In March 2003, a committee of the House of Commons summoned the executive in charge of Rupert Murdoch?s British newspapers to a hearing and put him on the spot about aggressive tabloid reporting tactics.
?Is it time to clean up your act?? demanded one member of Parliament. Les Hinton, the executive chairman of News International at the time, was indignant in his reply. ?Clean up our act? Are you saying we?re dirty??
With revelations that some within News International?s ranks were not only dirty but criminal, Hinton is coming under scrutiny for what he did and did not know when he ran the company from 1995 until 2007, the period when the most egregious known examples of voice mail hacking by News International employees took place.
Gerald Kaufman, a member of Parliament who questioned Hinton at that 2003 hearing, recalled their frosty exchange. ?Clearly it was dirty,? he said. ?It?s not just I. It?s everybody in British public life who?s saying it?s dirty.?
Even in a company noted for its loyalty, Hinton stands out both for his length of service ? he has worked for Rupert Murdoch for more than 50 years ? and for his wide experience within the News Corporation. He has worked in almost every part of the company and is chief executive of Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and the crown jewel of Murdoch?s American news media empire.
It can seem difficult to square Hinton?s 12-year run at News International ? a company whose papers ran pictures of nude women and paid sources for information ? with his leadership of Dow Jones and The Journal, a paper that until recently preferred sketches over photographs.
It is his tenure at News International that is now being re-examined. In statements to Parliament after the hacking came to light in 2006, Hinton said that it was limited to one rogue reporter. Hinton also said he was never presented with any evidence that led him to believe the practice was widespread. No one has linked Hinton, 67, to the eavesdropping. But as evidence grows showing that intercepting private voice mail messages was common practice at Murdoch publications in Britain, his remarks would indicate at best that he unwittingly allowed a corrupt journalistic culture to flourish underneath him.
?One explanation is connivance and alleged criminality,? said Claire Enders, a media analyst in Britain who has examined the potential fallout that the scandal could have on Murdoch?s businesses. ?Another is a complete absence of engagement with the business ? neither of which is expected of a senior officer of a major company.?
One of the editors Hinton hired for The News of the World, Neil Wallis, was arrested on Thursday in connection with the hacking scandal. The two served together as members of Britain?s Press Complaints Commission, with Hinton as chairman of the committee that sets journalistic standards.
Few people who work for Murdoch are closer to him than Hinton. At age 15, he joined the first paper that Murdoch ever owned, The News of Adelaide, a tabloid in South Australia. Two years ago, Murdoch threw a party for Hinton celebrating his 50th year with News Corporation. Delivering the toasts were Murdoch; The New York Post?s editor, Col Allan; and Rebekah Brooks, the former News of the World editor.