Speaking on Friday on BBC News the director said that editors recognised that any publication of the images would be a blatant breach of the Editors’ Code of Practice rather than an effect of Lord Leveson’s impending report into the culture, practice and ethics of the press.
Going against echoes by some that the incident is reminiscent of the treatment of the late Princess Diana, the director said that since the Princess of Wales’ death in 1997 the Press Complaints Commission’s Code of Conduct was improved and the industry had made considerable strides in upholding the principles of the Editors’ Code.
Pointing towards a successful agreement last week between the Ministry of Defence and print and broadcast media in abiding to an embargo set out for the deployment of Prince Harry to Afghanistan he further reinforced his belief that the industry was capable of policing itself. The agreement had been worked out weeks before by the Society of Editors and saw all papers and broadcasters sticking to an 11am embargo when all platforms published the information simultaneously.
On the subject of the publication of photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge topless in a French magazine, Mr Satchwell (pictured) agreed with newspaper editors Dominic Mohan and Lloyd Embley that any decision to do so in this country would always be an invasion of privacy.
He added: “Whether they’re a princess or a pauper everyone has a right to privacy which is enshrined in the Editors’ Code of Practice. This clearly states that you should not publish photos of people taken in private when they have a reasonable expectation of privacy without their permission or unless there is a clear public interest.”
“Editors have the final decision and they abide by the code. It is another sign of the responsibility of the British press and the power of self-regulation compared with tough privacy laws in other countries which are not a solution.”
In a separate development, according to Eversheds, it has emerged that the French magazine Closer has broken French privacy laws by publishing topless photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton. As Gaetan Cordier, TMT partner in the Paris office of international law firm Eversheds, comments: "If the Duchess of Cambridge decides to sue the magazine before French Courts, she would probably be successful. These pictures have been taken while the Duke and the Duchess were on holiday, during a personal time, not a professional representation. French Courts, which have an extensive appreciation of privacy, would certainly consider these pictures as an intrusion of privacy."
