British journalist
Not to be confused with the Irish footballer
Sean Hoare
.
Sean Hoare
|
---|
Hoare in 2002
|
Born
| 1963
[1]
Hertfordshire, England
|
---|
Died
| c. 17 July 2011 (aged 48)
|
---|
Nationality
| British
|
---|
Occupation
| Journalist
|
---|
Sean Matthew Hoare
(1963 ? c. 17 July 2011) was a British entertainment journalist. He contributed to articles on show business, from actors to reality television stars.
[2]
He played a central role in contributing to exposing the
News International phone hacking scandal
.
Career
[
edit
]
Hoare was described by
The Guardian
'
s
Nick Davies
as "coming from a working-class background of solid
Arsenal
supporters, always voted
Labour
, defined himself specifically as a '
clause IV
' socialist who still believed in public ownership of the means of production."
[3]
Hoare was a trainee reporter in the 1980s for the
Watford Observer
.
[4]
Hoare was a reporter for
The Sun
before joining
The Sunday People
, under editor
Neil Wallis
.
[3]
He moved to the
News of the World
in June 2001,
[5]
under editor
Rebekah Brooks
(then Rebekah Wade) but was sacked in 2005 by then editor
Andy Coulson
for drink and drug problems.
[6]
[7]
He said in regard to his drug taking while employed by the
News of the World
, "I was paid to go out and take drugs with rock stars ? get drunk with them, take pills with them, take cocaine with them. It was so competitive. You are going to go beyond the call of duty. You are going to do things that no sane man would do. You're in a machine."
[3]
He claims to have often taken "three grammes of cocaine a day, spending about £1,000 a week" and would drink
Jack Daniel's
, and then would snort a line of cocaine as part of a "rock star's breakfast".
[3]
His health deteriorated to the point that the doctor examining his liver remarked that he "must be dead".
[3]
A former colleague said, "if you could imagine the stereotypical image of
News of the World
hack, it would be he."
[7]
In 2001, Hoare was awarded a
Shafta Award
(celebrating "the very worst in tabloid journalism")
[8]
for his scoop on
David
and
Victoria Beckham
's purchase of an island off the
Essex
coast;
[9]
[10]
the story, which turned out to be fiction,
[10]
also won him the 20th anniversary "Shafta of Shaftas" in 2006.
[8]
He won another Shafta in 2002,
[11]
two in 2003,
[12]
and a lifetime achievement Shafta in 2004.
[13]
Phone hacking
[
edit
]
In September 2010
Scotland Yard
reopened its
2006 phone-hacking case
[14]
against
News of the World
and
Andy Coulson
, following a
New York Times Magazine
piece published that month in which Hoare told reporters
Don Van Natta
,
Jo Becker
and Graham Bowley that Coulson had "actively encouraged" him to hack phones.
[15]
[16]
[17]
Hoare had once been a close friend of Coulson.
[6]
Following his statements for
The New York Times
Hoare was interviewed by
Scotland Yard
officers "under criminal caution," meaning that his statements could be used against him in possible future prosecution.
[16]
Hoare had said of the phone hacking at the
News of the World
: "It was always done in the language of, 'Why don't you practise some of your dark arts on this', which was a metaphor for saying, 'Go and hack into a phone'. Such was the culture of intimidation and bullying that you would do it because you had to produce results. And, you know, to stand up in front of a Commons committee and say, 'I was unaware of this under my watch' was wrong."
[7]
Following his original statements for
The New York Times
and testimony before the
police
, Hoare re-entered the news in July 2011 when he and an anonymous colleague told reporters for the
Times
that British police had assisted reporters working for
News of the World
with
cell-phone tracking
, a power ordinarily used "for high-profile criminal cases and terrorism investigations," in exchange for
bribes
.
[18]
Times
reporter
Don Van Natta
wrote that he and Jo Becker had dinner with Hoare the night of the
New York Times
article's publication, describing him as "ailing but defiant and funny. And no regrets. All-courage."
[19]
Metropolitan Police Commissioner
Paul Stephenson
and his deputy commissioner
John Yates
resigned within a week of Hoare's statements.
[20]
[21]
[22]
Death
[
edit
]
Hoare met reporters from
The Guardian
, to confirm the details of the last
New York Times
reports. He explained the appearance of severe injuries to the
Guardian
reporters, saying he had been injured the previous weekend while taking down a marquee erected for a children's party. He said he broke his nose and badly injured his foot when a relative accidentally struck him with a pole from the marquee. Hoare failed to return phone calls to his home in the week after his dinner with
New York Times
reporters.
[19]
He was found dead at his home in Langley Road,
Watford
, Hertfordshire, at around 11 am on 18 July 2011.
[6]
On the same day and within hours of his body being found,
Hertfordshire Police
stated that his death was "unexplained" but not suspicious,
[23]
[24]
and that it could take weeks to establish a cause of death.
[25]
On 21 July, Hoare's widow issued a statement in which she said that his death had come as a "tremendous shock".
[26]
According to an inquest into his death, alcoholism resulting from media interest in the phone hacking scandal caused irreversible damage to Hoare's liver. The inquest ruled that he died from natural causes.
[27]
In popular culture
[
edit
]
In
The Comic Strip Presents...
TV special, "Red Top" (2016), the character of Johnny Bristol (played by
Johnny Vegas
) is based on Hoare.
[28]
[29]
Bristol is an alcoholic, shambolic, and sleazy
Sun
reporter who, after being fired by Andy Coulson (
Russell Tovey
), tips off
The Guardian
about phone tapping at News International.
[30]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Hoare, Sean Matthew"
.
GRO Index
. Retrieved
9 October
2022
.
- ^
Holmes, Su; Jermyn, Deborah (2004).
Understanding reality television
. Routledge. p.
135
.
ISBN
978-0-415-31795-5
. Retrieved
18 July
2011
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Davies, Nick (18 July 2011).
"Sean Hoare knew how destructive the News of the World could be"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
18 July
2011
.
- ^
Pickard, Michael (7 September 2010).
"Former WO reporter Sean Hoare claims ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson told him to hack phones"
.
Watford Observer
. Retrieved
18 July
2011
.
- ^
The Guardian
, 5 June 2001,
NoW's Taylor promoted to Mr Fixit
- ^
a
b
c
Hill, Amelia; Robinson, James; Davies, Caroline (18 July 2011).
"News of the World phone-hacking whistleblower found dead"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
18 July
2011
.
- ^
a
b
c
Singh, Anita (19 July 2011).
"Phone hacking: Profile of Sean Hoare, the News of the World journalist and whistleblower"
.
The Daily Telegraph
.
Archived
from the original on 20 July 2011
. Retrieved
19 July
2011
.
- ^
a
b
The Guardian
, 26 April 2006,
Monkey goes to the Shaftas
- ^
Sean Hoare,
The Sunday People
, 21 January 2001,
"Spice Island: Beckhams to buy £6m island off the coast of Essex"
- ^
a
b
"Your chance to get well and truly Shafted"
.
The Guardian
. 10 April 2002
. Retrieved
18 July
2011
.
- ^
The Guardian
, 1 May 2002,
The Shaftas: full list of awards
- ^
The Guardian
, 30 April 2003,
Fleet Street's finest honoured
- ^
The Guardian
, 28 April 2004,
Shaftas honour best of the worst
- ^
Cowell, Alan, "British Police Arrest 3 Over Taps on Phones at Royal Residence,"
The New York Times
, 9 August 2006
[1]
.
- ^
Van Natta, Don Jr., Becker, Jo and Graham Bowley, "Tabloid Hack Attack on Royals, and Beyond,"
The New York Times Magazine
,
1 September 2010
[2]
.
- ^
a
b
Burns, John F. "Scotland Yard Move Stirs Questions on Phone-Hacking Case,"
The New York Times
,
12 November 2010
[3]
.
- ^
Burns, John F. "Opponents Seize on Cameron's Ties to Suspects,"
The New York Times
, 18 July 2011
[4]
.
- ^
Burns, John F. and Jo Becker, "Murdoch Tabloids' Targets Included Downing Street and the Crown,"
The New York Times
, 11 July 2011,
[5]
.
- ^
a
b
Lewis, Paul, "Sean Hoare postmortem results confirm death not suspicious,"
The Guardian
, 19 July 2011,
[6]
.
- ^
The Daily Beast, "U.K. Whistleblower Found Dead,"
MSNBC
, 18 July 2011,
"U.K. Whistleblower Found Dead | Story | POWERWALL"
. Archived from
the original
on 5 April 2012
. Retrieved
13 November
2011
.
.
- ^
"Britain's Top Cop resigns Amid Hacking Claims,"
Sky News
20 July 2011,
[7]
- ^
Jacob, Jijo, "Ex-staff Accuse James Murdoch of Misleading UK Parliament on Phone Hacking,"
International Business Times
,
22 July 2011,
[8]
.
- ^
Hickman, Martin; Milmo, Cahal (19 July 2011).
"Hacking whistleblower Sean Hoare found dead at his home"
.
The Independent
. Retrieved
19 July
2011
.
- ^
"Sean Hoare Former News of the World Journalist is Found Dead"
.
- ^
Blake, Matt (20 July 2011).
"Toxicology tests after death of whistleblower will take weeks"
.
The Independent
. Retrieved
20 July
2011
.
- ^
"Phone Hacking: Widow of whistleblower Sean Hoare says death 'tremendous shock'
"
.
The Daily Telegraph
. 21 July 2011
. Retrieved
22 July
2011
.
- ^
"Ex-NoW reporter Sean Hoare 'died of natural causes'
"
.
BBC News
. 23 November 2011
. Retrieved
23 November
2011
.
- ^
Shennan, Paddy (22 January 2016).
"Red Top was more Carry On than Comic Strip"
.
Liverpool Echo
. Liverpool
. Retrieved
28 January
2016
.
- ^
Gilbert, Gerard (5 January 2016).
"The Comic Strip's 'Redtop' gives a satirical kicking to Brooks, Blair and Murdoch"
.
The Independent
. London
. Retrieved
28 January
2016
.
- ^
Bennett, Steve (20 January 2016).
"Comic Strip Presents... Red Top"
.
Chortle
. Retrieved
28 January
2016
.
|
---|
Events
| |
---|
Companies and
organisations
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Investigations
and legal cases
| |
---|
In popular culture
| |
---|
Related topics
| |
---|
|