>>>
testimony at the inquiry into the british phone hacking scandal taken comes from someone who defends the practices of the tabloid press. nbc's
michelle kosinski
is in london with details on this. michelle, good morning.
>> reporter:
matt, right, first celebrities let loose on the tabloids including
rupert murdoch
's "news of the world" but a former editor tells all about how widespread phone hacking was, lying to get the story, paying police, even car chases, and this guy says he loved it all, in some of the strangest testimony yet.
>>
it is what the public wants to read. if they had any distaste for it, they would stop buying it. any means is fine by me.
>> reporter:
the story "by any means" is the story former deputy editor
paul mcmullen
is telling. he said top editored not only knew about them, they condoned it. calling them the scum only because they haven't admitted it. he takes a one-time swipe at
piers morgan
but says this.
>>
"i don't care what you have to do, i want that story."
>> reporter:
according to mcmullen you name it, phone hacking of celebrities, even of murdered children. yes, he says, all worth it.
>>
phone hacking is a perfectly acceptable tool, given the sacrifices that we've made, if all we are trying to do is to get to the truth.
>> reporter:
he says reporters would trade
phone numbers
, that he swapped
sylvester stallone
's mother for
david beckham
, but when he went to hack into beckham's voice mail, oops! he answered the phone. he says "news of the world" would pay police,
credit card
companies, medical workers tens of thousands of dollars for scoops, even
princess diana
's
body guard
, he says, sold information on where she was.
>>
can i have 30,000 pounds, please, i need to pay my mortgage. yes, no problem.
>> reporter:
mcmullen says he would lie, call celebrity's hotels.
>>
you get the list of the
phone numbers
that are rung and ring them up and find the mistress he just rung.
>> reporter:
he'd dig through garr bang and chase the story literally.
>>
it was such good fun. i mean how many jobs can you actually have car chases in? it was great.
>> reporter:
what about ethics, they asked him? privacy?
>>
privacy is evil. it brings out the worst qualities in people.
>> reporter:
okay then. well, that's what he claims, at times hafgs ving to be reminded he was incriminating himself and he gave no evidence the murdochs knew this was going on. he said sometimes
breaking the law
was the only way to break corruption and crime. the question was how do you apply that to celebrities and regular citizens when you expose their love lives or medical problems? matt?
Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/45490032/
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