Literary agent slates Rupert Murdoch's HarperCollins

US literary agent Andrew Wylie has accused a publishing company of acting in an "unusually shrill and punitive" way toward authors. HarperCollins' parent firm NewsCorp is under pressure in the wake of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. Mr Wylie said recent events could "perhaps turn on some lights" and look at "what is proper behaviour and what isn't" at the publishing house. A HarperCollins spokesperson said the claims were "extravagant allegations". On Monday Mr Wylie, whose clients include Martin Amis and Philip Roth, told BBC Radio 4's The World at One programme that the publishing house had been under "unusual pressure" for a while - BBC