Satellite broadcaster BSkyB, part owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, has appointed external lawyers to review the emails of some of its most successful journalists to check there were no signs of illegal newsgathering.

A BSkyB spokesman said on Monday the company had appointed its external legal counsel, Herbert Smith, to review emails going back to 2005 in areas where news was broken outside of the normal diary agenda.

There has been no suggestion of any impropriety at Sky News. We remain committed to the highest standards, the spokesman said.

Journalistic practices are under huge scrutiny in Britain following a scandal at News Corp's now-closed News of the World tabloid, in which people working for the paper hacked into the phones of thousands of people to generate stories.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp failed in its bid to buy the rest of BSkyB it did not already own in the summer, as politicians turned against the media mogul and his handling of a scandal which damaged the value and reputation of the company.

BSkyB decided to launch the review a few months ago at the Sky News channel, which regularly breaks financial and political news.

(Reporting by Kate Holton)

United kingdom Rupert murdoch Journalism Review