Hacking inquiry – Hacked off

by Brian Cathcart ‘So you’re in favour of the government taking control of newspapers, then?’ Thus Jeremy Paxman to Hugh Grant on Newsnight. And a moment later: ‘But you do want statutory regulation?’ And then again ‘So you would regulate newspapers?’ It is a time-honoured Paxman technique, and no one would argue with his right [...]

Lord Justice Leveson has recognised a request from the Hacked Off campaign for the Operation Motorman database to be published. The judge said David Sherborne, barrister for the core participant victims, was welcome to formally submit the request if he thought it would highlight the culture and practice of the press rather than “who did [...]

by Brian Cathcart Lord Hunt says he is winding up the Press Complaints Commission, of which he is chairman, and will launch a new body “with teeth”. He has discussed this planned body at the Leveson inquiry and elsewhere, and his ideas have at least four significant weaknesses. The first weakness The new body will [...]

The future of press regulation must be swift and cheap for the public, several parties have agreed in a debate at the House of Commons. Hugh Tomlinson QC and former FIA president Max Mosley put forward proposed regulatory systems to an assembled audience at a Hacked Off and Media Standards Trust event last night. Lord [...]

The chairman of the Press Complaints Commission has been asked to keep Leveson informed of his progress on drawing up plans for a new regulator. Lord Hunt explained some of his proposals for a new regulator for the industry during his evidence at the Leveson Inquiry this afternoon. Robert Jay QC, inquiry counsel, asked Hunt [...]

The Press Standards Board of Finance (PressBoF) has annouced the appointment of Lord David Hunt as the new chairman of the Press Complaints Commission today. The appointment comes just over two months after Baroness Peta Buscombe decided to step down, on July 29. The PCC has been heavily criticised following revelations on the phone hacking [...]