Max Mosley delighted at ‘Nazi sex’ privacy victory: “Max Mosley, the Formula One boss, has declared himself delighted after winning record damages in a privacy action against the News of the World.”
Read the judgment in full.
(Via Law News from Times Online.)
Everyone is reading about this case today because it involves a public figure who sued, but I’d like to make the point that ordinary sex workers, who are not in the public eye, are being exposed by the media all the time in the name of sensational sex stories. Tabloid newspapers especially frequently run articles exposing ordinary “working girls”, despite the fact it is not against the law to work as an escort and thus these ladies have committed no crime. The lives of many sex workers in the UK and Ireland have been ruined by this type of journalism. Last month, in Ireland, a TV show exposed two separate independent escorts on national TV for apparently no reason other than salacious TV. I don’t know if today’s verdict will discourage this type of journalism but I hope it will.
Good point raised, everyone including the sex workers have a reasonable expectation to privacy. However, in reality, only those who have the necessary funds such as Mosley can nowadays pursue court actions for invasion of privacy. We can only hope that this decision will discourage irresponsible journalism for the sake of fabricating sensational news stories to sell more newspapers.
See further: The Times, Max Mosley case is bad news for tabloid editors: Max Mosley’s victory will force Sunday tabloid newspaper editors to ask increasingly demanding questions when they are faced with the kiss-and-tell stories that have long been a staple of Britain’s bestselling titles.