The company relies on a combination of automation and professional journalists to aggregate the content, says Islam.

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Mr. Hinton in 2007 told a Parliamentary committee the company had carried out a full investigation of the matter and was convinced just one of the company's journalists was involved.

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The NUJ said the company was seeking a reduction in the staffing level of 17 journalists across the titles but because of existing vacancies, that meant a reduction of 10 from the current level.

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Now staff are talking to the National Union of Journalists about preparing a possible legal challenge to their own company's actions, on the grounds that they are ethically and legally obliged to protect their sources, under the editors' code overseen by the PCC.

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Nor do journalists get access in the normal course of events to a company's internal books, as an auditor would.

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