News of the World?

Fake Shiekhs and Royal Trappings

Do the great British public get the press the "Red Tops" think they deserve? Or are the tabloids' pious protestations of public interest really just a self-serving attempt to halt declining circulation? Peter Burden examines the News of the World's performance—with its Fake Sheikh and the illegal mobile phone tapping, which lead to a jail sentence for royal reporter Clive Goodman and the resignation of the editor. Burden also highlights the papers hypocrisy when Mazher Mahmood, the Fake Sheikh, was himself unmasked. This is a book for everyone concerned about standards in British tabloid journalism and people who care about privacy rights and the debate over serving the Public Interest versus the interest of the public.

This was shown succinctly in oral evidence heard by a Culture, Media and Sport
Committee inquiry into Press Standards in February 2009 from Jonathan Coad,
partner in media lawyers Swan Turton. He produced a telling example of ...