Growing calls for inquiry into media

Calls for an inquiry into media behaviour are growing in Australia as the impact of the News of the World phone hacking scandal travels beyond Britain.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she is "shocked and disgusted" by the scandal, which began when the British tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch was outed for hacking the phones of celebrities and then escalated amid revelations that the paper's journalists invaded the voicemail accounts of a teenage murder victim and the relatives of fallen soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ms Gillard's comments on Thursday followed those by British MPs of all parties who expressed outrage this week over the growing list of allegations which included payments to police and the accusation by former prime minister Gordon Brown that the Murdoch-owned The Sunday Times had employed known criminals to gather personal information on his bank account, legal files and tax affairs.

Mr Brown also claimed this week that The Sunday Times and The Sun, another Murdoch tabloid, in 2006 had used subterfuge to reveal his infant son's medical records.

Ms Gillard said on Thursday she would be happy to sit down with other politicians and discuss the possibility of a parliamentary review into the media, as suggested by Australian Greens leader Bob Brown.

Senator Brown said the scandal provided an opportune moment to consider whether the news media needed a monitor with statutory powers.

"It's very clear that here in Australia there's sufficient concern about the potential unrolling of similar events," he told reporters.

Senator Brown said one journalist had told him this week that he should be careful what he says on the phone.

But when asked if he believed anyone was listening to his conversations, Senator Brown offered an unequivocal "no".

He again attacked the strong influence Mr Murdoch has in cities like Brisbane and Adelaide where the media tsar owns the only major daily newspapers.

Senator Brown suggested the Australian Communication and Media Authority could potentially take on a regulatory role.

The journalists union warned against any formal regulation.

"I think we need to be very careful about words like 'enforcing ethics'," the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) federal secretary Christopher Warren told ABC 24.

"It's important to remember that in the United Kingdom, this story was exposed through the freedom of the media."

In the US, key Democratic senator Jay Rockefeller predicted that any formal investigation there would find evidence of phone hacking.

Senator Rockefeller has called for "the appropriate agencies" to probe whether alleged hacking by members of Murdoch's media empire extended to US citizens.

"I am concerned that the admitted phone hacking in London by the News Corp may have extended to 9/11 victims or other Americans. If they did, the consequences will be severe," Senator Rockefeller said.

Under British government pressure, Mr Murdoch dropped his bid for control of pay-TV giant BSkyB on Wednesday.

Hours before Britain's three main parties were set to back an extraordinary parliamentary vote calling for the withdrawal of the bid, Mr Murdoch's US-based News Corp said it was now "too difficult to progress in this climate".

After decades as Britain's political kingmaker, Mr Murdoch has seen his empire threatened by a wave of public outrage over the scandal.

In Australia, News Limited chairman and chief executive John Hartigan has described the phone-hacking scandal in Britain as a "heavy hit" but defended the group's Australian journalists while ordering a review of editorial expenditure over the past three years.

Mr Hartigan wrote to News Limited staff this week arguing that it was "offensive and wrong" for "some media outlets, certain commentators and some politicians" to "connect the behaviour in the UK with News Limited's conduct in Australia", the Murdoch-owned The Australian reported on Wednesday.

News Limited's internal auditor would be conducting a "thorough review" of editorial expenditure over the past three years at the company's metropolitan newspapers such as The Australian and The Daily Telegraph to confirm payments to contributors were legitimate, Mr Hartigan announced.