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LONDON - The paparazzi was yesterday given the green light to photograph Prince William's girlfriend, Kate Middleton, when she was considered to have deliberately put herself in the public arena.
Sir Christopher Meyer, chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, said that although he had requested the press to
stop hounding Ms Middleton outside her home, they were still entitled to pursue her in nightclubs.
"Going to a very public nightclub where you know paparazzis are there in packs waiting outside and you know what you are going into and you know that celebs go there to be photographed, that's a different order of things," he told the inquiry by the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee into the self-regulation of the Press.
Earlier this year he was forced to send out a "desist" notice at the time of Miss Middleton's birthday, urging editors to draw their journalists back.
"When you issue a desist notice, you are not saying 'No photographs ever'. You can't say that," he added.
Yesterday's hearing follows the royal phone-tapping scandal in which News of the World reporter Clive Goodman was recently jailed for intercepting private messages left on Prince William's mobile phone.
Asked about that case, Mr Hinton said that former News of the World editor Andy Coulson had assured him he knew nothing about the royal correspondent's payments to investigator Glenn Mulcaire for the interception of mobile phone messages.
Mr Coulson had felt obliged to resign as it occurred "on his watch".
Mr Hinton said Goodman had a "pool of cash" to pay contacts and the editor was not informed in detail how he spent it - a normal arrangement with senior correspondents.
The paper's new editor, Colin Myler, was now working with the PCC on an investigation into the case, Mr Hinton added.
Sir Christopher said the PCC board would meet soon to discuss amendments to its code in the light of the Goodman case.
A report by Information Commissioner Richard Thomas showed that large numbers of reporters from several papers had dealings with Mulcaire, who was also jailed, though there were no other prosecutions.
Paul Horrocks, president of the Society of Editors and editor of the Manchester Evening News, described the Goodman case as a "one-off", insisting the interception of phone calls was "not a widespread activity" in the media.
But Mr Thomas told the committee that the illegal procurement of personal data by journalists was widespread.
Also yesterday a veteran tabloid photographer warned that the paparazzi's chasing of Ms Middleton could lead to the same kind of accident that killed Diana, Princess of Wales.
Speaking of a recent media scrum, Arthur Edwards said: "This girl was going through hell - for what? For a picture, and it just wasn't worth it," he said, likening the 'feeding frenzy' to those that used to follow her boyfriend's mother.
- INDEPENDENT