Share-ramping ‘rife in journalism’

ONE of the reporters facing charges of share-ramping in the so-called City Slickers case yesterday claimed the practice was rife in financial journalism.

The British Department of Trade and Industry has announced charges were being brought against three people linked with the discontinued City Slickers column in the Daily Mirror, following a four-year probe.

But the Mirror’s former editor Piers Morgan was cleared. The charges revolve around claims that the City Slickers column was used to promote shares owned by journalists who wrote it.

One of those facing charges, James Hipwell, who no longer works for the Mirror, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “Maybe City journalism as we know it should come under the spotlight, because I have done nothing that a multitude of other financial hacks haven’t done.

“Share-ramping, insider dealing goes on in the City every day,” he said.

Mr Hipwell detailed his practices in his time on the column: “I would call a few market-makers and brokers. I would receive calls from financial PR people. Sometimes I would buy shares in small numbers. No trade was bigger than £1,000.

“We would then put the column together and some of the things we wrote about ended up being companies we owned shares in.”