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Excellent news from Nick Craven on page two of today's Mail on Sunday, backed up with a leader, about how the paper has stopped the police abusing their powers.
Last October, as we can see from the inset ragout in the cutting above, the paper published an excellent piece of journalism detailing how police had used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to find the source of its Chris Huhne speeding ticket story.
The very next day the interception of communications commissioner's office announced that he would be asking every force in the country to account for itself. Within the week Theresa May had promised a review of the guidelines governing the way RIPA was used.
Last October, as we can see from the inset ragout in the cutting above, the paper published an excellent piece of journalism detailing how police had used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to find the source of its Chris Huhne speeding ticket story.
The very next day the interception of communications commissioner's office announced that he would be asking every force in the country to account for itself. Within the week Theresa May had promised a review of the guidelines governing the way RIPA was used.
The next issue of the Mail on Sunday highlighted how its story had stirred all sorts of people into action and carried another editorial under the headline "A triumph for the vigilant and fearless" in which it proclaimed:
What a straightforward victory for strong and independent journalism this episode has been. In a few short weeks, The Mail on Sunday, followed by many other publications, has successfully exposed, highlighted and now ended some serious state wrongdoing.
The praiseworthy decision of the Home Secretary to set things right shows that we were absolutely correct to do so.
It is hard to think of any other force that could have achieved this apart from unregulated, fearless and vigilant newspapers.
As we can surmise from today's headline, it wasn't quite as straightforward as the paper thought back in October. But if you get there in the end, a few months' delay isn't the end of the world.
And, my, what a campaign the Mail group organised. In the six months since it was first revealed that the Sun's political editor had his phone records examined, the MoS, its daily sister and their website have returned to the subject on no fewer than TWELVE (sorry couldn't help lapsing into Mail style) separate days. They have carried news reports about the Sun's official complaint about the treatment of Tom Newton John and about a Guardian investigation into phone companies' activities. Richard Littlejohn has had a couple of rants at the police and Hacked Off.
And, my, what a campaign the Mail group organised. In the six months since it was first revealed that the Sun's political editor had his phone records examined, the MoS, its daily sister and their website have returned to the subject on no fewer than TWELVE (sorry couldn't help lapsing into Mail style) separate days. They have carried news reports about the Sun's official complaint about the treatment of Tom Newton John and about a Guardian investigation into phone companies' activities. Richard Littlejohn has had a couple of rants at the police and Hacked Off.
Last month the daily paper ran a double-column story about how 100 editors had written to protest about the use of RIPA in a letter co-ordinated by Press Gazette and the Society of Editors. On the same day it gave two-thirds of its leader column to express concern about a grotesque abuse of power. It was unhappy because the Home Secretary had not, as had been hoped in October, "set things right". She had put forward some proposals for a six-week consultation process and now, the day after the process had come to an end, the Mail (in common with other newspapers) told its readers that the changes weren't satisfactory.
This month we had another "victory for the Press" when David Cameron accepted the interception commissioner's recommendation that police should have to go to a judge to go rifling through journalists' data to find out who'd been giving them tips.
The commissioner's report also mentioned that it "wasn't helpful" for the Press to refer to RIPA as an anti-terror law. And, to be fair, nobody's phones were hacked - the police were allowed only to look at records of what calls were made to whom and when. But these are small details when you have right on your side.
So, congratulations to the doughty Mail team (and their assistants from PA, the Sun, the Guardian, Press Gazette and the Society of Editors). I shouldn't wonder if they don't win a nomination for the Paul Foot award or the British Media Awards campaign of the year prize.
This month we had another "victory for the Press" when David Cameron accepted the interception commissioner's recommendation that police should have to go to a judge to go rifling through journalists' data to find out who'd been giving them tips.
The commissioner's report also mentioned that it "wasn't helpful" for the Press to refer to RIPA as an anti-terror law. And, to be fair, nobody's phones were hacked - the police were allowed only to look at records of what calls were made to whom and when. But these are small details when you have right on your side.
So, congratulations to the doughty Mail team (and their assistants from PA, the Sun, the Guardian, Press Gazette and the Society of Editors). I shouldn't wonder if they don't win a nomination for the Paul Foot award or the British Media Awards campaign of the year prize.
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