The future of Trinity Mirror’s flagship newspapers is under threat as the bill for phone hacking soars on a monthly basis.
After years of denial and gloating at the demise of the News of the World the extent of phone hacking at the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People is emerging with new victims coming forward on a daily basis.
Eight victims of Mirror Group phone hacking, including Paul Gascoigne, Sadie Frost and Alan Yentob, were recently awarded damages totalling £1.2m.
The media group had initially set aside £1.5m to deal with the issue, that was revised to £12m with a further £16m now earmarked for pay-out’s to the celebrities that they hacked before splashing personal details about their life’s across their pages.
While readers soaked up the tales believing that they were the result of investigations, tip-off’s and good old fashioned journalism the reality was somewhat different with a couple of geeks listening in to every voicemail waiting for a scoop regardless of how invasive or trivial it seemed.
During the case for the first eight victims it was claimed that one journalist spent 18 months hacking into the phones of over 100 celebrities.
David Sherbourne, barrister for the victims told the court: “This was not just the work of junior reporters … quite the opposite. The evidence demonstrates that voicemail interception, as well as the unlawful obtaining of personal information by blagging or use of private investigators, was in widespread and habitual use by a large number of journalists across all three MGN titles.”
Giving evidence Gascoigne said: “I knew I was getting hacked by the Mirror. This continued for ages. Phone calls to my father and family were getting blocked so I changed my mobile. It happened again so I kept on changing mobiles, five or six times a month.
“I couldn’t speak to anybody, I was scared to speak to anybody… my parents, my family and kids, it was just horrendous and people can’t understand why I became an alcoholic.
“At the time I was going through a bad time because I knew I was getting hacked, 110 per cent. Of course [people] wouldn’t believe it – my family and Mr McKeown (therapist Johnny McKeown). As I was speaking to him on the phone, it clicked again. He told me I was paranoid, I was going through a mental disorder.
“I said ‘No, there’s f**k-all wrong with me’. I knew, I knew. I put the phone down… I’ve never told a lie, nothing to lie about, nothing. Disgusting. Crap.”
In July 2011 as pressure forced News International to close the Daily Mirror lectured: “These have been tough days for the image of newspapers but never forget that, despite a few rotten apples, much good is done. A free, strong forthright press is vital for democracy.
“Yet it must always be honest, truthful and trustworthy if it is to support democracy rather than undermine it…
“Journalists are not perfect and sometimes make mistakes. There are even times when some indulge in totally unacceptable behaviour. But they are not the norm.
“On the contrary. Readers rightly accept only the highest standards and ethics. And we know that trust has to be earned, not by glib words but by hard work”.
Two years later former Sunday Mirror investigations editor Graham Johnstone came forward to destroy that statement, taking a suspended jail sentence opening the way to the claims against the Mirror Group.
In court his counsel Avtar Bhatoa explained: “On 14 March last year the Metropolitan police arrested a number of journalists from the Sunday Mirror on suspicion of interception of voicemails.
“On 15 March Graham contacted the Metropolitan police and informed officers that he was a former journalist on the Sunday Mirror between 1997 and 2006. And he informed them that he had been involved in telephone hacking.”
Former editors Peers Morgan and Sly Bailey have been questioned by police over the industrial scale of phone hacking on their watch. A number of those involved are still involved with the titles, many now enjoying promoted positions.
While News International managed to absorb the claims against the News of the World Trinity Mirror has a fraction of their resources. With sales declining 10% year on year and advertising down 15% in the first quarter of 2015 the viability of the titles will be under severe pressure as new phone hacking claims emerge.