The Justice Department notified the parent company of Fox News more than two years ago about its seizure of phone records belonging to one of its reporters, a Fox official said Saturday.

福克斯新闻(Fox News)的一名管理人员上周六说，美国司法部(Justice Department)两年多前曾告知其母公司，司法部获取了福克斯新闻一名记者的通话记录。

The parent company, News Corp NWSA +0.67% ., didn't tell Fox about the notification, the Fox official said.

福克斯新闻的这名官员说，其母公司新闻集团(News Corp.)没有把获得通知的事告诉福克斯新闻。

This new detail helps clear up a mystery at the heart of the continuing controversy over the government's actions. Over the past week, officials at Fox have denied they were notified of the phone-record subpoenas, while law-enforcement officials insisted they were. It appears the reason for the discrepancy was that the notice was sent to News Corp.

这个新的细节解开了政府行为引发的一个长期争议的核心谜团。过去一周，福克斯新闻的管理层否认他们收到过有关其记者通话记录被获取的通知，而执法官员坚持说他们发出了通知。现在看来，分歧是因为通知被发到了新闻集团。

A News Corp. spokeswoman confirmed the company was notified in August 2010 and said it was looking into the matter.

新闻集团的一名发言人证实，这家公司2010年8月收到了上述通知，并表示公司正在调查此事。

Previously, a law-enforcement official had said the government alerted Fox in August 2010 about how investigators had subpoenaed a list of incoming and outgoing calls for five media-related phones as it built its case against former State Department contractor Stephen Kim.

在此之前，司法部的一名官员曾表示，政府于2010年8月通知福克斯，相关调查人员在对国务院前外包商金(Stephen Kim)立案过程中，索要了与媒体有关的五部电话的通话记录。

Mr. Kim has been charged with leaking the details of a secret U.S. report on North Korea, details that were reported by James Rosen of Fox. Mr. Kim has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

金被指控泄露了美国关于朝鲜的一份秘密报告的细节，这些细节已经被福克斯新闻的罗森(James Rosen)报道出来。金没有认罪，目前正在等待案件的审理。

News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal.

新闻集团也是《华尔街日报》的母公司。

The searches of Mr. Rosen's phone records and his personal email by federal investigators became public knowledge only this month, after the government notified the Associated Press it had subpoenaed phone records for its reporters and editors in an unrelated leak probe. The government also alerted the AP to its actions, three months after the records were seized.

联邦调查员查看罗森的通话记录和个人电子邮件一事到本月才被公开，此前，美国政府曾通知美联社(the Associated Press)，在另一起泄露事件的调查中索要了美联社记者和编辑的通话记录。政府也是在截获记录三个月之后才通知美联社的。

The leak investigations have prompted criticism from media companies and First Amendment advocates who say the government actions are chilling officials' willingness to talk to reporters.

上述泄密调查引发了来自媒体公司和宪法第一修正案(First Amendment)支持者的批评，他们说，政府的行为正在打击官员与记者对话的积极性。

Attorney General Eric Holder has defended the investigations while also promising a review of the department's policies.

美国司法部长霍德(Eric Holder)为调查进行了辩护，同时承诺将重新审视该机构的政策。

The August 2010 notification in the Rosen case came 90 days after the phone records were seized, according to the Fox official.

据这名福克斯新闻的官员说，2010年8月政府发出关于罗森案的上述通知时，距通话记录被截获已经过去了90天。