British Journalism Review

Abstract

Bad behaviour is nothing new or unexpected in newspapers or broadcasting. In many ways the history of the press is the story of conflict between the people who want to conceal secrets and the journalists who want to reveal them. Nobody dare assert that matters of public interest were not involved in many, if not the majority, of them, but the same cannot be said of the exploits of the mobile phone hackers. So far nothing has emerged to provide them with a public-interest defence for their activities. They are simply a disgrace. The elimination by newspapers and other media of an unsavoury practice is of paramount important.