Hugh Grant on Phone-Hacking Verdict: Don’t Forget the Guilty Pleas

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The 59th Hugh Grant Evening Standard Theatre Awards - Ceremony
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 17: Hugh Grant the 59th London Evening Standard Theatre Awards at The Savoy Hotel in London on Nov. 17, 2013.David M. Benett—Getty Images
By Lily Rothman

Hugh Grant would like to amend the score card being touted by most news stories about verdicts in the British phone-hacking trial this week. Most have noted that just one of the seven defendants, former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, was found guilty of conspiring to intercept calls. Six others, including Rebekah Brooks, who was editor before Coulson, were found not guilty. Grant, one of the most prominent victims of the phone-hacking in question, is concerned that coverage of the trial isn’t complete, because the tally is leaving out the guilty pleas of others charged in the scandal. In a statement issued to TIME, the actor, who in 2012 settled with the paper’s parent company, Rupert Murdoch’s News International, for damages over the hacking, wrote:

Some newspapers here are spinning these verdicts in the way you describe as “only one out of seven defendants found guilty.” This is deliberately to ignore the guilty pleas of others charged with the same offenses. These guilty pleas could not be reported during the trials and are not being widely reported now by some newspapers who are intent on minimizing the extent of criminality in their industry. The true figures are these (as per today’s Guardian): Of eight journalists charged with hacking, six have now been found, or have pleaded, guilty — one editor, three news editors and two hackers. Twelve more trials of News International (now rebranded News UK) journalists are currently scheduled.

And it may not stop there: In addition to the “dozens” of journalists who the Guardian says could potentially face charges related to this scandal, the paper also reports today that Murdoch, who owned the now-defunct News of the World, has been informed by Scotland Yard that they would like to interview him about the case.

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Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com