Vol. 72/No. 33      August 25, 2008

Mosley was awarded £60,000 in damages, a record for a privacy case (1£=US$1.90).

News of the World sought to justify its actions by alleging that Mosley had participated in a “Nazi-style orgy” and that publication of the material was “justified by the public interest in exposing Mosley’s serious impropriety.” Mosley denied the encounter with the women had a Nazi theme.

His father, Oswald Mosley, was the leader of British fascists in the 1930s and a Nazi sympathizer.

The judge, Justice Eady, said in his ruling, “The modern approach to personal privacy … is very different from that of past generations … there is greater willingness to respect an individual’s right to conduct his or her personal life without state interference or condemnation.”

The judgment in Mosley’s case was met with opposition from many commentators in the big-business press, some church leaders and politicians.

The Sun described the judgment as a “dark day for British freedom” and said the law “provides a cloak of secrecy behind which privileged and powerful people will be able to hide their criminal or immoral activities.”

An editorial in The Times claimed the judgment “has imposed new boundaries between individual privacy and freedom of expression” that is not “good for the press, Parliament or, ultimately, the public.”

George Carey, former archbishop of Canterbury, said the ruling was “devoid of the basic, decent moral standards that form the very fabric of our society.”

Using arguments that bolster “family values,” he asked, “If a politician, a judge, a bishop or any public figure cannot keep their promises to a wife, husband, etc, how can they be trusted to honour pledges to their constituencies and people they serve?”

In a case in Scotland, still ongoing, the former leader of the Scottish Socialist Party, Tommy Sheridan, was also targeted by the News of the World over sex and drugs allegations. Sheridan denied the allegations and won a libel case in court, winning £200,000 in damages. He is now facing a new criminal trial over police charges of perjury.  
 
 
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