Prosecutor: UK Hacker Reporters Targeted Princes
The battle for tabloid scoops
A prosecutor gave jurors juicy details of tabloid misbehavior at Britain's phone hacking trial on Friday, describing how reporters targeted celebrities, ministers and even Princes William and Harry.
The never-ending demand for royal stories at Rupert Murdoch's British tabloids led employees to hack voicemail messages left by the princes, target senior aides and pay thousands of pounds for a photo of Prince William in a bikini, prosecutor Andrew Edis said Friday.
Journalists at Murdoch's News of the World routinely used phone hacking to back up tips and find evidence for stories, he said — using a "perfectly rational but entirely illegal system."
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