Controversial naked photos of Britain’s Prince Harry are available on the Internet, but after Rupert Murdoch‘s Sun newspaper published them on Friday, the Press Complaints Commission logged over 850 gripes. Murdoch responded – and launched what looks like a challenge to the Leveson Inquiry on UK media ethics – by defending the tabloid’s decision via Twitter. On Sunday, he tweeted: “Simple equation: free, open uncontrollable Internet versus shackled newspapers equals no newspapers. Let’s get real.” In October, Lord Justice Brian Leveson will file what is expected to be a critical report from the inquiry and make suggestions for press regulation spurred on by the phone-hacking scandal at Murdoch’s UK newspaper division. Also on Sunday, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who’s been criticized for his cozy relationship with James Murdoch’s office, told the BBC, “We can agree with what someone like Mr Murdoch does or you can disagree with it. But in the end that is not for politicians to tell editors what to publish.”
Simple equation:free, open uncontrollable Internet versusshackled newspapers equals no newspapers. Let’s get real.
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) August 26, 2012


Well. That’s Hunt out of office, then. What an idiot…
batman
JL
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The conundrum of press ownership versus freedom of the press is that while newspapers should be able to publish what they want to print, nobody can force them to publish what they need to print. This is why Internet freedom must be preserved.
It’s rare that I’d agree with the old fox… but in this case, I have to make an exception, even though I think it’s basically sleazy to publish the photos.
The Prince is a representative of the Crown and a public figure, like it or not. When he behaves badly, it’s news. To insist that a British tabloid not publish news photos because they might embarrass the royal family is just wrong, especially since they’re readily viewed on line. For newspapers to survive, they need to be free and not under the thumb of government. I read the argument… that they’re a breach of privacy. But public figures behaving badly, and being photographed doing it… that’s news. Besides, apparently neither Harry nor his guards attempted to stop the photo taking.