Prince Harry says his lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch's British tabloids is an effort to hold the media to account. new york times DealBook Summit in December. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/Getty Images North America hide title
LONDON — Rupert Murdoch’s British publishing arm has offered Prince Harry and a senior lawmaker a substantive settlement to avoid a fight over whether company executives covered up illegal conduct at their tabloids. A long trial.
Among the executives allegedly involved in the cover-up was Will Lewis, now the company's CEO and publisher. washington post. Lewis was an executive at Britain's Murdoch Co. 14 years ago when the scandal over tabloid hacking into people's voicemails reached a fever pitch. He is not a defendant in the case and denies all wrongdoing. The allegations against Lewis and other executives have not been tested in court.
NPR first broke the news, which was revealed by a person who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak directly about the case. A spokesman for News UK, Murdoch's British newspaper company, declined to comment, as did lawyers for Harry and fellow MP Tom Watson, a former member of the House of Commons.
The last-minute settlement offer triggered Murdoch's decision two years ago to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit over Fox News' broadcast of lies about the 2020 election. Murdoch's team made the offer as the trial loomed, with the nonagenarian media mogul testifying in open court. In this case, Fox humbly admitted that it made an incorrect claim, but Dominion Voting Systems was able to reveal the size of the settlement — a more telling concession.
The presiding judge, Judge Timothy Fancourt, pressed both sides on Tuesday to decide on the offer and said he expected the trial to begin that afternoon. He rebuked one of Murdoch's lawyers for asking to present his case privately at a closed-door hearing.
"I'm not going to start having secret hearings in all cases," the judge said.
Harry and Watson insist an admission of wrongdoing is needed to resolve their claims.
The scale of damages awarded in UK civil cases and settlements is much smaller than in the US. However, conducting this trial poses a financial risk for Harry and Watson: under British law, they could be forced to pay the defendant's legal costs if they refuse to appeal. The settlement offer exceeds the amount awarded at trial.
The UK hacking scandal has been going on for years and has involved everyone from members of the royal family to politicians, celebrities and even crime victims. Britain has paid more than $1.5 billion to resolve more than 1,300 complaints against The Sunday Times world news and daily tabloids the sun. Murdoch personally apologized and closed in July 2011 world news.
Even with settlements reached over the years, UK News never admitted to criminal activity sun. In fact, Murdoch expanded its scope to seven days a week after closing the paper in 2012 world news the year before.
As a result, he largely undoes the damage and prevents public attention and criminal exposure of his other titles. British News has previously denied hacking into Watson's voicemail messages and claimed Harry's legal claim was brought too late to have any merit. The company has strenuously denied that its executives engaged in any cover-up.
Harry accused the company's reporters and private investigators of illegally obtaining his personal information for years. Harry blamed the media, particularly the Murdoch press, for his feud with other family members and attacks on his wife, Meghan Markle. Harry and Watson had previously rejected settlement offers, saying a trial was needed to ensure Murdoch's title and executive accountability.
"I was the last person who was able to actually make this happen and bring closure to these 1,300 people and families." Harry told new york times last month. "I would be sad if these journalists were to ruin journalism for everyone, because we depend on journalism."
The stakes are high on both sides of the Atlantic.
Lewis starts with Bezos postal a year ago. but he stood there He was damaged before he took office when NPR reported on allegations that he played a key role in the Murdoch tabloid cover-up, an allegation brought against him in a related case that had been settled earlier of. (Lewis is not a defendant in that charge either.) Last spring, it was revealed that he had pressured NPR and his own editors. postal Failure to cover up the allegations sparked further outcry postal Editorial Department.
By Spokesperson Lewis and postal declined to comment. an assistant washington post Amazon founder and owner Jeff Bezos did not respond to a request for comment.
While Lewis is not a defendant, he is accused of being involved in destroying evidence that UK news agency leaders knew of crimes committed by their staff on behalf of the tabloid. Harry and Watson's legal team also named Paul Cheesbrough, a former IT director at News UK who rose to become chief technology officer in New York City at Murdoch's TV giant Fox Corp. Official and head of Tubi Media Group. He declined to comment through a company spokesman and referred all comments to British news agencies.
Harry and Watson's accusations also focus on the conduct of News UK chief executive Rebekah Brooks, a former editor of both newspapers. world news and sun. She served as chief executive of News Service UK in 2011 but resigned that summer. Brooks was later acquitted in a criminal case on phone-hacking charges and returned to oversee Murdoch's newspapers division.
If the trial proceeds, Fancourt will decide whether the executives should be found guilty of obstruction of justice.
The settlement will allow the Murdoch camp to withdraw evidence publicly presented by Harry and Watson's legal teams - evidence that sought to show that the Murdoch Daily tabloid sun Its reporting methodology also covers a wide range of crimes.
Plaintiffs accuse Lewis and other executives of orchestrating the deletion of millions of emails and withholding other material from police. According to police records provided in court documents, Lewis told the police inquiry that they had to delete the emails to thwart a plan by Watson and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to secretly obtain material from the computer of Brooks, the newspaper's chief executive.
Brown and Watson deny any such conspiracy; to date, British news has not publicly presented any evidence to support its existence. Brown requested a criminal investigation from Scotland Yard, which has launched a preliminary review to determine whether a full investigation is necessary.
In 2023, Harry won a case overseen by the same judge in another case involving similar conduct by tabloid company The Mirror Group. In that case, the court ruled that the news company's phone hacking was "pervasive and routine" in the 1990s and early years. In the 2000s, executives not only knew this, they tried to hide it. The judge said Harry's phone was specifically targeted between 2003 and 2009.