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Max Mosley case: statement from Colin Myler, NOTW editor

Posted: 24/07/08 By: Laura Oliver
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Following this morning's judgment in the privacy case against the News of the World, the News of the World's editor Colin Myler has released the following statement:

For the past two weeks the News of the World has been on trial in Court 13 of the High Court.

We have been accused of gross intrusion into the private life of Mr Max Mosley, the President of the FIA and leader of Formula 1 motorsport.

The newspaper was in the dock for publishing details of his five-hour S&M orgy with five prostitutes in a secret Chelsea flat.

In court Mr Mosley admitted to enjoying these practices for the past 45 years, a fact of which his wife and children were unaware.

The judge has ruled that Mr Mosley’s activities did not involve Nazi role-play as we had reported, but has acknowledged that the News of the World had an honest belief that a Nazi theme was involved during the orgy.

The newspaper believed that what it published on March 30 2008 was legitimate and lawful and, moreover, that publication was justified by the public interest in exposing Mr Mosley’s serious impropriety.

As the elected head of the FIA, Mr Mosley is the leader of the richest sport in the world, with a global membership of almost 125 million.

This newspaper has always maintained that because of his status and position he had an obligation to honour the standards which his vast membership had every right to expect of him.

Taking part in depraved and brutal S&M orgies on a regular basis does not in our opinion, constitute the fit and proper behaviour to be expected of someone in his hugely influential position.

We are delighted that the judge has acknowledged that Mr Mosley is largely the author of his own misfortune.

This is the what the judge said about his reckless behaviour:

"Many would think that if a prominent man puts himself, year after year, into the hands (literally and metaphorically) of prostitutes (...) he is gambling in placing so much trust in them.

"There is a risk of exposure or blackmail inherent in such a course of conduct.

"To a casual observer (…) it might seem that the claimant's behaviour was reckless and almost self-destructive (...)

"It could be thought unreasonable to absolve him of all responsibility for placing himself and his family in the predicament in which they now find themselves.

"It is part and parcel of human dignity that one must take at least some responsibility for one's own actions."

We are also pleased that the judge did not award Mr Mosley exemplary damages.

He found that the notion of such punitive awards has no place in this creeping law of privacy.

The News of the World believes passionately that its readers deserve to be informed of when the trust is placed in their elected leaders and public officials has been violated.

It is not for the rich and the famous, the powerful and the influential, to dictate the news agenda, just because they have the money and the means to gag a free press.

Unfortunately, our press is less free today after another judgement based on privacy laws emanating from Europe.

How those very general laws should work in practice has never been debated in the UK parliament. English judges are left to apply those laws to individual cases here using guidance from judges in Strasbourg who are unfriendly to freedom of expression. The result is that our media are being strangled by stealth.

That is why the News of the World will remain committed to fighting for its readers' right to know.