Article: LAW: A new right to privacy? Naomi Campbell's victory in court gives celebrities a chance to keep their personal lives private. But, asks Robert Verkaik, is this necessarily in the public's best interests?

Wednesday was a bad day for Fleet Street. How else does one react to the news that a publicity-seeking model who lied in court won damages from a newspaper that the judge had praised for its original story? Surely the privacy rights of celebrities have been given precedence over the freedom of the press?

But the wildly conflicting interpretations that followed Naomi Campbell's victory against The Mirror last week demonstrate just how much work the courts have to do before it can be said that there is a free-standing law of privacy in this country.

First, Ms Campbell's lawyer, Keith Schilling, hailed Mr Justice Morland's ruling as a landmark judgment that had helped to develop the law of ...

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