Steve Coogan worries MPs' privacy report will go easy on newspapers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/mar/25/steve-coogan-privacy-report-newspapers

Version 0 of 1.

Steve Coogan has said he is nervous that the parliamentary report into privacy and freedom of expression will be too lenient on newspapers.

Speaking at the Guardian's Open Weekend conference on Saturday, the actor said he feared the report due to be published next week by a special committee of MPs and peers would give the press "more ground than they deserve".

The report has been widely trailed and is not expected to recommend the introduction of a privacy law. The committee will endorse Lord Hunt's proposals for a reconstituted Press Complaints Commission while warning that a credible package of reforms could result in statutory regulation.

Coogan revealed for the first time that his high-profile legal action against the News of the World over alleged phone hacking cost him £400,000.

In an interview with the Guardian editor, Alan Rusbridger, Coogan said in total he lost £30,000 over the legal action, after News International paid him £370,000 in compensation last year.

"I am nervous about the privacy thing; I'm not hugely hopeful about that," Coogan said. "I think that the press will get more ground than they deserve."

The actor shied away from calling for the introduction of a privacy law, but said newspapers must be able to demonstrate that potentially infringing stories are in the public interest.

Coogan explained why he decided to embark on the "lonely" route of legal action against News International. The actor said he decided to pursue Andy Coulson after seeing the former News of the World editor walk into the heart of government as David Cameron's chief media adviser. Coogan claimed that Coulson secretly recorded a phone call with the actor before publishing a kiss and tell story in the News of the World based on the taped admissions.