Trinity Mirror has taken a different route to Rupert Murdoch’s organisation in order to deal with phone-hacking by some of its newspapers’ journalists.
After a period of public denial, its senior executives came to realise that the company had, after all, got skeletons in the cupboard. Once it accepted the fact, it then began what has proved to be a time-consuming methodical internal investigation.
It is also apparent that the company has worked relatively harmoniously alongside the Metropolitan police in trying to get to the bottom of the scandal.
It is possible, when the smoke clears, that the number of victims of mobile phone voicemail interception by Mirror titles will approach the total who suffered at the hands of the News of the World hackers.
There are many civil claims in the pipeline and, although several will be settled before reaching court, at least eight look likely to go to trial to settle the tricky matter of appropriate damages for the hurt they suffered.
I understand that other claimants who believe their privacy was compromised by hacking may yet emerge, so the tariff of damages will be important to a company that, unlike News Corp, does not have deep pockets.
In its announcement to the stock exchange, Trinity Mirror conceded that it could not rule out further claims, which would have a “possible financial impact”.
So it is sensible that it has increased the provision (to £12m) to settle what looks to be a large bill for legal costs and damages. As for the published apology in today’s Daily Mirror, it indicates a willingness by the publisher to humble itself (remember that word?) before the victims and its readers.
A former Mirror group editor emailed me this morning to say it was “a savvy PR move”. However, I don’t think Trinity Mirror had any other option, nor do I think it a cynical decision.
What needs to be said, to place all this in context, is that it happened well before the current executive team arrived. Neither the chairman, David Grigson, nor the chief executive, Simon Fox, were around when hacking occurred. Most of the board arrived afterwards too, as have the senior editorial teams.
Fox, eager from his appointment in September 2012 to pilot the company towards a multi-platform future, soon found himself embroiled in sorting out the hacking mess.
His predecessor, Sly Bailey, and her legal director, Paul Vickers, had refused to countenance that hacking had taken place at the Sunday Mirror, Sunday People or Daily Mirror.
There is, of course, no suggestion that they knew it had occurred. The charge against them instead is that they refused to take the swirl of allegations in 2009 seriously enough to hold a retrospective inquiry. They relied instead on assurances from their journalists that it was not happening at the time.
Vickers, who spent 22 years with the company, was made redundant in November last year. Yet he remains chairman of the funding body for the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso).
Perhaps, in the light of his failure, he should think of stepping down immediately from that post too.
Back at the Trinity trenches, Fox will need to assure investors that his board can see out the storm. Although it has taken some time for him to feel confident enough to go public, it is obvious that there were legal reasons for his discretion.
Now, aside from the civil actions, Fox will be wondering what action the police will take. Arrests and charges of former Trinity Mirror staff are highly likely in the near future.
I understand that the company will, as with News UK, foot the bill for their legal costs. I do not believe anyone currently working for the company will face charges.