Harry v. NGN

[Atlasvue]

Starting a thread for Tuesday.
This BBC article covers the basics. This is the last line ….
’Tuesday really is the beginning of the end. And someone is going to lose - and lose big.’

I have a feeling, that Harry won’t win but he just wants to use the public setting to air his grievances. A therapy session would have worked out much cheaper.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2l00xkgwnyo

@Serenster it was primarily because of Milly and the public outrage. Others campaigning and complaining all helped bring it about. Williams considerable power helped. But it would have happened anyway.

Sure another pedant.
An eight figure settlement and a wide ranging public apology is not a win apparently.

I wouldn't say I was "flabbergasted" at Harry giving CBS the exclusive, @GiveMeSpanakopita; disappointed perhaps, but hardly surprised

As we've seen so often (and again today) Harry's principles are easily shoved aside if the money's right, and while few would blame him for not wanting to risk bankruptcy it's the prior grandstanding which rankles

Lawyers haggle over settlements for days so that either side can spin them as a 'win'. This is no different.

Harry got a substantial pay out, though just how substantial will probably never be known despite some posters claiming otherwise on the basis of media rumours. However, we can assume it was a pretty hefty sum. He also won a profuse public apology which he and his supporters will claim as vindication.

NGN avoided a potentially damaging court case and admitted no liability. In relative terms, and given that they're already believed to have paid out £1 billion in similar cases, the money will not be a huge loss to them.

So I'd say there's no real 'loser' or 'winner' here. But it could all likely have been achieved months ago, and Harry's claim that this was all about 'accountability' has been exposed as hollow.

Oh so you know all about it now!

Just double checked and my memory is right. Clive Goodman and the enquiry was far more about Charles and Diana.

I thought your original comment was about video footage and I did not remember any network showing that.

No need for the snark because I asked which network you were talking about.

He didn't 'win' or 'lose'. He compromised and settled. Perfectly reasonable behaviour, and completely in line with civil justice, which is about putting a financial value on civil wrongdoing.

No additional admissions by the Murdoch press, but a large enough (whatever that means) sum.of money for Harry to feel vindicated.

But a little at odds with his earlier rhetoric, which is what posters here are pointing out.

I mean, pick that up with Lord Leveson, not me, he’s the one who expressly said it was also a cause of the enquiry…

@Serenster He said it was primarily because of the public outrage over Milly.

'He compromised and settled. Perfectly reasonable behaviour, and completely in line with civil justice, which is about putting a financial value on civil wrongdoing.'

Yes but he always said he wouldnt ever settle. He always said it was about accountability not money. The apology wasn't anything he hadn't heard already. Nothing new was revealed at all.

Exactly. William also won when he settled with Murdoch re. the phone hacking. He also got an eight figure settlement and made good use of it.

"Prince Harry has secured a significant legal victory, as Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN) issued a historic apology and agreed to pay substantial damages to settle his lawsuit. The case, which centered on unlawful activities by journalists and private investigators, marked a critical moment in Harry's ongoing battle to expose the invasive tactics of the British press."

Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/global-trends/how-prince-harry-won-his-case-against-murdochs-news-group-and-what-it-means-for-the-media/articleshow/117459292.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

“This Inquiry was ultimately directed because of the wide scale public revulsion at [Milly Dowler]… Having said that, however, there was also increasing public concern about [Operation Caryatid] - Prince Willian’s allegations”

It says what it says. People can read it for themselves.

That is bizarre reporting isn't it. Won his case? He settled!

Can you provide a link to this? Everything I have read says he got a very large sum, but there is no hint of how much.

Absolutely. I completely agree.
As usual though, it’s whatever suits and is convenient for Harry.

Yes it was primarily because of Milly. There was public unhappiness about other hacking such as hacking of communications between Charles and Diana.

Co-claimant Lord Tom Watson paid tribute to Prince Harry's tenacity in pursuing this case for so long, praising his "bravery and astonishing courage".
Good man.

Well done, Harry 👏👏👏

Exactly this.

The settlement is quite similar to several previous settlements. It's a compromise, with each side getting some of what they wanted while conceding other points. That's what out of court mediation is designed to achieve.

If Harry hadn't put on his grandiose 'dragon slaying' act, nobody would have much to say about this settlement. But if you're going to grandstand about 'accountability' be prepared to be called out on it. That's what accountability is all about!

Bravery and astonishing courage? What the same man who has made a career out of gossiping about his family for years revealing highly personal and private details? Brave no, astonishing maybe.

I think Harry gave this info in his book. I haven't got it at hand, sorry.

In 2012, Murdoch's British newspaper group issued an unreserved apology for widespread hacking carried out by journalists at the News of the World, which the media mogul had been forced to shut down amid a backlash, although it still rejects any allegations of wrongdoing at the Sun.
During a criminal trial brought against News of the World journalists and others in 2014, its former royal editor Clive Goodman said in the mid-2000s he had hacked the voicemails of Harry and William, and those of William’s wife, Kate.
Her phone was hacked 155 times, William’s 35 and Harry’s nine times, Goodman said.

NGN had settled William's claim "for a huge sum of money in 2020... without any of the public being told, and seemingly with some favourable deal in return for him going ‘quietly’ so to speak".

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/prince-harry-takes-murdochs-uk-group-latest-court-action-against-papers-2023-04-24/

He did not. He said a large sum was paid to William. The amount or even a hint of the amount has never been revealed by Harry or anyone else.

We do not know if Harrys settlement was larger than Williams or not, as we do not know how much William got.