Cliff Richard High Court Case

Well that's Cliff's chances of ever being played on BBC Radio 2 ever again scuppered then!

What sticks in the craw for me will be the sheer hypocrisy of those elsewhere in the media industry who will delight in the BBC being defeated today but don't themselves necessarily practise what they preach.

Statement from Fran Unsworth, Director of News and Current Affairs, in relation to the ruling in Sir Cliff Richard, OBE v BBC.
“We are sorry for the distress that Sir Cliff has been through. We understand the very serious impact that this has had on him.

"We have thought long and hard about how we covered this story. On reflection there are things we would have done differently, however the judge has ruled that the very naming of Sir Cliff was unlawful. So even had the BBC not used helicopter shots or ran the story with less prominence, the Judge would still have found that the story was unlawful; despite ruling that what we broadcast about the search was accurate.

"This judgment creates new case law and represents a dramatic shift against press freedom and the long-standing ability of journalists to report on police investigations, which in some cases has led to further complainants coming forward.

"This impacts not just the BBC, but every media organisation.

"This isn’t just about reporting on individuals. It means police investigations, and searches of people’s homes, could go unreported and unscrutinised. It will make it harder to scrutinise the conduct of the police and we fear it will undermine the wider principle of the public’s right to know. It will put decision-making in the hands of the police.

"We don’t believe this is compatible with liberty and press freedoms; something that has been at the heart of this country for generations.

"For all of these reasons, there is a significant principle at stake. That is why the BBC is looking at an appeal."

Cliff Richard has won his case. Fran Unsworth and Tony Hall must be likely to be considering resignation depending on the wording of the verdict. But I can’t see the Daily Mail not stoping it’s coverage until said resignations happen.

I considered Ms Unsworth to be a careful, thoughtful and conscientious witness. In my
view she was honest in all that she said in the witness box. There is one respect in
which I do not accept her evidence, a respect which I consider to be tinged with wishful
thinking and a bit of ex post facto convenient rationalisation, but that does not detract
from her honesty. Mr Rushbrooke criticised her for poor recollection of detail in several
respects, but I do not consider her failure to recollect some details such as timing to be
at all surprising or to reflect on the more positive evidence that she did give. Her
evidence was straightforward. Her acts and thinking on the day, like the acts and views
of others, were affected by the desire to protect the scoop, though perhaps less than
others.

Can see the BBC announcing very quickly that helicopters are suspended from use while a review goes on (and the press Furore).

I consider that the filming into Sir Cliff’s flat was an infringement of his English law
privacy rights but I do not propose to dwell on it because in the context of the reporting
itself and the disclosure of his investigation and the search it is rather overwhelmed in
its significance in this action. It adds to what I find to be the somewhat sensationalist
nature of the coverage, and that is its main significance. It is unnecessary to accord it
any further separate treatment.

Mr Rushbrooke made much (at least in cross-examination) of an assertion that the
helicopter trespassed in relation to the property when it flew and did its filming. I find
that there was no trespass by the helicopter vis-à-vis Sir Cliff.

Can't say I have much sympathy for the Beeb here - they were almost gleeful to show the original police raid and the use of the helicopter was ridiculously over-the-top and irresponsible. It was incredibly tacky and the sort of thing we'd rightly attack tabloids over when they do similar. A sorry day for the Beeb - they should be ashamed.

Well that's Cliff's chances of ever being played on BBC Radio 2 ever again scuppered then!

I'd say this case has probably caused more of a dent in the news media industry circles rather than another massive public outcry to be honest. Remember that several years ago there was massive outcry about phone hacking and there was government talk of major changes to how the industry worked and that newspapers and TV news would never be the same again. I'd hardly say that's changed. Murdoch closed a paper and rearranged his assets, a couple of people were charged (even though many many more who were doing the same escaped) and newspapers agreed to clean up their act but it was hardly revolution. Going even further back, the same outcry was against press intrusion for Diana. It's hardly stopped journalists following celebrities and photographing their private lives and putting stories out judged on hearsay. Six months down the line and it will all be largely forgotten about. They'll probably be a resignation or two but I'd be surprised if this case suddenly causes a prompt for significant changes to privacy laws seeing that the phone hacking scandal didn't really do much (which in my view, was much, much worse than what has happened to Cliff).

As harsh as it seems, the whole case has felt a bit 'meh' to people I've talked about it with and people seem to be pretty ambivalent to the whole thing Any pressure on resignations will probably come from the press, rather than the public I'd say. As many have said though, will be interesting how the press play this story as it could trigger a raft of similar cases from others but they'll probably be keen to try and avoid drawing too much attention to themselves just in case.

In my opinion this is a victory for the establishment. A national disgrace, and a blow to press freedom.

The judgement will help protect those within the establishment that have committed heinous crimes. People already protected by their position of privilege are now even better placed to cover up their disgusting behaviour.

And this opinion bears no relation to Sir Cliff's innocence/guilt, before someone tries to censor me.