September, Friday 20, 2024

Steve Coogan believes that the hacking case involving Prince Harry marks the beginning of a larger issue.


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Actor Steve Coogan has described a High Court ruling that found Prince Harry's phone was hacked by Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) as the "start of something”. Coogan believes the ruling highlights the "widespread contempt" that newspaper editors had for the Leveson Inquiry, which looked into press ethics. He argues that the press should be held accountable through independent regulation. Coogan himself was a victim of MGN's phone hacking and settled with the group in 2017. As a vocal critic of tabloid press, he believes that the recent ruling provides evidence of crimes and perjury that should be addressed by the police. Following the ruling, Prince Harry has called for charges to be brought against MGN and those involved. The Metropolitan Police stated that they will carefully consider the civil judgment but currently have no ongoing investigation. Coogan also called for the abandoned second part of the Leveson Inquiry to be conducted and questioned Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s stance on the matter. The Leveson Inquiry was initiated after the phone-hacking scandal at News International and concluded that an independent self-regulatory body should be established to address the relationship between journalists and the police. However, the industry rejected this proposal. The current regulator, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), has been criticized for being controlled by the press. Coogan argues that a new independent regulatory body is needed. On the other hand, former chair of Ipso, Sir Alan Moses, defended its independence and described accusations of control as "ridiculous". The judge in the Prince Harry phone hacking case found that MGN editors and executives knew about the phone hacking, including former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan. Morgan has repeatedly denied involvement in phone hacking but Coogan argues that Morgan could have received illegally obtained information during his time as editor and still denied any involvement in the hacking.