LONDON (AP) — Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson has acknowledged that he listened to hacked voicemail messages while he was editor of the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid.
Coulson told a London jury that he was “shocked” in 2004 when a reporter said he had heard voicemails that showed government minister David Blunkett was having an affair.
Coulson said he felt this was “an apparent breach of privacy” and ordered the reporter to drop the story.
But later, after hearing the messages, he decided there was “some public interest justification” in running the story.
Coulson and six others are on trial on charges stemming from the revelation that the News of the World regularly eavesdropped on the voicemails of people in the public eye. All the defendants deny wrongdoing.
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