The worst thing about the phone-hacking scandal is, of course, the misery endured by those whose privacy was invaded. But the damage spread far and wide. All journalists were tarred with the same brush, and the resulting decline in trust in the media – which was never high – contributed to a toxic brew of online conspiracy theories.
News Group Newspapers (NGN), publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, has admitted to “unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun”. It has offered a “full and unequivocal apology” to Prince Harry for this, and for “phone-hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists” at the News of the World, and has agreed to pay “substantial” damages – believed to be more than £10m.
