Privacy suit may change tabloids
The legal fight in Britain surrounding what seems to be the perfect tabloid story could mean the end of the gossip rags as we know them. Stephen Beard reports.
Max Mosley arrives at the High Court in London to argue his case. (Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty Images)
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TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: Nobody does tabloid journalism quite like the Brits do. They invented it more than a century ago and today British tabloids lead the world in brashness and sensationalism.
Their pursuit of sex scandals is relentless, but that particular business model is facing a major challenge because there's a big case about the right to privacy going on in the High Court in London.
A verdict's expected tomorrow and it could have a big impact on the way British tabloids operate and on their profitability.
from London, Marketplace's Stephen Beard reports.
Stephen Beard: For the tabloid press, this story has been an absolute humdinger -- a high octane, turbocharged, jet-propelled humdinger.
[Gentlemen, Start your engines!]
The man at the centre of the scandal is the boss of the Formula One Motor Racing organisation Max Mosley. The 68-year-old was secretly filmed in a sadomasochistic orgy. Five ladies dressed in military uniform took part. Mosley spoke German. The News of the World described this tableau as "Nazi," causing an extra frisson because of Mosley's origins.
[Speech by Oswald Mosley]
Mosley is the son of this man, Sir Oswald Mosley, head of Britain's Fascist Party in the 1930s. The story is a tabloid dream: wealth, lurid sex and deviant politics.
Media analyst Chris Horrie:
Chris Horrie: A story like this could easily put on 10 percent to their total circulation. It could give them another 200-300,000 pounds, about half a million dollars, on the first day.
But that profit could be lost if Mosley wins his case, and it could threaten the health of the entire tabloid industry. The Formula One boss has sued the News of the World not for defamation but for invading his privacy, now protected by the European Convention of Human Rights.
Horrie: A couple of years ago, he wouldn't have sued at all because they have the evidence, but now he's saying, "It doesn't matter if this is true or false; it's a breach of my new European-style privacy right."
The News of the World claims that the story was in the public interest -- a public figure was involved in Nazi roleplay. But Mosley says he only spoke German during the orgy out of courtesy because one of the ladies was German.
Tim Luckhurst is Professor of Journalism at Kent University. He says the courts have recently sided with the targets of the tabloids.
Tim Luckhurst: We're increasingly seeing judges are prepared to protect public figures from the sorts of intrusion which in the past was regarded as the lifeblood of British tabloid journalism.
The News of World got its scoop in the usual way: One of the ladies filmed a Mosley spanking session for a promise of $50,000, although in the end, the paper paid her only half the fee, blaming it on the credit crunch.
Media lawyer Keith Mathieson thinks that Mosley will win the case.
Keith Mathieson: I think the judge will find that you are entitled to keep your sex life private, however peculiar it may seem to other people, however bizarre the acts may be.
The Formula One boss is asking for punitive damages that could be as much as $2 million. He says if he wins he'll give the money to a charity promoting motor racing safety.
In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.
Comments
Comment | Refresh
07/24/2008
Ahem... Perhaps this will translate better through the comment system: "Fédeacute;ration Internationale de l'Automobile".
From Philadelphia, PA, 07/24/2008
I also enjoy Marketplace every time, but this piece is MISinformative. Twice Stephen Beard referred to Max Mosley as the head of F1 ("the boss of the Formula One Motor Racing organisation Max Mosley", "The Formula One boss is asking..."). That is completely incorrect. The head of F1 is Bernie Ecclestone, who is often mentioned in the same breath and has had a feuding friendship with Mr. Mosley over many years. In this particular case, Mr. Ecclestone has kept relatively mum (as compared to the reactions of certain F1 team bosses). Mr. Mosley is, in fact, in charge of a much wider-reaching organization, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governing and sanctioning body not just for Formula 1 but for a large variety of motor racing series. F1 happens to be the most lucrative and glamorous of those motorsports, but the FIA has plenty of other responsibilities. This is an important point in the story, as Mr. Mosley derives his power (and healthy salary) from the approval of national and regional motorsports clubs around the world, and this scandal caused several prominent member clubs to speak out vocally against him and demand his resignation, including threatening departure from the FIA.
From Anchorage, AK, 07/24/2008
The story was excellent, but the embellishments rather sucked. In the first place. Mosley is not the boss of Formula 1 (that "honour" rests with Bernie Ecclestone); Mosley heads the FIA, which sets the rules for F1. The "Gentlemen, start your engines" sound effect is an American cliche, associated with the Indianapolis 500, and certainly not F1. Finally, the racing engine SFX were not F1 either; they sounded like you used an old NASCAR tape. From the previous comment, it sounds like you did better with the music.
From norwalk, CT, 07/24/2008
It's the wit & humor that always impress me with Marketplace. Although I think the joke may have been lost on most listeners. The article on the brit sex scandal Max Mosley was informative, the closing music was a clever choice: Bizarre Love Trainagle by New Order. Clever Kudos to Marketplace once again!
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