News media phone hacking scandal evidence seized from Mulcaire back in August 2006. By mid-year, five people were arrested, including senior journalists from "News of the World". In June 2011, the long-ignored issue of computer hacking was addressed by the launching of . Having failed thus far to put the phone hacking issue to rest, News International's law firm, Hickman & Rose, now hired former Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald to review the emails that News International executives had used as the basis of their claim that no one at "News of the World" but Clive Goodman had been involved in phone hacking. Macdonald
News International phone hacking scandal the World" letting slip the group's standards of journalism. Murdoch also alleged that the group's legal advisers, Harbottle & Lewis, had made "a major mistake" in its part in the internal investigation into phone-hacking in 2007. On 18 July, Harbottle & Lewis issued an open letter outlining its position, and appointed Luther Pendragon to handle PR issues relating to the affair. On 16 and 17 July, News International published two full-page apologies in many of Britain's national newspapers. The first apology took the form of a letter, signed by Rupert Murdoch, in which he said sorry for the "serious wrongdoing"