British police on Saturday arrested five senior members of staff at News Corporation's flagship newspaper The Sun, the company said, as part of investigations into alleged payments to police by journalists for information.
The payments investigation, dubbed Operation Elveden, is part of a wider probe into illegal news gathering practices that have rocked Britain's political, media and police establishments and last year prompted the closure of News Corp's Sunday paper, The News of the World.
"I'm as shocked as anyone by today's arrests but am determined to lead The Sun through these difficult times. I have a brilliant staff and we have a duty to serve our readers and will continue to do that. Our focus is on putting out Monday's newspaper," Sun editor Dominic Mohan said in a statement. A source said the arrests included the deputy editor, a picture editor and three other senior staff. Police said a serving police officer, and the source said a defence ministry employee, were among the eight people in total police arrested on Saturday.
The Ministry of Defence declined to comment. The latest arrests at The Sun, Britain's best selling daily newspaper, come after the arrest of four current and former staff at the newspaper last month, raising questions about the publication's viability.
Saturday's arrests were the result of information from News Corp's Management and Standards Committee (MSC), a fact-finding group the firm set up in a bid to rescue its ravaged reputation. "The MSC provided the information to the Elveden investigation which led to today's arrests ... News Corporation remains committed to ensuring that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past will not be repeated," New Corp said in a statement.
The MSC's work could lead to further damaging revelations about journalists bribing police that could prompt calls for the Sun's demise. The once hugely popular News of the World was closed last year by Murdoch after accusations that its reporters hacked the mobile phone messages of celebrities and victims of crime caused a public outcry.