Daily Mail Report on Desmond interview

Express chief Desmond accused of misrepresentation over Madeleine McCann stories





By
Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 9:11 AM on 13th January 2012

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Owner of Express Group Newspapers, Richard Desmond, leaves The High Court after giving evidence to The Leveson Inquiry yesterday


Daily Express owner Richard Desmond
was yesterday accused of a grotesque misrepresentation of his
newspapers’ coverage of the Madeleine McCann case.
Mr
Desmond told the Leveson Inquiry into press standards that he believed
Kate and Gerry McCann were ‘quite happy’ with the coverage for the first
four months, until a new legal team advised them to sue.
Robert
Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, described his comment as a ‘grotesque
characterisation’ of the couple’s feelings, saying: ‘Your paper was
accusing the McCanns, on occasion, of having killed their daughter.
‘Are you seriously saying they were sitting there quite happy, rather than entirely anguished by your paper’s bad behaviour?’
Mr
and Mrs McCann, both 43, took legal action against Express Group
Newspapers for 38 articles in the Daily Express and the Daily Star and
their Sunday titles.
The group paid £550,000 in damages to the Find Madeleine Fund and published front page apologies.
Mr
Desmond said he believed every national newspaper had written similar
articles and insisted his titles were ‘scapegoated’ by the Press
Complaints Commission.
‘Once
again I do apologise to the McCanns, you know, et cetera, et cetera, et
cetera, but there are views on the McCanns. Of what happened. There are
still views on the McCanns of what happened.’



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In wide-ranging evidence,
Mr Desmond described the Leveson Inquiry as ‘probably the worst thing
that’s ever happened to newspapers’ because of its impact on sales.
‘Ethical, I don’t quite know what the word means’



Asked if he was interested in ethical
standards in his newspapers, he replied: ‘Ethical, I don’t quite know
what the word means.’
In
written evidence to the inquiry he said: ‘We are in a business to give
readers/viewers what they want to read and watch and as long as it’s
legal that is what we aim to do.
‘We don’t talk about ethics or morals because it is a very fine line and everybody’s ethics are different.’




Allegations: Kate and Gerry McCann arriving at the High Court, London, in November to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry

█
Express Newspapers continued using an enquiry agent for more than five
years after he was convicted of illegally accessing personal data.

The
group, publishers of the Daily Express, Daily Star and their Sunday
sister titles, was commissioning Steve Whittamore’s company to carry out
searches as recently as July 2010, the Leveson inquiry was told.

Whittamore received a conditional discharge in April 2005.

Nicole
Patterson, head of legal at Express Newspapers, said she could not
confirm whether the agent was still working for the Daily Express and
Daily Star.

Asked by
Robert Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, why they continued to use him,
Miss Patterson replied: ‘It’s a matter for the news editor and the
editor. It’s not something that’s within my remit, I’m afraid, and I
can’t speak for them.’



Mr Desmond said he was interested only in the media as a business, and was not seeking political influence.
He
said he felt he had betrayed Tony Blair ‘as a mate’ when the Express’s
then editor Peter Hill decided the paper should back the Conservative
Party in 2005.
‘I felt he was a good bloke, I thought he was doing a good job, I liked him,’ said Mr Desmond.
‘You know, he came to my house, I went to his house or flat. So I felt bad on a personal level.’
Mr
Desmond described the PCC, from which his group withdrew last year, as
useless, saying it had failed to provide his editors with guidance on
covering the McCann case.
Four other papers, including the Mail, made varying payments to the McCanns.
Last
night, McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: ‘The scale and
weight of the inaccuracies and unfounded allegations meant that the
Express Group as a whole stood out as by far the worst offender.’






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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2085908/Leveson-Inquiry-Richard-Desmond-accused-misrepresentation-Madeleine-McCann-stories.html#ixzz1jKTYQXxU

I think the McCanns have lost any support from the British Press now.......they will be afraid of being sued and much as Desmond showed contempt for
the hearing he did highlight the McCanns guile .

Panda wrote:

Mr Desmond said he believed every national newspaper had written similar articles and insisted his titles were ‘scapegoated’ by the Press Complaints Commission.

‘Once again I do apologise to the McCanns, you know, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, but there are views on the McCanns. Of what happened. There are still views on the McCanns of what happened.’

No love lost there, he can see right through them and will continue to play with them in articles. Well said and done Mr.Desmond.

He is still around then.

Last
night, McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: ‘The scale and
weight of the inaccuracies and unfounded allegations meant that the
Express Group as a whole stood out as by far the worst offender.’

Morning margaret.....Yes , Desmond has not minced his words and Clarence was not very convincing on T.V. last night. He evaded the questions of the
Interviewer, who didn't pursue the matter. Had that been Jon Snow doing the interview Mitchell would have been reduced to a quivering Jelly.

I"m sure the Public will be more aware regarding the McCanns now and they must be seething.