Former Murdoch journalist: stories made up, lived in culture of fear

Anyone who has been paying attention can't be surprised. The Rupert Murdoch empire has been bullying opponents for years so it's perfectly believable that they also bullied employees.
The former Murdoch journalist raises a key point about the way Murdoch's News Corp is run. News Corp desperately needs to be investigated because there's too much smoke around its operations.

The Guardian:

A former News of the World reporter has claimed that journalists at the now defunct newspaper regularly made up stories and unethical practices were rife because of a "culture of fear" at the tabloid.

Graham Johnson, who worked at the newspaper between 1995 and 1997, said many employees carried out illegal operations and fabricated articles due to pressures from the top.

He told the BBC: "You can't get through the day on a tabloid newspaper if you don't lie, if you don't deceive, if you're not prepared to use forms of blackmail or extortion or lean on people, you know, make people's lives a misery. You just have to deliver the story on time and on budget, and if you didn't then you'd get told off.

"The News of the World culture was driven by fear, because it's a hierarchy, it's a military operation, it's a seamless operation."