Let’s honour the hacking victims. A monument on Fleet Street perhaps? – Brian Cathcart

After two years of foot-dragging, nit-picking, hair-splitting and general obfuscation, News International has finally done the right thing in the civil litigation about phone hacking. It has put its hands up and agreed to compensate all but a few of the remaining victims who were suing it.

This belated milestone in Britain’s worst-ever press scandal seems likely to rob us of the delicious prospect of a civil trial in which the company attempted to defend the undefendable, but much more importantly it delivers some justice to people whose privacy was shockingly violated.

US Media Law in 2012 – the year ahead – Gervase de Wilde

Privacy, data protection, and freedom of expression both on and offline are some of the most pressing issues being considered by both courts and commentators in the United States as the New Year gets underway. The effects of the development of the internet continue to be felt as attempts are made to exert control over a frequently chaotic and unregulated area of life. This is a very brief overview of some of what lies ahead in this area over the next 12 months.