Update On The Leveson Inquiry

Article by Neil Mohring, Partner, Media Team and Charlotte Walker-Osborn Head of TMT Sector

What? The Leveson Inquiry continued in force in November, with victims of the phone-hacking scandal taking the stand.

So What? The two-part inquiry was announced by the Prime Minister in July and aims to examine the culture and ethics of the media. The inquiry will look specifically at the phone-hacking scandal as well as the press' relationship with the public, the police and politicians.

Issues raised

Lord Justice Leveson opened the hearings by stating: "At the heart of this Inquiry...may be one simple question: who guards the guardians?"

Tales of bad-behaviour exhibited by the press were rife – Sienna Miller was allegedly spat at by the paparazzi, while the mother of Hugh Grant's child was repeatedly "door-stepped" following the birth. Charlotte Church was told to waive her performance fee at Rupert Murdoch's wedding in order to receive positive coverage in the newspapers owned by News International. Perhaps most shocking was the testimony from Sue Dowler (mother of Milly Dowler), that she believed her daughter was still alive after being able to access her previously full voicemail. It was later revealed that the phone had been hacked and messages deleted. All victims were made to feel paranoid and many suspected that their close and friends and family were betraying them by leaking stories.

Several victims complained that the existing, self-regulating, monitoring body, the Press Complaints Commission ("PCC"), was ineffective and that its rulings were not taken seriously. Author JK Rowling referred to the PCC as "toothless" for its inability to impose strong sanctions for breach of its Code of Practice with Alistair Campbell stating it had "utterly failed". General Secretary of the...

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