Hacking Victims Unleash On Tabloids Again

Michael Hedges October 7, 2019 Follow on Twitter

Cyber-crime, and threats thereof, makes everybody nervous. It should. Everyday another headline announces new hackings of a database, business, control system and, of course, information providers. Then there is spyware; somebody unlocking the camera in your mobile phone or looking into your refrigerator. Then there is all that data casually collected through social media platforms and reported to, well, we’re not sure who.

Making an uncomfortable return to headlines this past week is one of the most notorious forms of cyber-crime: phone hacking. The Duke of Sussex, also known as Prince Harry and sixth in line to the British throne, filed a legal action against publishers Mirror Group Newspapers and News Group Newspapers (NGN) for “alleged illegal interception of voicemail messages,” reported the Guardian (October 5). Mirror Group Newspapers, formerly Trinity Mirror, publishes the tabloid Daily Mirror and many others. NGN publishes the tabloid The Sun and is a subsidiary of News UK, in turn a subsidiary of News Corporation. A few days earlier the Duchess of Sussex, Megan Markle, spouse of Prince Harry, filed a lawsuit against Mail on Sunday for breach of privacy. Mail on Sunday, like sister tabloid Daily Mail, is published by Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT).

Crowd-funded UK investigative portal Byline Investigates (October 5) offered details, some quoted by The Guardian. With this lawsuit, the Duke of Sussex is joining two “managed group litigations,” one for each publisher, which charge “an industrial-scale cover-up of serious criminality for more than twenty years.” NGN has been served with a “concealment and destruction” legal argument. The case against Mirror Group Newspapers is “board and lawyer knowledge” or “fraudulent concealment.” As we have heard said before: it ain’t the crime, it’s the cover-up.

The quite popular UK tabloids made their reputations on digging dirt - and sometimes with invention - about every possible celebrity, including Royal Family members. It is not necessary to revisit that illustrious history. And that editorial endeavor is not limited to the UK. French gossip magazine Closer published in 2012 unauthorized - and revealing - photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry’s sister-in-law, Kate Middleton. There was a lawsuit, which Closer publisher at the time Mondadori France lost. But, being France, damages imposed fell far short of €1.5 million sought.

But something changed in the recent two decades. UK tabloids have long been aggressive and nasty; take no prisoners. But foible-laden celebrities were bashed, not regular folks. Observers point to the disappearance of 13 year-old Milly Dowler in 2002, widely covered by the tabloids. The Sun offered a large reward for information. Nearly a decade later it was discovered that persons employed by tabloid News of the World, also owned by News UK and now no longer published, had accessed the child’s voicemail and deleted some contents. Thereinafter began the Leveson Inquiry, which subjected tabloid publishers to considerable unwanted scrutiny, not to forget millions in legal fees and damage payments.

Much of the UK coverage of Prince Harry’s statement, which included reference to the 1997 death of his mother, Princess Diana, in Paris automobile crash, showed the wrath of buzzards. “Sadly misguided,” wrote the Daily Mail. “If you come at Caesar, you’d better kill him,” announced another. The whinging (a very British adverb) was not limited to tabloids. “A declaration of war”, noted the Guardian.

The Leveson Inquiry delved into the phone hacking, leaving many stones unturned, said critics. For the year and a half ending in November 2012, the public got an earful of press ethics remonstrations. For publishers, it was another awful episode in a terrible decade, affecting print circulations and revenue streams. They were left fighting for mobile apps with paywalls. Planned for the Leveson Inquiry was a look into criminality. That was a step too far for successive UK governments and it was cancelled.

See also in ftm Hot Topics

• Hot Topics - UK Newspapers

• Hot Topics - Phone Hacking