Extensive Phone Hacking by MGN

[Roussette]

So... Harry has won his case.

As lawyers are saying now... this is massive. 15 out of 33 accusations of hacking by Harry were upheld as a result of phone hacking and other illegal practices.
Hacking and blagging were even taking place during the Leveson enquiry.

He has won damages of £140,000 plus. And before this thread descends into Harry hate, please think of all the other claimants who have also had their claims upheld and damages awarded to them. They went through hell, medical records hacked and reported on, trackers on cars, phones hacked...

It's not about the money, it's about 'accountability of power'.

Totally. Yes. These press barons have such a corroding, malign, negative and divisive affect on UK society, not to mention the unfettered political influence they have, and yet they consistently escape the law and are never held accused. How does it come to pass that a country such as France manages to have serious and proper privacy laws in place and we don’t?

Yes. This is important. People who bleat on about Meghan and Harry don't take into account that they are private citizens. There is no equivalence between two people doing their own thing and succeeding or failing on their own endeavours ( I admit that the security RAVEC thing is a bit dumb of Harry. I don't want to pay for him, but how much of Harry's paranoia about the risk to his family is down to the extremely hostile environment engineered by the press)
The Royal Family and all its members are part of our system of governance. Either directly as Heads of State or as members who benefit from the privileges they are given by being Monarch adjacent. They are extremely powerful.
The reason the press are allowed to get away with as much as they do, self regulation etc is because the job of a free press is to hold truth to power. That means scrutinising the behaviour of the Royal Family, the government and to expose people who are abusing their position of power. They shouldn't be hacking private citizens and victims of crime. They shouldn't be lying and obfuscating to hide wrongdoing of whoever provides them with the best lunch or in return for access. If they arent effectively holding truth to power then they should not be allowed to have special treatment. They should be subject to a standards authority like OFCOM. One that is independent, not voluntary and run by Paul Dacre.

His strength in the face of all this is truly impressive.

And it seems to me that it is moral courage rather than a defiance.

Or maybe I hope that it is moral courage - it would be nice to have a little high profile moral courage in todays world!

I’d love to be a fly on the wall of the BP Press Office today! 😃

I wonder if the Palace will make a statement? It would be a good first move if they did. Not holding my breath though.

I hope, perhaps naively, this makes people think before posting tabloid articles here. They are, at best, unreliable, and at their worst, downright criminal.

Like the Fail.

I just refuse to. I once clicked on a link and I am still have PTSD from the anti immigrant foolishness, misogyny, racism and hatred littered with very poor spelling and appalling grammar that was permitted in the comment section.

This is such a good outcome. I'm not even a bit surprised that all of these people were hacked and I'm very pleased they were able to prove it in court. I expect there are loads more who were also victims but weren't able to prove it.

We definitely need (yet another) conversation about how the press behave in this country. They can be forced to change, provided the government are willing to act.

I think it's more of the former, a little of the latter and a lot of self preservation.

They will not in a million years make a statement. Never ever ever. William took the money and I know that opened up Leveson 1, but it's too close to home to say anything for them.
I would love to know what they're thinking though, especially as Charles told him to drop it, and that he'd never win.

Leveson 1 was 2011 and regarding news of the world. William took money in 2020 from NGN- News group newspapers.

It's like the Epstein mess. Considering what was charged why had only one woman gone to jail about that? The rich and powerful really do play by different rules. I wasn't a big fan of Harry starting this case because I wondered if it would cause him more harm than good having to deal with the articles and social media comments. But I was wrong, I don't think they would have such coverage if he wasn't involved.

Absolutely. There are threads now that amplify untrue stuff. I don't understand why anyone gives it the time of day when it is so obviously just clickbait. Writing articles about H&M is a multi million industry even if what they write is not true.

I think there was a fine line as to whether it was a good thing he was involved or not.

Yes, he brought attention to the case that would otherwise not happen, but could his profile and appearance affect the other claimants, not necessarily in a good way?

I think... because of his resounding win... the answer is no, and I feel the other claimants are actually pleased about the publicity he brought to the case.

A judge has now made a finding that Piers Morgan is a LIAR.

This is monumental!!!

He now needs to be held to account and prosecuted for LYING under oath, while lambasting others including Meghan for telling the TRUTH!!!

LOCK HIM UP !!!!!

Good for him. They needed to be held accountable! Well done to everyone who was successful in their claims.

I don't think the whole translation debacle showed someone straightforward or measured, and neither were his tweets (I say were I used to follow him on Twitter but I left there).

But this is my wider point, everyone is a mix of good and bad decisions, wise and foolish, and if we should allow nuance and complexity into more areas of public life

yes I know! How is it Epstein was the only man arrested, and then he dies and only a woman is held accountable? She is obviously not telling them anything but seriously, theres no evidence of a single other person involved? No man is sitting in prison? Also, they hacked or bugged Harry, his friends and girlfriends, clearly his father and Camilla, his mother, his brother ... but nothing on Andrew? Nothing at all?? Fergie?

Also, they hacked or bugged Harry, his friends and girlfriends, clearly his father and Camilla, his mother, his brother ... but nothing on Andrew? Nothing at all?? Fergie?

I never though about that!

But what are you implying? That they buried stories on him/Epstein etc? Why?

Yes I agree that it could have gone both ways

I'm happy with there being no statement from Buckingham Palace because I think it keeps the focus on the judgement rather than risking giving the press an opening to deflect back onto family conflicts.

I'm happy with there being no statement from Buckingham Palace because I think it keeps the focus on the judgement rather than risking giving the press an opening to deflect back onto family conflicts.

Me too. Press and MN ! It means that this was a successful win for Harry (as said by all the media this morning) and no one on here can take that away from him. If there was a palace statement, that might change that fact in some people's eyes. (how awful the Palace was forced to do this, not fair on the RF after all he has done to them, blah blah)

This way, it is a win, clear and simple.

Yes exactly MrsLeonFarrell Harry has shone a spotlight on this issue and revived it after Leveson 2 was cancelled and successive governments shelved it, in some instances (Boris?) because their relationship with the right wing press was far too close for comfort.

This win goes to the heart of a web of some serious governmental malpractice imho.

These wealthy press organisations rely on their targets not having the courage or the money to fight back and Hazza used both to good effect.

I think it's also important, whilst celebrating the press being brought to account to resist turning the wider story of Harry and Meghan and the royals into a goodies and baddies narrative. That is how the tabloids want us to think because if they can split people into teams they can run more stories and get more revenue.

This judgement has nothing to say about Meghan, it's about events that happened way before they met. It has nothing to say about the family relationships. This is a judgment about how one newspaper behaved and I think the danger is that the public start getting pulled into the tribal narrative that they are trying to use to deflect and the main issue get forgotten.

Yes, Piers Morgan and the tabloids, including the ones involved in this hacking have for YEARS repeatedly and intentionally created a narrative that Harry is a liar. They are now proven in court, to be liars themselves. Piers Morgan has lied under oath. That is far bigger news than anything they claim about Harry, or Meghan.

That’s a very good point MrsLeonFarrell.

I hope some members of the RF thank Harry privately though.

It has proved quite useful to them to have one of their member outside of the institution battling unfair treatment by the press!

I can quite believe that Scobie gave reliable evidence in a court case whilst not finding him a reliable narrator of his book and subsequent events.

I'd agree it makes sense to me.

In court he'd be under oath and talking about what he personally witnessed.

His book he reliant on what sources have told him and may have had to banked on being sensationalist or been under pressure to do so to help sell book.

In Spare sometime Harry version of events is provably wrong - doesn't mean everything he wrote is.

I think trying to equate a judge assessment of a witness in court talking about what they saw to assuming everything written in a book reliant on sources for information isn't a reasonable thing to do. The whole stuff about naming people in Dutch version and him lying about that and initially throwing translator under bus doesn't help his books credibility. I wouldn't discounted everything he wrote but would look for collaborating sources - which is probably a good idea generally and I do wonder what's gone on behind scenes in fleet Street.

Piers Morgan being branded a liar - frankly not surprising and long over due - maybe he'll get less press going forward.