Two British journalists with Ukrainian roots are caught up in one of Britain’s largest scandals in recent years, which jumped into the spotlight this week with the closing of the nation’s top tabloid by the newspaper’s embattled publisher, influential media magnate Rupert Murdoch.
The two former employees of the News of the World, shut down this week in the heat of the unraveling scandal, are Alex Marunchak and Greg Miskiw. Three separate sources close to the two individuals have confirmed that they are members of Ukraine’s Diaspora community in the United Kingdom. Both are said to be about 60 years old today.
Marunchak and Miskiw are alleged, according to British media reports, to be involved in illegal tapping of phones and acquisition of information for use in the newspaper’s sensational reporting that often exposed politicians and celebrities. The allegations and ongoing investigations have triggered uproar in British media and society.
According to a BBC report, while head of News of the World’s Dublin office in 2006, Marunchak paid detective services for information and allegedly obtained hacked email correspondence of a British intelligence officer. Marunchak has denied wrongdoing.
His colleague, former assistant editor Miskiw, is according to British news reports tied up in a separate alleged illegal transaction aimed at obtaining information for the paper. According to The London Telegraph, Miskiw is alleged to have signed a contract in 2005 with a private detective who tapped into telephone conversations of Prince William and Harry. Miskiw has also denied wrongdoing.
The Ukrainian group, according to reports, specialized in obtaining sensational information and worked as a team. When Marunchak and Miskiw did not want their discussion to be understood by bystanders, they turned to Ukrainian language, The Telegraph reported. The newspaper reported that both also had a joint business importing vodka from Ukraine to Britain.
The Ukrainian group worked at News of the World at the same time as the paper was headed by Rebekah Brooks, one of the closest people to Murdoch, and Andy Coulson, former press secretary of British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Brooks today announced that she had resigned as head of Murdoch’s News International media holding.Coulson went on to become press secretary for British Prime Minister David Cameron, but he resigned this year when the media scandal started to gain momentum.
Both Brooks and Coulson maintain that they did not know of illegally activities involved in news gathering at the paper, but British media and society does not seem to believe their account.
If illegal or unsavory activity took place, Marunchak and Miskiw could be in a position to contradict the accounts of Brooks and Coulson.
