Professor Steven Barnett, Professor of Communications at the University of Westminster, has shared his expertise with various media outlets including The Washington Post, The Conversation, the BBC and LBC on Prince Harry’s recent court case.
Professor Barnett, who gave evidence twice to the Leveson Inquiry in 2012, offered extensive insight into Prince Harry’s court case against News Group Newspapers and the last-minute settlement.
In The Washington Post’s background piece to the trial Professor Barnett highlighted the significance of the case had it proceeded. He said: “[It is the] first time that there is going to be real accountability for senior executives over what happened. […] Were authorizations given by senior executives for any unlawful activity, and if so, by whom?”
Professor Barnett also provided background to the case on LBC News, before sharing his reaction to the “historic” settlement in interviews on BBC Radio 5 Drive Time and LBC with Ben Kentish.
Professor Barnett explained to BBC Radio 5: “It’s historic because it's the first time, as you heard [Prince Harry’s lawyer] David Sherborne say, after years of denying that The Sun had anything to do with unlawful information gathering, they finally admitted and apologised profusely.”
However, Professor Barnett added: “It does raise a huge number of questions about access to justice for ordinary people and how we actually get to the truth when very wealthy cooperations are determined not to let the truth come out.”
A segment from the BBC interview, in which Professor Barnett expressed his concern that “there isn’t any accountability at the top of those organisations”, was later shared across news headlines on various other BBC stations throughout the day, including Radio 2, Radio 4 and Radio 6 Music.
Later that evening, Professor Barnett discussed the potential for criminal proceedings with LBC’s Ben Kentish. He said: “We might see further activity, but you know as well as I do, the press are powerful in this country. They will push back, and they will make it very, very uncomfortable for the police to launch any such criminal inquiry.”
The following day, in an article for The Conversation, Professor Barnett explored the repercussions of the court case and how accountability might be achieved through political action.
In the article, titled The Sun Settles with Prince Harry: Here’s What We Still Don’t Know, he said: “The question for Keir Starmer and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is whether this court settlement will prompt meaningful political action to shore up public protection from press misconduct.”
Professor Barnett concluded: “While the phone-hacking saga may be all but over, the legacy of Britain’s tabloid culture and its unlawful information gathering practices – whether actual or alleged – will rumble on for some time. And Prince Harry should take a great deal of credit for pursuing the truth, even in the face of ferocious press attacks.”
Read the articles from The Washington Post and The Conversation.
Find out more about studying Media and Communication at the University of Westminster.
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