The News of the World [part of News Corporation] has rejected claims its reporters regularly hack into the phones of celebrities and politicians to get stories. It follows allegations in the Guardian that private investigators were hired to illegally intercept voicemails on "thousands" of people's mobile phones. The tabloid has admitted paying damages in one case over phone hacking but it denied the practice was widespread... It said that apart from the incidents which led to the jailing of the paper's royal editor and a private investigator in 2007, and the subsequent legal action involving Mr Taylor, there was no evidence to support the Guardian's allegations... News International [part of News Corporation] accused the Guardian of being "selective and misleading".