Media coverage in conjunction with the news media phone hacking scandal unaware of phone hacking. The newspaper was encouraged earlier that year by "The Guardian" to investigate and report on phone hacking. The NY Times reported the disclosures made by "The Guardian" regarding Milly Dowler's hacked phone on the same day "The Guardian" article appeared. The Independent; (5 July 2011) "The Independent" covered "The Guardian's" story about Milly Dowler the same day. The newspaper also followed up with investigative reporting and published an article 22 September 2011 reporting that, within weeks of the arrests of Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire in August 2006, "a senior police officer" advised Rebekah Brooks there
Metropolitan Police role in the news media phone hacking scandal to publicly maintain that the phone hacking had been the work of a single "rogue reporter," namely Goodman. These 300 emails were not at that time provided to the police. News International faced growing skepticism and criticism from newspapers, Parliament, and the police about the single "rogue reporter" stance. There were also questions about illegal action by the police themselves. As a result, News International's parent company, News Corporation arranged for another review of the emails. In May 2011, their law firm, Hickman & Rose, hired Ken Macdonald, still an acquaintance of former "News of the World" editor, Andy Coulson,