By Ray Fleming
NEWSPAPER'S fight like cats and dogs in their daily business. Being first with an exclusive story develops a keen competitive spirit that can even lead to an unwillingness to acknowledge the existence of another paper. But there are times when even the most highly developed sense of competition must be put on one side.
On Monday, for instance, The Times had a leading article condemning in unqualified terms the attempt by the Metropolitan Police to compel The Guardian to reveal the source of its information that reporters of the News of the World had hacked into the phone of Millie Dowler, the murdered schoolgirl. This revelation was a turning point in the phone-hacking scandal and the Met claims that The Guardian's access to it may have breached the Official Secret Act of 1989.
The Times described the police action as an attack on the principle of free expression, the workings of a free press and the future of investigative journalism and suggested that it may have been an attempt to prevent institutional embarrassment.
Last week the new Met Commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe ordered an inquiry into its handling of the phone-hacking affair.
He would encourage confidence in his appointment if he were also to withdraw the request the Met has already made for a court order against The Guardian.