist in our newsroom. On behalf of the newspaper, I apologise.” Last week, British Labour Party MP Tom Watson said the Metropolitan police had begun an investigation into The Times over email hacking. That would make it the third News Corp controlled paper to be subject to related probes. Harding, who was recalled today to Lord Justice Leveson’s chamber, previously told the inquiry that a Times reporter had been given a formal warning after accessing private emails without authorization. Today, he added, “I squarely do not approve of what has happened.”


Yes, we’re very sorry…that we got caught.
Cagey editors. That’s a new one.
This is actually even more egregious than Deadline reports. James Harding, the Times’ editor, knew the reporter had hacked Richard Horton’s email account but kept that fact from the judge who then made the 2009 landmark ruling that Mr. Horton’s identity could be revealed because it had been “deduced” using publicly available information.