Privacy and Injunctions - Evidence - Parliament

Phil Hall, chairman, PHA Media and former editor of the News of the World and Hello! and
Max Clifford, Max Clifford Associates Ltd—Oral evidence (QQ 1456–1510)
this particular incident and a newspaper decided to run it. One phone call to the Press
Complaints Commission and the story was stopped. They will act as an arbiter. For me, the
biggest problem, as in Max Mosley’s case, is not getting proper advance notice that
something is happening. I have a slightly different view on privacy injunctions. I think that to
an extent they were working. At the beginning it was crazy, but judges started to change the
rules and say, “You must give proper notice to each side”, so effectively you had a
newspaper saying, “This story is in the public interest”, and the individual saying, “No, it’s
not”, and at last there was somebody in the middle saying, “I will now give you a ruling on
whether or not I think it is fair.” To a certain extent it is moving forward. There are
different ways of stopping stories.
Q1480 Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury: Lord Dobbs mentioned that he
had appeared on a chat show with you, Mr Clifford. To a certain extent you have made a
living out of celebrities, and I suggest that you are a celebrity in your own right. Kelvin
MacKenzie said the other day that he felt in some way intruded upon. Have you ever found
yourself at the end of an attempt by, say, Mr Hall to look into your life, and what was your
reaction to that?
Max Clifford: My reaction to that is basically the way I have lived my life. I would
take care of myself. If I am up to no good and somebody is about to find out, I would do
everything I can to make sure they do not find out.
Q1481 Baroness Bonham Carter of Yarnbury: I expected that answer. Do
you think that the laws we have are good enough to protect those who are not Max
Clifford?
Max Clifford: No.
Q1482 Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury: Did your relationship with
editors mean that it was respected?
Phil Hall: One thing editors do make a judgment call about is whether a story is
proportionate and justifiable. If you have a bad story about Max one thing you can look at is
a trail of charity work, good will and stuff he has done over the years. That happens all the
time. People say that so-and-so has done such-and-such a terrible thing, and you say that it
is one little mistake in their life. The stories that newspapers run tend to be when people
are trying to portray themselves as something they are not. The public interest kicks in
when a particular football star is saying he wants a million-pound contract because he is
whiter than white and actually he is not.
Q1483 Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury: You are saying it is a bartering
system?
Phil Hall: There is, because it is a judgment call. There is no statutory detail about
what you and cannot do.
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