UNDERCOVER STYLE EXPOSES PAPERS TO ENTRAPMENT RISK

THE News of the World operation that led to Lawrence Dallaglio being
accused of drug dealing is the latest in a series of journalistic
enterprises that tread a fine line between exposure and entrapment.

The view of lawyers is that the newspaper had not acted illegally.
Entrapment is incitement to commit a criminal offence: Dallaglio did
not commit an offence during the meeting with the undercover
journalists although, according to his account, he was invited to do
so.

He says that he refused, "when invited, to entertain the possibility
of drug-taking, either at the meeting or on any other occasion".

Nor is the newspaper's conduct likely to be a breach of the Press
Complaints Commission code, which provides a defence to a bona fide
investigation if it exposes a criminal act.

The operation is a sign of a trend in investigative reporting. Mark
Stephens, a media law solicitor with Stephens Innocent, said: "There
has been a significant shift in the way in which newspapers operate.
Historically, they would not do anything which would set people up,
but more recently they have moved into this kind of activity."

Newspapers were moving across a fine line where they started to act as
agents provocateurs, he said. "They employ people to undertake
activities which most people would regard as unattractive - such as
prostitution, moving across a line from straightforward reporting to
creating the news." He questioned whether public interest was served
by such exposures.

Mr Stephens said: "I now actually advise certain of my clients, media
personalities, that if an attractive woman approaches them and there
is any talk of product endorsements and questions are asked about
drugs or their sexual history - then they should run a mile."

Recent exposures by press undercover activity include the taking of
cocaine by Tom Parker Bowles, a friend of Prince William, and by John
Alford, an actor who appeared on TV in London's Burning.

Another solicitor, Roger Ede, secretary of the Law Society's criminal
law committee, said that the activity was not entrapment but nor would
it have been admissible evidence in a court.

"The courts have taken a robust line over this kind of activity - such
as in the case of Colin Stagg, accused of the murder of Rachel
Nickell, when a police officer went undercover to get Stagg to talk,"
Mr Ede said. Any such material would be ruled out as evidence because
it was not obtained under such safeguards as the cautioning of the
person.

"So it could be said that someone in the position of Dallaglio would
not have known the significance of what he was saying and it could not
be relied on."

People might be incited to say all kinds of things, and might do so,
for various reasons, he added. "That is why police officers cannot
conduct interviews without various safeguards coming into play."

A spokesman for the Press Complaints Commission said that there had
been no complaint against the News of the World. But he added: "I
would be very surprised if the paper had not been careful to ensure it
complied with the Code of
Practice."

This stipulates that journalists must not generally obtain or seek to
obtain information through misrepresentation or subterfuge. It adds:
"Subterfuge can be justified only in the public interest and only when
material cannot be obtained by any other means."

The public interest is taken to include detecting or exposing crime or
a serious misdemeanour.