Hacking inquiry – Hacked off

A former chairman of the Press Complaints Commission has told the Leveson Inquiry the body “was never a regulator”. Lord Wakeham, who headed the body from 1995 to 2001, said today his job was to try and raise press standards. He told the inquiry the industry wanted a chairman “with a bit of clout” and [...]

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 former chair of the Press Complaints Comission has answered questions on her handling of the phone hacking scandal. Under Baroness Peta Buscombe the commission produced a report in 2009 into allegations made against the News of the World, over which she later resigned. She said: “This is a report which with hindsight, and so [...]