Fergus Shanahan pleads not guilty in tabloid misconduct case

The executive editor of Britain's largest-circulation newspaper, The Sun, pleaded not guilty Monday to misconduct for allegedly approving payment for stories. Fergus Shanahan, who was arrested for questioning in January 2012 and released on bail, will fight the conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office charge, The Guardian reported. He is one of 10 journalists who linked to payments for stories to police and other public officials between January 2004 and January 2012. Shanahan allegedly authorized illegal payments of 7,000 pounds (about $11,000) while he was deputy executive editor of the Murdoch-owned tabloid between 2007 and 2009. Shanahan, the most senior Sun employee to be charged, was one of the first people to be questioned as the Metropolitan Police expanded a phone-hacking investigation, Operation Elveden, to other areas. The scandal exploded in 2011 when The Guardian reported that in 2002 The News of the World, which has since closed, hacked the cel phone of Milly Dowler, a missing schoolgirl who was later found dead.