by Brian Cathcart
After two years of foot-dragging, nit-picking, hair-splitting and general obfuscation, News International has finally done the right thing in the civil litigation about phone hacking. It has put its hands up and agreed to compensate all but a few of the remaining victims who were suing it.
So this is a moment to pay tribute to all of those civil litigants, famous and obscure. We should honour them for their courage in challenging not only the might of Rupert Murdoch’s company, but the whole tabloid press, which was so eager to help keep Murdoch’s dirty linen hidden. And we should also honour them for prising open this huge can of worms when the entire establishment was determined to keep it shut.
There is talk of a new royal yacht for the queen’s diamond jubilee; perhaps before 2012 is out we should also have a handsome monument to the civil litigants as a gesture of thanks from a grateful nation. It could take the form of a giant tin-opener, and a location in Fleet Street might be appropriate.
These people changed everything. Without them the “one rogue reporter” lie would probably still be the official line from both News International and the Metropolitan Police. Rebekah Brooks would still be in her job, the ghastly Colin Myler would be editing the News of the World, Andy Coulson would be in 10 Downing Street and the press would still be telling us the PCC was an effective regulator.
A whole industry of deception, in other words, has crumbled thanks to the people compensated today and thanks to their predecessors who settled earlier, notably Sienna Miller.
And pathetic though News International’s legal defence has been lately, suing was never easy for the claimants. Think of the risks they exposed themselves to.
Back in 2010 when many of these cases began life, every politician knew that the Sun and the News of the World could wreck their reputations, and that these papers had more access to the Prime Minister (and his two predecessors) than any backbencher and most ministers. Suing probably looked like political suicide to most MPs.
Across television, cinema and sport, from Hollywood to India, News Corporation owns or controls far more than any other company, so if you were an actress, a sportsman, a football agent or a PR person you risked much more than your time and money by suing — you risked your livelihood.
As for ordinary people whose phones had been hacked, you might think they had nothing to lose by suing, but think again: this is a company that employed private investigators on an industrial scale. Would you be happy to have every aspect of your private life secretly investigated, and if the slightest blemish was found — perhaps involving a vulnerable relative — to have that exposed in the press?
So it took courage for these people to sue, and collectively they made the difference between News International escaping scot free and what we have now: substantial police investigations, a couple of dozen arrests, and the historic and far-reaching Leveson Inquiry.
If they can’t have a monument on Fleet Street, then what about MBEs all round?
Brian Cathcart teaches journalism at Kingston University London and is a founder of Hacked Off. He tweets at @BrianCathcart
Don’t be ridiculous. I am hoping that the suggestion of a monument for hacking victims is a monumental p**s take, as is the suggestion they get MBEs. You do no credit to your cause by putting up a suggestion like this.
Many of the people who sued did so on the basis of CFA’s presumably, and many, possibly the majority who settled today, are people of considerable means. They took a risk, a medium-type legal risk, but it’s not like they were off to Afghanistan or Iraq. And the politicians responsible for that fiasco (John Prescott/Tessa Jowell), and their spin doctors, such as Alastair Campbell who may also get a settlement, have yet to be held to account for those wars.
The Chilcot inquiry was not judge-led and people such as Blair, Straw and Campbell did not have to give evidence on oath. Keep a perspective.
Also, some of the people who were hacked were capable of selling their stories when they wanted, to the highest bidder, often the NoW. I know of one person who settled today who when I interviewed them, asked me if I knew Rebekah Wade (as she was then) and proceeded to wax lyrical about her while giving me a really duff interview (we weren’t paying).
That said, I have been horrified and ashamed by some of the stuff that has gone on and have absolutely no problem with people being prosecuted where appropriate; with compensation and costs being paid and fulsome apologies from NI. The least they can do.
But it ain’t monument stuff in the real world.
Yeah sure, let’s have a monument but please don’t name it the ‘Hacking Monument’ … l suggest ‘l’m too stupid to put a pincode on my voicemails’ Monument.