Freedom of press gone too far essay

MEDIA • News-Gathering Gone Too Far? After 13-year-old Milly Dowler was kidnapped on her way home from school in southern England, her parents made desperate and tearful pleas for her safe return. The disappearance and the parents' anguish made headlines throughout British media. Six months later Milly's .•. Hacked Off. body was found dumped in the woods. Years later a nightclub lice to share what they knew so Grant bouncer was convicted of the murder. From the beginning, the horrific crime ranked high for newsworthiness. In 2011, nine years after the-disappearance, could decide what to do next legal/y. it became clear exactly how When actor Hugh Grant was tipped that his voice-mail exchanges with woman-friend Jemina Khan may have been hacked by News of the World, he went to court. Ajudge ordered po- aggressively one newspaper, with the Hacked Off lobby group News of the World, had that is campaigning for a rigorous pursued the story. It turned inquiry into eavesdropping by British out that reporters at News newspapers. of the World had hacked into Milly Dowler's voicemail for information and tips. The revelation, Grant is among celebrities involved even all those years later, incensed the British public. But the revelations about the newspaper's aggressive news-gathering went beyond tasteless invasions of privacy. The newspaper hackers, when they realized that Milly Dowler's voicemail box was full, secretly deleted messages from their remote site. This was during the months that police, desperate for clues, were checking Millie Dowler's incoming calls. In their quest for more headlines, the hackers wanted more messages. Indeed, there were calls, all hoaxes as it turned out, from weirdos pretending to be the kidnapper. The phone-hacking. scandal deepened with allegations that News of the World had also hacked into the phones of families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as members of the royal family, including Prince William. Politicians and celebrities were hacked. Actor Hugh Grant claimed phone messages with a woman friend were intercepted. Within months of the revelations, 7,000 people had contacted attorneys with claims that their phones had been hacked by News of the World. For years the newspaper's titillating and shocking headlines screamed for reader attention. News of the World, at 2.4 million circulation, was among Britain's most profitable tabloids. But people were unaware of how the stories came to be. The presumption was that it all was good old-fashioned news-gathering, aggressive to be sure, but hardly to the extent of interfering with police investigations. Or violating privacy laws. Strict free press advocates argue that the media should have no limits in pursuing information. The idea has roots with 17th century thinker John Milton who argued for uninhibited inquiry: "Let truth and falsehood grapple,