Good afternoon from the team at Press Gazette on Tuesday, 7 July.

^🍿 The allegations brought by Prince Harry and co were the most serious ever levelled against a British newspaper.

In this special late edition of our newsletter we bring you the headlines from the long-awaited judgment.

Broadly speaking the judgment appears to be a slam-dunk for Associated Newspapers. Mr Justice Nicklin said the claimants failed to prove their claims of unlawful information gathering.

(Full story here, with reaction from Associated Newspapers)

These allegations, first made in October 2022 with huge fanfare and coverage, have already done huge damage to the reputation of the Mail titles and cost the business a staggering £30m to defend.

The question of costs will be considered at a later date but the publisher will only recoup a fraction of this in the best-case scenario.

If the allegations were proven the Mail titles would have gone the same way as the News of the World.

With Associated Newspapers vindicated, questions must now be asked of Prince Harry, his legal research team and co-claimants.

The key witness for Harry and co, former private investigator Gavin Burrows, was paid tens of thousands in inducements to give evidence against the Mail titles. How was a case based so strongly on heavily tarnished evidence allowed to get so far?

This evidence was used to persuade Baroness Doreen Lawrence to join the prosecution, bolstered by Prince Harry’s involvement. This now appears to have been a calculated move by the claimants to create a “Dowler” moment, equivalent to the revelation the News of the World hacked the voicemails of a murdered child.

In the light of today’s damning judgment it looks incredibly wise that the King denied Prince Harry access to Buckingham Palace and a royal backdrop this week.

Today’s judgment finally draws a line under the hacking scandal. Terrible things went on at the News of the World and Mirror titles. Unlawful information gathering was also admitted at The Sun. The total cost of all this to the UK news industry is huge: it has cost News Corp alone more than £1bn.

It’s time to move on.

READ FULL STORY

🎥 Sky’s £1.6bn purchase of ITV looks set to go ahead giving the UK broadcast giant more heft to compete with the streaming giants.

We take a look at what all this means for the news operations. Current assurances look pretty vague with ITV’s news operations set to remain “distinct” until at least 2030.

News is a loss leader for Sky and ITV and the NUJ is right to be concerned that it could be the victim of future cutbacks.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏 News In Brief

GB News has proposed cutting up to 90 jobs, or around one-third of the workforce, after putting "groundbreaking workflows" in place. (Press Gazette)

The National Union of Journalists has said reports The Canary won’t be able to pay all its staff due to being “cut off” by Lloyds “sets a disturbing precedent for press freedom in the UK”. (Press Gazette)

Bids have been opened for local news outlets to apply for a share of the Government's Local News Fund, which is providing £6m in 2026/27 and up to a further £6m the following year for projects and tools to help innovation in the industry. (Gov.uk)

Mill Media's Liverpool Post aims to sign up 300 new paying members to help pay a £75,000 bill from defending a case brought by historian Laurence Westgaph. (Liverpool Post)