“It all comes down to the evidence,” judges always tell juries before they consider verdicts. But in the “Fake Sheikh” trial the prosecution didn’t have any. Yet On Wednesday , October 5, after two and a bit days of deliberation, a jury at London’s Old Bailey unanimously found Sun journalist Mazher Mahmood guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Tag: James Doleman
After two days of legal argument on 21 September 2016 the prosecution opened their case against News International journalist Mazher Mahmood calling him “the master of deceit.”
Sarah Forshaw QC, the lead prosecution barrister, told the jury that the case stemmed from a 2013 investigation by Mahmood on behalf of the Sun on Sunday targeting singer and former X-Factor presenter Tulisa Contostavlos. Continue reading
In 2011, the British public and press were enraptured with the revelations of phone hacking at the News of the World. Rupert Murdoch referred to appearing at parliament as ‘the most humble day of my life’ The conglomorate looked down and out. Continue reading
Last week’s revelations at the trial of Neil Wallis that the now defunct News of the world tasked one of their journalists to become a prison officer so as to gather information on a child-murderer may have shocked many but was no huge surprise to those who have observed the many recent trials relating to alleged corruption in the tabloid press. Continue reading
A year before the News of the World phone-hacking scandal exploded in 2011 with the news that the paper’s employees had intercepted the messages of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, the paper’s former editor Andy Coulson was called as a witness at Glasgow High Court at the trial of Scottish politician Tommy Sheridan. Continue reading
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decision not to seek a re-trial in the case of a former News of the World journalist, whose conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal comes as no surprise. The reporter concerned, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had already served the relevant part of their sentence, home detention. So any further trial would seem to be rather pointless. Continue reading
The not guilty verdicts at the recent trial of four Sun journalists on charges relating to payments to public officials has led to the Metropolitan Police’s “Operation Elveden” being branded a failure by The Sun and other tabloid newspapers. Demands to “stop the witch-hunt” and in one case a comparison between the Crown Prosecution Service and Hitler have graced our red-top press. Continue reading
If you only read Britain’s best-selling tabloid newspaper you would think that the last 6 months of Sun journalists appearing in the criminal courts have led to a total vindication for the paper and for its version of journalistic ethics. Continue reading
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