Daily Star: disciplinary hearing
Daily Star picture editor Mark Moylan faced a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday after being suspended following allegations in an anonymous letter about payments for exclusive pictures.
Moylan, who has been at the Star for 12 years, was due to become Daily Express picture editor this Friday to take the place of departing Andy Kyle.
Moylan’s suspension came just after he had received his letter of appointment from the Express.
Martin Ellice, joint deputy managing editor of the Daily Star’s owner, Northern & Shell, conducted the disciplinary hearing at which Moylan called three witnesses and was accompanied by a colleague.
The suspension, pending an inquiry, came after the letter outlined allegations about payments made in the battle for exclusive pictures following the appointment of celebrity photographer Jason Fraser to the board of Express Newspapers.
The company is said to have trawled through financial records of payments in the wake of receiving the letter.
Ellice is in charge this week while N&S boss Richard Desmond is on holiday.
Moylan has the right of appeal to a higher authority if the hearing goes against him.
Before the disciplinary hearing, journalists at the Daily Star and the Daily Express papers feared that if Moylan were dismissed it would leave two of the group’s three national titles without picture editors.
Express Newspapers was unavailable for comment.
By Jean Morgan
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