Get your magnifying glass out
The Mail on Sunday has published its court-ordered apology to Meghan Markle on the quietest new day of the year.
Miniscule font on the front page of the paper directs readers to Page 3 to read their full apology for publishing extracts of a letter sent by Meghan to her estranged father.
Mail Online was also ordered to publish an apology on their home page, and it’s there, just buried beneath several scrolls worth of other dross.
After a three-year long legal battle, the Mail on Sunday lost its appeal and was forced into the apology.
Meghan sued the umbrella company which owns both titles, Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), over five articles reproducing parts of the “personal and private” letter to her 77-year-old father, Thomas, in 2018.
Dismissing ANL’s appeal, Sir Geoffrey Vos, one of the court of appeal judges, said: “Those contents were personal, private and not matters of legitimate public interest.”
Markle said: “This is a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what’s right. While this win is precedent-setting, what matters most is that we are now collectively brave enough to reshape a tabloid industry that conditions people to be cruel, and profits from the lies and pain that they create.
“From day one, I have treated this lawsuit as an important measure of right versus wrong. The defendant has treated it as a game with no rules. The longer they dragged it out, the more they could twist facts and manipulate the public (even during the appeal itself), making a straightforward case extraordinarily convoluted in order to generate more headlines and sell more newspapers– – a model that rewards chaos above truth.
“In the nearly three years since this began, I have been patient in the face of deception, intimidation, and calculated attacks. Today, the courts ruled in my favour– – again– – cementing that the Mail on Sunday, owned by Lord Jonathan Rothermere, has broken the law. The courts have held the defendant to account, and my hope is that we all begin to do the same. Because as far removed as it may seem from your personal life, it’s not.
“Tomorrow it could be you. These harmful practices don’t happen once in a blue moon– – they are a daily fail that divide us, and we all deserve better.”
ANL said in a statement it was “very disappointed” by the decision and is considering an appeal to the supreme court.
Read their full apology here.
