Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) had appealed against a previous judgment that the duchess had a reasonable expectation of privacy, but the Court of Appeal upheld the decision on Thursday.
ANL and the group’s tabloid, The Mail on Sunday, previously said they stood by the decision to publish excerpts from the handwritten letter and would defend the case vigorously.
In a statement, Meghan celebrated the judgment and outlined her hopes that it would help to change the UK newspaper industry.
“This is a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what’s right,” reads the statement.
“While this win is precedent setting, what matters most is that we are now collectively brave enough to reshape a tabloid industry that conditions people to be cruel, and profits from the lies and pain that they create.”
The Irish novelist Sally Rooney said on Tuesday that she would not allow the Israeli publishing house that handled her previous novels to publish her most recent book, “Beautiful World, Where Are You,” because of her support for Palestinian people and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
In an email, Ms. Rooney said that she was proud to have her first two books, “Normal People” and “Conversations With Friends,” published in Hebrew. “Likewise, it would be an honor for me to have my latest novel translated into Hebrew and available to Hebrew-language readers,” she said. “But for the moment, I have chosen not to sell these translation rights to an Israeli-based publishing house.”
She added that she knew some would disagree with her decision, “but I simply do not feel it would be right for me under the present circumstances to accept a new contract with an Israeli company that does not publicly distance itself from apartheid and support the U.N.-stipulated rights of the Palestinian people.”
Her Israeli publisher, Modan Publishing House, said in an email that when it inquired about “Beautiful World, Where Are You,” which was published in English in September, it was told that she wasn’t interested in publishing it in Israel. It said it was not given an explanation.
In her email, Ms. Rooney cited a report published this year by Human Rights Watch that said the actions of the Israeli government meet the legal definition of apartheid, and she expressed her support for the B.D.S. movement, which aims to harness international political and economic pressure on Israel. Supporters say the goal of the B.D.S. movement is to end the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, while critics, including many Israelis, say its real aim is the end of Israel as a Jewish state.
Ms. Rooney is not the first prominent author to decline an offer to publish in Israel. Alice Walker said in 2012 that she would not allow a Hebrew translation of her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Color Purple.” Ms. Walker, who was born in Georgia in 1944, said at the time, “I grew up under American apartheid and this,” she added of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, “was far worse.”
Deborah Harris, a literary agent whose company handles major authors looking to be translated and published in Israel, described Ms. Rooney’s decision as painful and counterproductive.
“When it’s ice cream or when it’s cement, or whatever else it is, it’s one thing, but when it comes to culture, I just have a very, very hard time seeing how this can be productive in changing anything,” Ms. Harris said. “What literature is supposed to do is reach into the hearts and minds of people.”
The people likely to read Ms. Rooney’s work in Israel, Ms. Harris added, are not those who support the policies to which she likely objects. “Her audience here are people who are in total support of a Palestinian state,” Ms. Harris said.
Ms. Rooney’s new book follows the friendship of two young women, Eileen, an editorial assistant at a literary magazine, and Alice, a novelist whose career raced into fame and success, much in the way that Ms. Rooney’s did.
In her statement, Ms. Rooney said that in making this decision not to publish again with Modan, she was “responding to the call from Palestinian civil society,” and she expressed solidarity with Palestinian people “in their struggle for freedom, justice and equality.”
She added that the Hebrew-language translation rights to the novel are still available, and that if she can find a way to sell them and adhere to the B.D.S. movement’s guidelines, “I will be very pleased and proud to do so.”
Politico, the Washington news site that has prospered for years as Beltway professionals gobbled up its scoops and inside-baseball-style reporting, will have a new owner.
The German publishing giant Axel Springer agreed to buy Politico in a deal announced on Thursday that could shake up the Washington media scene.
Springer will take control of Politico and its sister site, Politico Europe, as well as Politico’s tech news site, Protocol, a relatively new venture, the companies said. The deal, expected to close by the end of the year, is valued at more than $1 billion, two people familiar with the matter said. The New York Times reported last week that Politico’s owner, Robert Allbritton, was seeking $1 billion for the deal. The companies did not disclose financial terms.
Mathias Döpfner, the chief executive of Springer, described Politico as an “outstanding media company” that has “disrupted digital political journalism.” He added the importance of maintaining Politico’s “editorial independence and nonpartisan reporting.”
Mr. Allbritton, who helped found Politico in 2007, will remain publisher of the site, and it will operate separately from Springer. “I reach this milestone with a sense of satisfaction that I hope is shared by every Politico,” he said in a statement. He also took a jab at others in the digital media space: “We have put the emphasis on doing rather than boasting, and what multiple competitors have aspired to — a consistently profitable publication that supports true journalistic excellence — we have achieved.”
Mr. Allbritton and Springer had been in talks for several months over a possible acquisition, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were private. Politico, which generates about $200 million a year in revenue, has been consistently profitable. The site is free, and its flagship newsletter, Playbook, is widely read by Washington’s power brokers. A high-end subscription service, Politico Pro, generates more than half the company’s annual revenue.
With a value of more than $1 billion, the deal is one of the most expensive media mergers in recent memory, the equivalent of five times Politico’s yearly sales. BuzzFeed, one of the largest digital publishers in the country, recently announced a financial transaction that would take it public at a valuation of $1.5 billion, or about three times its annual revenue.
Springer has been pursuing deals in the United States as a way to expand its portfolio. The publisher has become particularly attracted to subscription-based news businesses. After Springer acquired Business Insider for around $500 million in 2015, it remade the company to become a subscription-based news outlet and put its scoops behind a paywall. (For that deal, Springer paid almost nine times Business Insider’s revenue.) Last year, the company acquired a controlling stake in Morning Brew, a newsletter publisher.
Politico’s subscription business made it an even more attractive target for Springer. The German publisher already had a partnership with Politico as a joint owner in Politico Europe. Springer had been looking to expand Politico Europe, but it couldn’t do so without Mr. Allbritton’s consent.
The Politico deal is expected to quash Springer’s talks to acquire Axios, a competing news start-up founded by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz, all early veterans of Politico. (Mr. VandeHei and John F. Harris started Politico in 2006 after they left The Washington Post.)
Mr. Allbritton has lost some of his biggest-name journalists in recent years, either to rivals or to upstarts. The media landscape has shifted substantially, and the so-called talent economy has allowed big-name journalists to start their own ventures. This year, three of Politico’s top staff members — Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and John Bresnahan — left to start Punchbowl News, a competing news site. Mr. Sherman and Ms. Palmer were the well-known hands behind the Playbook newsletter.
In February, Politico’s chief executive announced that he would depart, and in June, Carrie Budoff Brown, a longtime editor at Politico, said she would be leaving to join NBC News. Politico’s nearly 400 journalists are also in the throes of a unionizing effort that could severely add to the cost of the business. It’s unclear how Springer will manage the mounting labor issues.
For Mr. Allbritton, the deal means a huge personal payday. His family already netted about $500 million after Mr. Allbritton sold its television empire to Sinclair Broadcast Group in 2013.
Six Days in Fallujah publisher Victura has issued a new statement on its upcoming controversial shooter set during the US-led invasion of Iraq.
The statement, issued via the company’s Twitter this afternoon, repeatedly states that “the events recreated in Six Days in Fallujah are inseparable from politics”, in contrast to widely-criticised remarks suggesting the opposite made last month by Victura boss Peter Tamte during an interview with GamesIndustry.biz.
“Players need that context to understand why they’re in the city fighting those Al-Qaeda people,” Tamte said previously. “We are going to provide that context, but keep in mind that we can provide that context without making a political statement, or without in any way disparaging the service of those who are actually there to fight.”
“[It’s] not a political statement either way,” he added.
Today’s statement further details the game’s documentary sections, which will feature “service members and civilians with diverse experiences and opinions about the Iraq War. So far, 26 Iraqi civilians and dozens of service members have shared the most difficult moments of their lives with us”.
We had heard of the game’s documentary sections before, along with word of sections where you will play as an Iraqi civilian. Previously, however, Tamte had suggested the game’s focus would firmly rest with US soldiers.
“Very few people are curious what it’s like to be an Iraqi civilian,” Tamte said last month. “Nobody’s going to play that game. But people are curious what it’s like to be in combat. It’s the same reason people play survival horror games – being in a situation that is beyond what we have in our normal lives. Ultimately, the reason why people are going to play this game is because they want a more realistic combat experience. That above all else is the experience that we must deliver.”
Today’s statement says this:
“During gameplay players will participate in stories that are given context through the documentary segments. Each mission challenges players to solve real military and civilian scenarios from the battle interactively, offering a perspective into urban warfare not possible through any media. We believe the stories of this generation’s sacrifices deserve to be told by the Marines, Soldiers and civilians who were there. We trust you will find the game – like the events it recreates – to be complex.”
We understand the events recreated in Six Days in Fallujah are inseparable from politics. pic.twitter.com/N7nkPilp1Q
— Victura (@VicturaGG) March 8, 2021
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Finally, as stated by Tamte in his interview, today’s statement reconfirms that players will not be able to deploy the deadly chemical white phosphorous in the game, as US forces did in real life. The use of white phosphorous as a chemical weapon has long been criticised as a war crime.
“We’re not asking players to commit atrocities in the game,” Tamte said last month. “Are we effectively sanitising events by not doing that? I don’t think that we need to portray the atrocities in order for people to understand the human cost. We can do that without the atrocities.”
Six Days in Fallujah re-emerged last month, 11 years after Tamte’s previous attempt to make the game failed. Back then, significant criticism from mainstream press eventually caused publisher Konami to pull out.
The project is now being developed by Golem studio Highware, whose team includes ex-Bungie veterans such as Halo lead designer Jaime Griesemer and composer Marty O’Donnell.
It is currently set for release on PC and consoles at some point in 2021.
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