Murdoch’s newspapers shut down after the Phone Hacking Spikes: An apology to News UK and the London Phenomenology
A person who wasn’t authorized to speak about the case said thatNPR broke the news of the offer. A spokesperson for News UK, Murdoch’s British newspaper company, declined comment, as did a lawyer for Harry and the lawmaker, former member of the House of Commons Tom Watson.
The British publishing arm of Murdoch has made a settlement offer to Prince Harry and a lawmaker to avoid a lengthy trial on whether executives covered up illegal activities at Murdoch’s tabloids.
The presiding judge, Justice Timothy Fancourt, pressured the parties to decide on the offer Tuesday, saying he expected the trial to begin that afternoon. He rebuked one of Murdoch’s attorneys for asking to be heard in closed chambers to make his case privately.
The size of damages is far smaller in British civil cases and settlements than in the U.S. Yet going through with this trial carries a financial risk for Harry and Watson: under British law, they can be forced to pay the defendant’s legal costs if they reject a settlement offer that exceeds the amount of the judgment awarded at trial.
It is the first admission by Murdoch’s corporate empire of wrongdoing by The Sun, which expanded to seven days when he closed the News of the World at the height of the phone hacking scandal in 2011. He used the British tabloids as the economic launch point for his media empire, which included his expansion to the U.S.
News UK never admitted guilt for criminal activity by The Sun in past settlements. Indeed, Murdoch expanded that paper to seven days a week in 2012, after closing News of the World the previous year.
The Murdoch camp would be able to block the public presentation of evidence by Harry and his legal team, which was intended to show that the Murdoch daily tabloid the Sun also engaged in widespread criminality.
“I’m the last person who can actually achieve that and alsoclosure for these 1,300 people and families,” Harry told The New York Times last month. “I will be damned if they ruin journalism for everyone, because we depend on it.”
Among the executives allegedly involved in that coverup is Will Lewis, now the CEO and publisher of the Washington Post. A scandal over tabloids’ hacking into people’s voice mails reached a fever pitch when Lewis worked for Murdoch. He is not a defendant in the case, and has denied all wrongdoing. The claims against the executives have not been tested in court.
Lewis was involved in efforts to destroy evidence showing News UK’s leaders were aware of crimes committed by their employees. The head of Murdoch’s television giant Fox Corp., Paul Cheesbrough, was appointed as chief technology officer and the former IT director for News UK, Harry and Warner’s legal team also named. All comment would be directed to News UK.
News UK has not produced any evidence to support the existence of such a plot, despite the fact that Brown and Watson have denied it. Brown has demanded a criminal investigation from Scotland Yard, which opened a preliminary review to determine whether a full investigation is warranted.
Prince Harry and Rupert Murdoch in a British publishing firm: A lawsuit against Murdoch for phone hacking under the News of the World
LONDON — Prince Harry and a senior British lawmaker have agreed to settle with Rupert Murdoch’s British publishing arm, fulfilling their quest for a full-fledged apology in the years-long struggle to hold the Murdoch tabloids accountable for illegal privacy invasions and an alleged coverup of crimes.
It acknowledged that the News of the World ordered its journalists and private investigators to intercept and misuse private information. It further admitted “incidents of unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun.”
Murdoch’s company offered an apology to a Member of the House of Commons for surveilling him during an investigation into Murdoch’s tabloids. The company said that it was paying damages.
Harry and Watson’s lawyers told the court this month that the litigants were not seeking financial advantage from the case. In an interview with the New York Times, Harry stated that he was seeking specifically truth and accountability.
When the phone hacking scandal first broke, Harry andWatson intended to give their legal team the ability to present newly secured evidence and make a case that top executives destroyed evidence and lied to police.