The Sun in crisis as 5 arrested over bribery

LONDON

Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper is fighting to contain the damage after five employees were arrested. REUTERS photo

Britain’s top-selling newspaper The Sun was in crisis Feb. 11 after police arrested five of its journalists over bribery allegations, but owner Rupert Murdoch vowed to keep publishing the tabloid.

A Ministry of Defense (MoD) official, a member of the armed forces and a policeman were also arrested over allegations that journalists paid officials for information, police said. Publisher News International said Murdoch had given a “personal assurance” that The Sun would not face the same fate as its sister paper, the News of the World, which he closed in July amid a scandal over phone hacking.

The tycoon will travel to London to meet with journalists, a person familiar with the situation said, without saying when. The arrested Sun journalists were deputy editor Geoff Webster, picture editor John Edwards, chief reporter John Kay, chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker and reporter John Sturgis, News International said. Police said a total of 21 people have now been arrested in their bribery probe, including three police officers, though none has yet been charged. Investigators said the inquiry, which is running in parallel to investigations into phone hacking and alleged email hacking, was now widened its remit. It was initially focused on whether reporters had illegally paid police officers for information, but will now examine whether other public officials were also targeted.