JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
For years, Prince Harry has battled with the British tabloids over the way they treat him and his family. Chief among those papers, those of Rupert Murdoch. Today at a high court in London, Murdoch's British newspaper company admitted its tabloids had hacked Harry's phones and apologized for other illegal acts stretching back decades, including the coverage of Harry's mother, the late Princess Diana. NPR's David Folkenflik has the story from London.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Murdoch's British newspaper arm had previously paid more than $1.5 billion in making 1,300 settlements. This time, however, in addition to payments, it had to make explicit disclosures. Disclosures that phone hacking and criminality took place at the daily Sun tabloid, not just the Sunday News of the World, which Murdoch shut down in 2011 at the height of scandal. Disclosures it had spied on former member of Parliament Tom Watson as he helped investigate the Murdoch tabloids. Disclosures that its initial dismissals of hacking as the work of a rogue reporter were wrong. It also apologized for the coverage of Harry's mother, the late Princess Diana.
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DAVID SHERBORNE: This represents a vindication for the hundreds of other claimants who were strong-armed into settling without being able to get to the truth of what was done to them.
FOLKENFLIK: David Sherborne is the chief attorney for Prince Harry and Tom Watson. Standing outside the courthouse, he said the Murdoch tabloids unlawfully engaged more than a hundred private investigators more than 35,000 times.
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SHERBORNE: The rule of law must now run its full course. Prince Harry and Tom Watson join others in calling for the police and Parliament to investigate not only the unlawful activity now finally admitted but the perjury and cover-ups along the way.
FOLKENFLIK: Murdoch's British arm, called News UK, argues this settlement closes the book on the scandal - maybe. News UK chief executive Rebekah Brooks used to run the News of the World and then The Sun. In July 2011, she testified to Parliament under oath.
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REBEKAH BROOKS: I was then editor of The Sun, and I can say absolutely that The Sun is a very clean ship, a great newsroom.
FOLKENFLIK: She resigned that month but returned after being acquitted of criminal charges. Her company's apology today undercuts her remarks. Sherborne's case alleged that Brooks and other executives took part in a cover-up to delete millions of emails that might have contained evidence. One of those executives was Will Lewis. He's now publisher of The Washington Post. Lewis is not a defendant, and he and News UK have denied that. Watson, now a member of the House of Lords, spoke outside the courtroom today, too.
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TOM WATSON: Our system remains stacked against victims in favor of the powerful.
FOLKENFLIK: Watson addressed himself to the targets of tabloid hacking, not simply celebrities, but the victims of terrorism and crime, as well as war dead.
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WATSON: At least we know now that because of the work of my solicitor, Ellen Gallagher, and lawyers like her, victims and their loved ones are unlikely to have their phones hacked or their medical records stolen by tabloid newspapers, as routinely used to happen.
FOLKENFLIK: The settlement from Murdoch's News UK reached eight figures, covering legal costs and damages, according to two people with knowledge who requested anonymity because they did not have authority to speak publicly. By American standards that's not huge. In the U.K., it's a staggering sum.
David Folkenflik, NPR News, London.
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