D'you know what's not being covered that much (if at all) in the tabloids? The Leveson Phone Hacking Inquiry. Strange that. Especially since sooo many famous people are involved...
For example, we had Hugh Grant giving evidence yesterday. The Guardian (no surprises there) has been covering the story, and had this to say regarding the actor's testimony:
"Hugh Grant, the actor turned campaigner against press intrusion, accused the Daily Mail of obtaining 'possibly illegal' information about the birth of his daughter from the hospital at which she was born - prompting a war of words between Grant and the tabloid. Grant also queried whether the Mail on Sunday had hacked into his phone after the newspaper ran what he said was a 'wholly untrue' news story about his love life in 2007, as he gave testimony at the Leveson inquiry into press standards. His comments were swiftly rejected by the Daily Mail and its Sunday sister title, marking a dramatic end to a day that also saw Lord Justice Leveson hear evidence from the parents of Milly Dowler, the murdered schoolgirl whose phone was hacked by the News of the World."
The Leveson inquiry is due to run for the next week, and has the following line up:
Wednesday November 23: Gerry McCann (father of missing Madeleine), Sheryl Gascoigne (ex-wife of footballer Paul), Tom Rowland (journalist), Mark Lewis (lawyer, represents some phone hacking victims).
Thursday November 24: Sienna Miller, Max Mosley, JK Rowling, Mark Thomson (lawyer), HJK (anonymous witness - had a relationship with well-known person).
Monday November 28: Charlotte Church, Anne Diamond, Ian Hurst (former British Army intelligence officer), Jane Winter (Northern Ireland human rights campaigner), Chris Jefferies (landlord of murdered Joanna Yeates).
The red tops are going to find it increasingly difficult to refrain from snapping some of that lot, most predictably Sienna, Charlotte, and the UK's most revered celebrity Rowling.
Steve Coogan, who's just arrived at the High Court ahead of his appearance, not so much. Especially since he's articulate in the extreme and willing to tear them a collective new one. He's also not got boobs.
Sky (we have nothing to do with Rupert Murdoch at all, at all, and are therefore totally unbiased, we just love covering court cases and the like) News reports: "Coogan has made no secret of his disdain for the now-defunct News Of The World (NOTW) paper and its parent company News International (NI), and is suing the organisation for hacking his phone. Last weekend he gave an interview to the Guardian in which he likened Nl to a 'protection racket', alleging the group's papers use the threat of press intrusion to "conduct business unencumbered by scrutiny or regulation". In the article, Coogan said: 'It's a word in the ear and a life is ruined, this intrusion into people's lives has been the way of things for the past 40 years.'"
"He called it 'Rupert Murdoch's toxic legacy'."
