Formula One chief Max Mosley has been awarded a record $120,000 after winning his privacy case against a tabloid newspaper over a story alleging he attended a five-hour sex session involving Nazi role play. The 68-year-old, was awarded £60,000 ($120,000) against the News of the World, which printed photographs of the session and posted video on its Web site. The court also ordered the newspaper to pay Mosley's legal costs, which were estimated at £450,000, ($900,000) in addition to its own costs, estimated at £400,000 ($800,000). Niri Shan, head of media at law firm Taylor Wessing, said the award was substantially higher than in past cases and it was a blow for media freedom.
Mosley, who is president of Formula One's governing body -- the FIA -- and the son of the late British fascist politician Oswald Mosley, had admitted taking part in a sado-masochistic orgy but said he abhorred the idea of Nazi sex fantasies. He told the court his life had been devastated by the claims published in March and the secretly-filmed footage, labeled "truly grotesque and depraved" by the newspaper, which attracted at least 3.5 million hits. High Court judge David Eady said there was no evidence that Mosley's orgy was intended to reenact Nazi behavior and there was no public interest or other justification for the newspaper's clandestine recording of it. News of the World editor Colin Myler said he believed the story was one of "legitimate public interest and one that I believe was legitimately published," PA reported. Myler said it was "absolutely not true" that the newspaper had fabricated the Nazi aspect. He told reporters outside the court that the judgment was more evidence of a "creeping law of privacy." The newspaper's case was dealt a fatal blow when their main witness, one of the women involved in the orgy, withdrew from testifying. Mosley, on the other hand, took the stand and gave a very frank account of the orgy, which was backed up by the other women involved.
Shan said Mosley's victory was in line with other cases involving celebrities including Naomi Campbell, JK Rowling and Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones. The award was higher due to the "aggravating circumstances," notably how the newspaper had used video of the orgy on its Web site and pictures in the print edition, Shan said. However, he said the main point out of the decision was that public figures' sex lives were out of bounds unless a hypocritical element could be proved. For example, a politician who was campaigning on a moral platform while violating those morals in his private life. Shan said even this had now become a grey area, with newspapers having to make sure they had a very robust defense. He believed the decision was another blow for media freedom, and that stories of this type would not be published in the future. Shan said Mosley set out to prove there was no Nazi element to the orgy, which he had succeeded in doing, but queried the wisdom of taking the privacy case. [End of report]
It is a certainly an interesting outcome to the case but I expected it to be honest. When I heard that Mosley would be taking the issue to court, I knew that he had more chances of winning the case than the News of the World. There is no doubt that what Mosley did was embarrassing and wrong for a man of his position but then again, it is his private life and he can do whatever he wants. The only problem though his orgy act was caught on tape by a tabloid newspaper and almost everyone involved with the sport have been affected in one way or another by the incident. Nobody knows whether there was any Nazi element in the orgy, Mosley has denied that charge so I wont comment on that. As much as I think what he did was unacceptable, I believe what The News of the World did was even wrong. Now I understand that being a tabloid newspaper, it is their job to tell the readers of what might be happening and to give them accurate information whenever possible, but I dont think it also includes to the extent of breaching one's privacy as in the case of Mosley. It is his personal life and like I said earlier, he can do whatever he wants with it as long as it doesnt affect the way he perform his duty so I dont see any reason why The News of the World would want to do what it did.
I completely agree with the High Court judge when he said that "...there was no public interest or other justification for the newspaper's clandestine recording of it." I dont think any Formula 1 fans or anyone would be interested to know what is going on in Mosley's private life. I mean its not like he is a huge Hollywood star or something, he is a 68-year-old man for God sake, nobody cares on what exactly is going on in his private life. As a F1 fan myself, if I hadnt know what Mosley did, I would definitely not be interested to find out more about his private life. I am only interested in watching the race only and as long as he is doing a good job, which I believe he is, then there is no reason to do such a thing. It is definitely a huge blow to The News of the World. The award was higher particularly because the newspaper had used video of the orgy on its Web site and pictures in the print edition. I dont understand why the newspaper is argueing about the decision by saying that it "was another blow for media freedom." I mean there are a lot of other things that are much better and that the public will be much more interested in to report on other than a 68-year-old man participating in an orgy. I just hope it will serve the newspaper and other media companies a lesson on where to draw the line.
My conclusion on this issue is that it is rather a win for the right to protect the privacy of someone against the media trying get some story to make huge money by going beyond than what it should. By the way, Mosley is also suing the tabloid for defamation and violation of privacy in its internation edition in France but the case is yet to be heard. I would love to hear your views on the decision to award Mosley. Do you think it was the right outcome or do you think it is indeed another blow for media freedom? Share it with me.
*The report was taken from CNN.
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