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Authors: Emily Herbert
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matters worse, he was held to account by the Press Complaints Commission and publicly rebuked by his proprietor, Rupert Murdoch.
The cause of all this was, again, Lord Spencer; he was livid when pictures of Victoria, believed to be suffering from bulimia, attending a private clinic in Surrey had appeared.It was also thought she might have a continuing problem with drink. Lord Spencer complained, successfully, to the PCC; they upheld his complaint and the PCC’s chairman Lord Wakeham sent a personal letter to Murdoch to bring the matter to his attention, something only done in ‘severe or calculated’ breaches of the newspaper Code of Practice.
Rupert Murdoch was a complicated figure himself. For a start, there was a certain amount of controversy that one person, who was not even British, could own such a huge chunk of the British media – five newspapers (at times) and a large part of a television station, BSkyB. Second, it was often averred that his newspapers had a Republican agenda; Murdoch himself was a Republican, no doubt about that, but for his publications to have taken such a stance would have caused huge controversy – and this was a story with a royal connection. Third, there was still the issue about a privacy law and Murdoch did not want to see one of his papers blamed for bringing it in, and so he acted quickly.
Piers Morgan ‘had gone over the top’, he said in a statement. ‘This company will not tolerate its papers bringing into disrepute the best practices of popular journalism, which we seek to follow. While I will always support worthwhile investigative journalism as a community responsibility, it is clear that the young man went over the top. Mr Morgan has assured me that his forthcoming apology to Countess Spencer on this matter is severe and without reservation. I have no hesitation in making public this remonstration and I have remindedMr Morgan forcefully of his responsibility to the Code to which he as editor – and all our journalists – subscribe in their terms of employment.’
For Piers, this was a serious and very public humiliation. The emphasis on youth could not have gone down well and it also emerged that wiser counsel within the newspaper had urged him not to publish the picture. He had ignored that sage advice and now found himself publicly brought to book. Piers had ruffled more than a few feathers in the course of his climb up the greasy pole and, as someone who not only set the news agenda for the past 15 months or so, but had also won a handful of awards for doing so, he was unaccustomed to being rapped over the knuckles so publicly, like a naughty schoolboy. The gloating from other quarters that accompanied it didn’t go down well, either.
‘I think Mr Murdoch is to be congratulated for taking such a strong line,’ said a clearly pleased Lord Wakeham. ‘I think papers are taking the Code increasingly seriously.’ He went on to announce that the PCC had considered looking into the story involving Richard Spring, but could take no action because Spring understandably wanted to let the matter drop and had therefore not issued a formal complaint.
‘While the commission is unable to make a judgment on this case, it also raises questions about the manner in which the News of the World has recently applied the public interest criteria of the Code,’ he stated.
And Piers appeared duly chastened. ‘The decision topublish the story and the photograph of Countess Spencer was mine, and mine alone,’ he insisted. ‘I am sending my sincere apologies to the Countess for any distress that our actions may have caused at an obviously difficult time for her. Mr Murdoch has made his feelings on this subject very clear to me.’
This was a quite different take from what appeared in the News Of The World after Spencer first made his complaint. There, over a full page devoted to the story, was the headline HYPOCRISY OF THE ARROGANT EARL SPENCER … HIS PRIVACY CAN BE INVADED FOR
The cause of all this was, again, Lord Spencer; he was livid when pictures of Victoria, believed to be suffering from bulimia, attending a private clinic in Surrey had appeared.It was also thought she might have a continuing problem with drink. Lord Spencer complained, successfully, to the PCC; they upheld his complaint and the PCC’s chairman Lord Wakeham sent a personal letter to Murdoch to bring the matter to his attention, something only done in ‘severe or calculated’ breaches of the newspaper Code of Practice.
Rupert Murdoch was a complicated figure himself. For a start, there was a certain amount of controversy that one person, who was not even British, could own such a huge chunk of the British media – five newspapers (at times) and a large part of a television station, BSkyB. Second, it was often averred that his newspapers had a Republican agenda; Murdoch himself was a Republican, no doubt about that, but for his publications to have taken such a stance would have caused huge controversy – and this was a story with a royal connection. Third, there was still the issue about a privacy law and Murdoch did not want to see one of his papers blamed for bringing it in, and so he acted quickly.
Piers Morgan ‘had gone over the top’, he said in a statement. ‘This company will not tolerate its papers bringing into disrepute the best practices of popular journalism, which we seek to follow. While I will always support worthwhile investigative journalism as a community responsibility, it is clear that the young man went over the top. Mr Morgan has assured me that his forthcoming apology to Countess Spencer on this matter is severe and without reservation. I have no hesitation in making public this remonstration and I have remindedMr Morgan forcefully of his responsibility to the Code to which he as editor – and all our journalists – subscribe in their terms of employment.’
For Piers, this was a serious and very public humiliation. The emphasis on youth could not have gone down well and it also emerged that wiser counsel within the newspaper had urged him not to publish the picture. He had ignored that sage advice and now found himself publicly brought to book. Piers had ruffled more than a few feathers in the course of his climb up the greasy pole and, as someone who not only set the news agenda for the past 15 months or so, but had also won a handful of awards for doing so, he was unaccustomed to being rapped over the knuckles so publicly, like a naughty schoolboy. The gloating from other quarters that accompanied it didn’t go down well, either.
‘I think Mr Murdoch is to be congratulated for taking such a strong line,’ said a clearly pleased Lord Wakeham. ‘I think papers are taking the Code increasingly seriously.’ He went on to announce that the PCC had considered looking into the story involving Richard Spring, but could take no action because Spring understandably wanted to let the matter drop and had therefore not issued a formal complaint.
‘While the commission is unable to make a judgment on this case, it also raises questions about the manner in which the News of the World has recently applied the public interest criteria of the Code,’ he stated.
And Piers appeared duly chastened. ‘The decision topublish the story and the photograph of Countess Spencer was mine, and mine alone,’ he insisted. ‘I am sending my sincere apologies to the Countess for any distress that our actions may have caused at an obviously difficult time for her. Mr Murdoch has made his feelings on this subject very clear to me.’
This was a quite different take from what appeared in the News Of The World after Spencer first made his complaint. There, over a full page devoted to the story, was the headline HYPOCRISY OF THE ARROGANT EARL SPENCER … HIS PRIVACY CAN BE INVADED FOR
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