Tabloids operate like Mafia, says comedian Coogan

CELEBRITIES fear a backlash from the British tabloid press if they speak out at an inquiry into media standards, comedian and actor Steve Coogan said, adding that newspapers were like the Mafia in the way they operated.

A lawyer for film star Hugh Grant earlier warned that intimidating newspaper tactics risked derailing the inquiry, ordered by Prime Minister David Cameron, after disclosures that reporters at the now defunct News of the World had hacked thousands of phones.

Coogan, best known in Britain for his portrayal of gauche TV presenter Alan Partridge, said he lost count of the number of tabloid “kiss and tell” stories about him.