The media today are full of the outcome of the Max Mosley court case and the judgment that a well known Sunday newspaper was unjustified in splashing details of his private life across its front page earlier this year.
In PR, stories like this (and they come around as regular as clockwork every couple of years) are the profession's equivalent of car crash TV.
As someone who cares about reputation and its management, you really have to watch - but you feel guilty about doing so because you can see the inevitable outcome. Once a story gets to court everyone's dirty washing has to come out and no-one's reputation comes out untainted - winner or loser.
Whilst the case has been a success for Mr Mosley in legal and financial terms, you have to wonder what further impact the evidence revealed in open court about his private life will have on his reputation.
For the News of the World, the case has revealed details of their dealings in the somewhat murky world of investigative journalism and "sting" operations. Even if they had won, the evidence raises questions over the tactics used by some journalists investigating people's private lives which they now have to answer.
So, we sit back and wait for the next "kiss and tell" car crash case. As a PR professional all I can hope is it isn't me or one of my clients and that I have a good vantage point to watch it unfold - with my hands over my eyes of course!
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