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How the Prince Harry affair saw red-tops deal with a new regime
Adam Sherwin The Independent 24 August
DATELINE: 24/8/12
On one side ranged St James's Palace, the Press Complaints Commission and the shadow of Lord Leveson, busy drawing up recommendations on the future regulation of newspapers. On the other lay the most talked-about pictures in the world: juicy images of the party-loving third-in-line to the throne, stark naked, promising a summer windfall guaranteed to rack up web hits and boost tabloid sales. But where editors would once have cried "publish and be damned" and argued their case in court, on this occasion – at least initially – they reluctantly bowed to legal warnings not to publish pictures of a naked Prince Harry.
This outward display of responsibility, designed to safeguard the industry's long-term future, came at a price. The tabloids condemned a "farcical" situation which allowed web users around the world to view images which were denied to British print readers.
The issue then became less one of privacy, but of a battle between print and web. After an initial reluctance, The Sun to broke ranks last night and announced that it would be the first British newspaper to publish the photographs. The newspaper's managing editor, David Dinsmore, explained the decision to publish the pictures was because the issue has become one of "the freedom of the Press". "This is about the ludicrous situation where a picture can be seen by hundreds of millions of people around the world on the internet, but can't be seen in the nation's favourite paper read by 8 million people every day," he said.
A St James's Palace spokesman said: "We have made our views on Prince Harry's privacy known. Newspapers regulate themselves, so the publication of the photographs is ultimately a decision for editors to make."
Prior to The Sun's publication of the pictures of Harry, clutching his groin area during a game of "strip billiards" and bear-hugging a girl from behind during a party in his Las Vegas hotel suite, they had spread virally on social media after appearing on the US TMZ gossip website – prompting agonised debate in tabloid newsrooms. Harbottle & Lewis, Prince Charles' lawyers, issued a note via the Press Complaints Commission, warning editors that the pictures should not be published as they were taken on "an entirely private occasion" where Harry had a "reasonable expectation of privacy".
With Lord Leveson compiling recommendations on a new system of press regulation, executives were fearful of any controversy over privacy which might nudge the judge towards proposing a statutory regime. US networks ran versions of the pictures on news bulletins and they appeared on the websites of the LA Times and Time. Until today, no British papers ran the pictures. Insiders suggested that the cautious approach, likely to play well with legislators when they consider Leveson's report, would outweigh the short-term gain from publishing pictures over which exclusivity had disappeared.
The Sun, Daily Mail and Daily Mirror are understood to have still explored a "public interest" defence which could override the UK privacy stipulations. Those newspapers were losing millions of website views, a crucial source of advertising revenue, by failing to run the pictures.
Since Harry's round-the-clock protection team had allowed him to get into a compromising situation, which could have left the Prince open to blackmail, the Mail and the Mirror asked whether the security issues raised might justify publication.
In Thursday's edition, in place of the originals, The Sun "mocked-up" the images on its front page, asking a 21-year-old undertaking work experience, Sophie Henderson, to strip and pose with picture editor Harry Miller. A caption said the pair had been "happy to strip" but the image, after initially appearing on the paper's website, was removed. Henderson tweeted: "lol 5 mins of fame #cringin". The paper said that the intern had not been placed under any pressure to strip for the camera and the picture had been published online "in error". British newpapers, denied their picture boon, vented their anger at St James's Palace. The Mail wrote: "Farcically, British websites, newspapers and television stations were prevented from reproducing them after Prince Charles instructed lawyers to threaten legal action for infringing Harry's privacy."
The Daily Mirror remarked that censoring "won't save Harry's blushes". "It was an extraordinary decision not to publish," said Professor Tim Luckhurst of the University of Kent's Centre for Journalism. "Newspapers want to demonstrate impeccable behaviour on privacy. But there was a powerful public interest defence. These were not paparazzi pictures… Did Harry have a legitimate expectation of privacy given that he invited these girls to his suite and allowed pictures to be taken?"
Last modified: Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Your comments:
What a lot of humbug we've had from editors about the papers being supposedly scared of Leveson. Newsnight had a panel- Max Clifford, Neil Wallace etc - all of whom agreed that Leveson is about to impose draconian restictrions so they don't want to upset him. Kelvin MacKenzie sai so.
Come on! It's the opposite - the editors are using the affair to go for Leveon and nake him out a tyrant. But he is hardly likely to be influenced by what they do now. He's seen enough already; he knows what the popular press is like and that if they duck this one it's only temporary until his report is over and done; he knows that their contrived excuses (privacy, security, huh!) for not running the photos - of courese they should all have run them! - are spurious.
Posted by: TimGopsill: 25 Aug, 2012 21:54:52NUJ response to work experience woman stripping for the Sun
A 21 year old doing work experience for the Sun was asked to strip off and pose with a member of staff for mocked-up pictures of Prince Harry.
Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: "The work experience 21 year old at the Sun who stripped for a mocked-up photo of the naked Prince Harry pictures said in statement that it was a bit of 'harmless fun' and she was not forced to do it. But she should not have been asked to in the first place. It was highly inappropriate of the paper to ask the young woman, who presumably wanted to impress, to do such a task. What would have happened if she had said no?
"In the evidence I presented to the Leveson Inquiry, from witness statements from members, I was able to paint a picture of the level of bullying in some newsrooms. One member, who had been taunted by members of the newsdesk because of her weight, was forced to dress in a Lady Gaga-style dress made from meat and walk the streets. When John Hendy, the NUJ's counsel, asked Rupert Murdoch about the statements made about the bullying at the News of the World, his response was "Why didn't she resign", Lord Justice Leveson then interjected: "I think the problem with that might be that she needs a job.
"We believe that it is no co-incidence that where unions are not recognised by newspaper organisations a high level of bullying can be allowed to flourish. That is why the NUJ is calling for the introduction of a conscience clause into journalists' contracts of employment, which will allow them to refuse unethical assignments. We also demand that workers have the right to be represented in their workplaces so they can defend themselves from unacceptable work practices."
Posted by: Barry White NUJ/CPBF: 24 Aug, 2012 21:08:00
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World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
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The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
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Previous stories
Press Complaints Commission
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