Murdoch's Sun defies royals,
prints naked Harry pics LONDON,
Aug 24 (bdnews25.wapamp.com/Dhaka)Rupert Murdoch's Sun tabloid
on Friday became the first
British newspaper to defy the
royal family by printing pictures
of Prince Harry cavorting naked in Las Vegas, stoking a
debate about what papers can
print in the name of press
freedom. While newspapers across the
globe have published the
images of Queen Elizabeth's
grandson naked with an
unnamed woman after they
appeared on a US gossip website on Wednesday, the
British media had decided not
to do so until this point. Instead they had agreed to
comply, some more reluctantly
than others, with a request
from lawyers acting for the
royal family to respect the
privacy of the prince, who is 27 and single. But the Sun decided to break
ranks on Friday, publishing a
photo over much of its front
page of the naked prince
covering his genitals with his
hands while an unclothed woman hides behind his back
in his Las Vegas hotel room. The top-selling tabloid, part of
the British arm of Murdoch's
News Corp, said the grainy
pictures were freely available
on the Internet and the issue
had 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 favorite paper," said David Dinsmore,
managing editor of the Sun. Since the pictures appeared on
the TMZ website, British
papers and broadcasters have
been grappling with the
question of whether to print the
photos, taken during the prince's private holiday while
on leave from his job as an
army helicopter pilot. In its TV news bulletins, the
BBC showed the Sun's front
page with the photo blacked
out, as did Sky TV's website,
while the Times website
pixilated Harry's picture. Harry's office had contacted
the Press Complaints
Commission, the industry's
self-regulatory body, to advise
that printing the grainy pictures
would intrude on the prince's privacy, in breach of the
editors' code of practice. Commentators said British
newspapers, their reputations
severely damaged by a
phone-hacking scandal centered
on Murdoch's News of the
World tabloid and by a subsequent judicial inquiry into
press ethics, had been too
scared to ignore that view. Kelvin MacKenzie, a former
editor of the Sun, said
Murdoch himself would have
had to approve the decision to
change tack. The media tycoon, who shut
the News of the World over
revelations staff had illegally
accessed voicemails of
celebrities, politicians and crime
victims, has seen his own reputation tarnished and has
been ostracized by leading
British politicians who once
courted his favor. "A picture like that can't have
been published without Rupert
Murdoch getting involved,"
MacKenzie told BBC TV. "The issues are too large and
too controversial and I salute
Rupert for not being cowed
by, effectively, the
establishment." PUBLIC INTEREST The Sun said that as Harry is
third in line to the throne,
there was a genuine public
interest in publishing the photos
as they raised questions about
his security and his personal image, a view backed by
some arguing for the rights of
a free press. Critics said that was a thin
excuse and the paper was
trying to make money at an
individual's expense, echoing
similar claims that have been
made repeatedly at the public inquiry. "Ultimately profit took
precedence over good taste,"
said Mark Lewis, a lawyer
who represents the family of
Milly Dowler, a murdered
schoolgirl whose phone was hacked by News of the World
journalists. "The photos are to sell more
papers - any pretence at a
debate on press freedom is
humbug. Lots of images are
on the internet that don't get
in the papers." Chris Blackhurst, editor of the
broadsheet Independent, said
his decision not to publish the
photos was not based on royal
pressure or because of fallout
from the judicial inquiry led by judge Brian Leveson. "The idea that there's a public
interest is really spurious," he
told BBC radio. "Frankly, what
danger was he in? They
weren't wearing any clothes,
nobody's carrying any weapons, the whole thing's
ludicrous." A spokeswoman for Harry -
younger son of heir to the
throne Prince Charles and the
late Princess Diana - said
they had made their views on
the prince's privacy clear and it was ultimately a decision for
editors. She refused to say whether
any official complaint would be
made to the PCC. Such a move would pile
pressure on the regulator,
strongly criticized over its
failure to address the phone-
hacking scandal and facing
reform or even abolition when Leveson gives his
recommendations in the next
few months.
(bdnews25.wapamp.com/Dhaka)
