Richard Horton to pursue claim after editor admitted evidence of paper's involvement in email hacking was withheld from court

The Lancashire detective exposed by the Times for writing an anonymous blog about crime issues is to sue the newspaper for damages after it emerged that a reporter initially identified him by hacking into his emails.

The decision by Richard Horton, who blogged under the name NightJack, to pursue a claim comes as the Metropolitan police continue their investigation into email hacking by journalists. Horton is understood to have instructed his lawyer to claim damages from the newspaper.

In evidence to the Leveson inquiry this week, the editor of the Times, James Harding, admitted that evidence of his paper's involvement in email hacking had previously been withheld from the high court.

Harding apologised to Mr Justice Eady, who turned down an anonymity injunction sought in 2009 by Horton. Harding claimed he had not known of the circumstances that led to NightJack's exposure

It emerged that a young Times reporter, Patrick Foster, had hacked into an email account to identify and expose the award-winning police blogger. The inquiry heard that he claimed to have obtained the same information from "purely publicly accessible information".

Foster, who later left the paper, has since written freelance contributions for the Guardian and the Telegraph.

The Metropolitan police are understood to be investigating allegations of email hacking by the Times as part of the fallout from the NightJack case. The Labour MP Tom Watson has written to the force raising his concerns.

A police spokesperson said: "Officers from Operation Tuleta [the unit investigating email hacking] are in contact with Mr Watson in relation to specific issues he wishes to raise. We are not prepared to give a running commentary on the investigation."

The Crown Prosecution Service said any question of investigations arising from evidence at the Leveson inquiry would be a matter for the police.

News International, the owner of the Times, said it did not wish to make any further statement in response to suggestions that the high court might have been misled. A spokesperson referred to statements made by Harding to Leveson.

Asked whether at any stage "anybody suggested to you that these matters ought to be brought to the attention of Mr Justice Eady?", Harding replied: "No. As I said, our statement, Mr [Alistair] Brett, the then legal manager, as I understand it, did not believe and still does not believe that the court was misled.

"When I read these documents, when I went through them, I felt that information had not been disclosed to the judge and I felt that it was right that he should get an apology and I have written to him to apologise."

The newspaper has declined to release the text of the letter to Eady. Brett, who fought the case overturning the injunction application, made no comment. No application to reopen the case has been received by the attorney general's office.

The Judicial Communications Office said Eady declined to comment on the developments.

High court hears alleged victims include Peter Crouch, James Blunt and Nigel Farage as dozens more cases are prepared

News International is facing more than 50 new damages claims from alleged victims of News of the World phone hacking, including Peter Crouch, James Blunt and Nigel Farage, the high court has heard.

Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper publisher has already settled more than 50 civil actions for invasion of privacy, including 16 involving 21 individuals such as comedian Steve Coogan that were confirmed at the high court on Wednesday, for several million pounds in damages and legal costs. The details of six of Wednesday's settlements were revealed, costing News International another £363,000 in damages.

However, there is no sign of a let-up on the pressure facing News International, with Hugh Tomlinson QC, representing phone-hacking victims, telling the high court that six new cases had been filed, with a further 50 being prepared.

Out of these new civil actions, five have already been selected to be "lead cases". They will, along with the continuing action by Charlotte Church, be considered with a view to establishing a benchmark for damages for the 800 or so potential victims of News of the World phone-hacking identified so far by the Metropolitan police.

These new cases are being taken by Crouch, the England and Stoke footballer, and his wife Abbey Clancy; musician Blunt; Farage, the Ukip leader and MEP; Eimear Cook, the ex-wife of former Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie; and former England footballer Kieron Dyer.

The damages settlements revealed at the high court on Wednesday bring the total number of phone-hacking cases News International has settled to 54, with six remaining in dispute.

These are Church, Ryan Giggs, Crimewatch presenter Jacqui Hames and her husband, police detective David Cook, former royal butler Paul Burrell, Max Clifford's former assistant Nicola Philips, and Elle Macpherson's former financial adviser Mary Ellen Field.

Tomlinson told Lord Justice Vos at the high court that Church who was one of a number of potential test cases willing to go to full trial.

The singer, who is suing along with her mother Maria and father James, claims 33 articles published by the News of the World between 2002 and 2006 came directly from phone hacking. She also claims that her father was forced to sell his pub in Wales because of the distress caused by press coverage.

Coogan, ex-football star Paul Gascoigne and the mother of a 7/7 terrorist bombing victim were among the 21 individuals whose settlements were revealed at the high court on Wednesday.

Coogan, who has been fighting a case against News International since 2010, has been one of the leading critics of the company but settled his civil action after it admitted his phone had been hacked by the News of the World and agreed to payout damages of £40,000.

He said after Wednesday's court hearing that it was "never about money" and he had just wanted "to show the depths to which the press can sink in pursuit of private information". At the time he began the civil action for invasion of privacy, the tabloid denied any wrongdoing.

Coogan, who attended court to hear his settlement being read, added that he was delighted the company had finally capitulated after years of denial that anyone other than a "rogue reporter" covering royal stories had been involved in phone hacking. "I am pleased that after two years of argument and denials, News International has finally agreed to settle my case against it for hacking my voicemails. It has been a very stressful and time-consuming experience for me and for those close to me," he added.

MP Simon Hughes was also in court for the settlement and was awarded £40,000 in damages.

Other victims who have settled included singer Pete Doherty, jockey Kieran Fallon, and football agent Sky Andrew, who won £75,000, one of the largest payments announced on Wednesday.

The largest settlement of all went to Sally King, an estate agent, and her husband Andrew. They were collectively awarded £110,000 ? £60,000 for her, £50,000 to her husband in a joint claim, along with undisclosed damages for her father John Anderson and her autistic brother Scott.

The high court heard how King, a friend of David Blunkett, had been subjected to physical surveillance and phone hacking by the News of the World, which instructed reporters and photographers to follow them.

King went on holiday to the US and discovered that a News of the World reporter was booked on the same flight and photographers and reporters waiting at the rural holiday destination.

Her solicitor Charlotte Harris told the court: "The effect of this intensive and intrusive campaign of surveillance, pursuit and harassment, as well as the publication of intrusive and private information on those private individuals has been profound."

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's one time spin doctor also settled on Wednesday for undisclosed damages, as did Sheila Henry, the mother of 7/7 victim Christian Small.

Former England footballer Paul Gascoigne was awarded £60,000 plus special damages of £8,000. The court heard that hacking had a "serious detrimental effect on his wellbeing", and that he was told he was paranoid for thinking he had been targeted. His friend Jimmy Gardner also received undisclosed damages.

Sky Andrew, who acts as an agent for footballers such as Sol Campbell, received £75,000. George Galloway received £25,000 and the court was told that he was targeted from the time of the second Gulf war in 2003.

In a statement, Hughes said: "The evidence in my case clearly demonstrates that the practice of hacking was widespread and went much further up the chain than Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire. It was criminal behaviour on an industrial scale."

He added: "Anyone involved in criminal activity at the News of the World must be brought to justice, and all those who allowed a large company to behave in this way must be held to account."

In a statement posted on his blog, Campbell described the settlement as a "satisfactory outcome" for him and added that as part of his agreement, the News of the World publisher had "also undertaken to continue searches of other 'documents in its possession', so that I can ascertain the extent of any further wrongdoing, both for the time I worked in Downing Street and since, and they have agreed I 'may be entitled to further damages in certain circumstances'".

? To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

? To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook.

Guidance will cover whether action should be taken against reporters using illicit methods such as email hacking and bribery

The Crown Prosecution Service is to draw up new guidance on the prosecution of journalists, the director of public prosecutions has told the Leveson inquiry.

Keir Starmer told the inquiry on Wednesday that the CPS will shortly release an interim policy on the factors to consider when deciding whether to prosecute journalists over illicit newsgathering methods.

The new policy on the prosecution of journalists will include a public interest defence for journalism that uncovers a miscarriage of justice, the CPS confirmed. The CPS said that the potential public interest defence of revealing miscarriages of justice would be balanced against considerations including whether the journalist used threats or intimidation, or put criminal proceedings in jeopardy.

Under the guidance, the CPS added that the Sun journalist who covertly exposed cash bribes to a court clerk would not face prosecution because the investigation uncovered an offence under the Bribery Act. Munir Patel, a clerk at Redbridge magistrates' court, was jailed in November last year after being covertly filmed by the Sun taking bribes.

This is the first time the CPS has drawn up a formal policy on the prosecution of journalists over activities including email hacking, bribery and perverting the course of justice.

Starmer told the inquiry that it would be "prudent" to release an interim policy that is set out the proposals "in one place" before unveiling formal guidelines later in the year. The CPS sets out legal guidance on a range of issues, from domestic violence to drugs offences.

"It seems to me that it would be prudent to have a policy that sets out in one place the factors that prosecutors will take into account when considering whether or not to prosecute journalists acting in the course of their work as journalists," Starmer said.

"Therefore what I propose is that an interim policy will be drafted. That interim policy will draw on the existing principles and reflect the existing approach but put it in one place. That will make things clearer."

Separately, the Guido Fawkes blogger Paul Staines, who also gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry on Wednesday, said he understood that the editor of the Sunday Mirror, Tina Weaver, had personally authorised hacking and blagging. Staines said he was told by two journalists that Weaver "personally authorised and told them to hack, blag and do all that kind of stuff". Staines added: "She knows all the bad things that have gone on under her rule. It's ridiculous."

Trinity Mirror had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

The political blogger also claimed that the News of the World paid him £20,000 for photographs of a political adviser who shared a hotel room with the foreign secretary William Hague during the 2010 election campaign.

Staines suggested that the now-defunct tabloid bought the photos to "take them off the market" as a favour to its former editor Andy Coulson, who at the time was No 10 director of communications.

The blogger also told the inquiry that his home address had been discovered by the Daily Telegraph reporter, Gordon Rayner, and claimed that could only have been achieved by his details being leaked by a Land Registry employee.

He claimed that Rayner had used Steve Whittamore, the private investigator convicted of illegally accessing data in 2005. Staines said that Rayner appeared in the information commissioner's Operation Motorman report into trade of data by newspapers 335 times.

"If this inquiry does not act as a catalyst for criminal prosecution for those journalists who have invaded people's privacy, on an industrial scale, I think you have failed," Staines told Lord Justice Leveson.

A Telegraph Media Group spokesperson said: "Mr Staines appears to have something of a preoccupation with the Telegraph's Chief Reporter Gordon Rayner. They have never met and we don't propose to be drawn into any dispute with him. However, as any journalist will know, the Land Registry is a public resource, available to all."

? To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

? To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook

Guardian News & Media to take minority stake in US media and technology network as part of sale for undisclosed sum

The digital media news website paidContent has been acquired by the US media and technology network, GigaOM.

Guardian News & Media confirmed on Wednesday that paidContent had been purchased by GigaOM in for an undisclosed amount.

The publisher of the Guardian and MediaGuardian.co.uk paid £4m for the ContentNext Media websites, which include paidContent and mocoNews, in July 2008. GNM will take a minority stake in GigaOM as part of the deal.

Andrew Miller, chief executive of GNM's parent company, Guardian Media Group, said: "paidContent has a fantastic presence in the tech/media space and the match with GigaOM, itself a really smart and pioneering company, is a good one. We are delighted to become shareholders in GigaOM."

Miller said that the Guardian's focus was in building its presence in the US, through the recently launched website GuardianNews.com. "We look forward to seeing paidContent thrive and grow in its new home and wish its staff all the very best for the future."

GigaOM is the US digital media blogs network launched by entrepreneur Om Malik in 2006. The website has grown to become the 15th most influential blog in the US, according to the blogs metric firm Technorati, above rivals such as The Next Web and Business Insider. GigaOM reportedly has 4.5 million monthly unique users of its website.

"With our shared commitment to journalistic ethics, GigaOM and paidContent are a natural fit," said the GigaOM chief executive, Paul Walborsky. "paidContent is the leading voice covering the evolution of media, an area that is very important to us. Integrating our teams will enrich our editorial coverage and expand our footprint immediately in two markets that are critical to our growth ? New York City and the UK."

? To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

? To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook

As Sky News clamps down on staff Twitter updates, corporation tells reporters to file copy before tweeting it

BBC journalists have been told not to break news stories on Twitter before they tell their newsroom colleagues.

The new rules, which apply to all of the corporation's correspondents, reporters and producers, were announced on Wednesday a day after it was revealed Sky News had told its journalists not to repost information from any Twitter users who are not an employee of the broadcaster.

The new BBC guidelines are intended to ensure that stories are fed into the BBC's newsgathering machine as quickly as possible and without the delay of a 140-character update on Twitter.

Chris Hamilton, the BBC's social media editor, said: "We prize the increasing value of Twitter, and other social networks, to us (and our audiences) as a platform for our content, a newsgathering tool and a new way of engaging with people.

"Being quick off the mark with breaking news is essential to that mission. But we've been clear that our first priority remains ensuring that important information reaches BBC colleagues, and thus all our audiences, as quickly as possible ? and certainly not after it reaches Twitter."

Hamilton, writing on the BBC's editors website, said the corporation was "constantly reviewing" its guidance for journalists.

"As part of that, we have just distributed some refreshed breaking news guidance to our correspondents, reporters and producers," said Hamilton.

"It says that, when they have some breaking news, an exclusive or any kind of urgent update on a story, they must get written copy into our newsroom system as quickly as possible, so that it can be seen and shared by everyone ? both the news desks which deploy our staff and resources (like TV trucks) as well as television, radio and online production teams."

He added: "We're fortunate to have a technology that allows our journalists to transmit text simultaneously to our newsroom systems and to their own Twitter accounts."

The BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones said the BBC had been "very nervous" about Twitter at first but had come to the conclusion that social networks can be "brilliant tools for broadcasters as long as they remember that the same rules apply as in any other form of broadcasting".

"But, like Sky News, we are still pondering a couple of key questions," said Cellan-Jones on his blog.

"Is it right, for instance, to break news on Twitter before it reaches any broadcast outlets? In a long-running court case, a series of tweets from the reporter who is following proceedings can be an invaluable way of keeping both the newsdesk and the world informed.

"But when it comes to the verdict, surely the reporter should rush to the live microphone or camera first - even if that means being beaten by a rival tweeter? (Breaking news ? I've just had guidance from my bosses that yes, breaking news should be passed to the BBC first rather than Twitter.)

"We are all feeling our way forward through the fog of this new media landscape. The social media revolution is changing power structures in newsrooms, allowing young journalists who understand this new world - and a few older ones - to build reputations independent of their own organisations.

"Some would like to turn the clock back to a simpler time, when all power resided in the newsdesk, only star reporters got a byline, and sharing information with outsiders before the presses rolled or the bulletin began was a sacking offence.

"But it is almost certainly too late for that."

? To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

? To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook