Leveson Inquiry

The Leveson Inquiry is an ongoing public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal. On 6 July 2011, Prime Minister David Cameron announced to Parliament that a public government inquiry would convene to further investigate the affair. On 13 July, Cameron appointed Lord Justice Leveson as Chairman of the inquiry, with a remit to look into the specific claims about phone hacking at the News of the World, the initial police inquiry and allegations of illicit payments to police by the press, and a second inquiry to review the general culture and ethics of the British media.

Scope and process

According to the press release of 14 September it was stated Part 1 of the Leveson Inquiry will address:

"the culture, practices and ethics of the press, including contacts between the press and politicians and the press and the police; it is to consider the extent to which the current regulatory regime has failed and whether there has been a failure to act upon any previous warnings about media misconduct."

Part 2 of the inquiry will address:

"the extent of unlawful or improper conduct within News International, other media organisations or other organisations. It will also consider the extent to which any relevant police force investigated allegations relating to News International, and whether the police received corrupt payments or were otherwise complicit in misconduct."

The inquiry is running in four modules. These are:

Module 1: The Press and the Public: The relationship between the press and the public and looks at phone-hacking and other potentially illegal behaviour

Module 2: The Press and the Police: The relationships between the press and police and the extent to which that has operated in the public interest

Module 3: The Press and Politicians: The relationship between press and politicians

Module 4: The Future: Recommendations for a more effective policy and regulation that supports the integrity and freedom of the press while encouraging the highest ethical standards.

Requests for written evidence in relation to Module 1, were sent out in August, and Lord Justice Leveson also invited comments, evidence and submissions from any other interested parties. As part of this process, Lord Justice Leveson held a series of seminars in September and October to set the context for the Inquiry. Comments on the issues raised were invited from members of the public at three seminars which were held in October (see Seminars). Formal evidence hearings started on Monday 14 November at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Part 2 will be addressed later because of ongoing investigations by law enforcement organizations.

Terms of reference

Terms of reference for Judge-led Inquiry

Part 1

1. To inquire into the culture, practices, and ethics of the press, including:

a. contacts and the relationships between national newspapers and politicians, and the conduct of each;

b. contacts and the relationship between the press and the police, and the conduct of each;

c. the extent to which the current policy and regulatory framework has failed including in relation to data protection; and

d. the extent to which there was a failure to act on previous warnings about media misconduct.

2. To make recommendations:

a. for a new more effective policy and regulatory regime which supports the integrity and freedom of the press, the plurality of the media, and its independence, including from Government, while encouraging the highest ethical and professional standards;

b. for how future concerns about press behaviour, media policy, regulation and cross-media ownership should be dealt with by all the relevant authorities, including Parliament, Government, the prosecuting authorities and the police;

c. the future conduct of relations between politicians and the press; and

d. the future conduct of relations between the police and the press.

Part 2

3. To inquire into the extent of unlawful or improper conduct within News International, other newspaper organisations and, as appropriate, other organisations within the media, and by those responsible for holding personal data.

4. To inquire into the way in which any relevant police force investigated allegations or evidence of unlawful conduct by persons within or connected with News International, the review by the Metropolitan Police of their initial investigation, and the conduct of the prosecuting authorities.

5. To inquire into the extent to which the police received corrupt payments or other inducements, or were otherwise complicit in such misconduct or in suppressing its proper investigation, and how this was allowed to happen.

6. To inquire into the extent of corporate governance and management failures at News International and other newspaper organisations, and the role, if any, of politicians, public servants and others in relation to any failure to investigate wrongdoing at News International

7. In the light of these inquiries, to consider the implications for the relationships between newspaper organisations and the police, prosecuting authorities, and relevant regulatory bodies – and to recommend what actions, if any, should be taken.

Briefing sessions

Lord Justice Leveson commissioned a series of teaching or briefing sessions to provide the Inquiry with some key factual background information material. They will take the form of expert presentations with an opportunity for members of the Inquiry to ask questions. Three sessions have been held to date. They are:

Briefing Session 1: Techniques of access to personal data

This briefing was provided in closed session on 19 September 2011. Lord Justice Leveson made a restriction order under section 19 of the Inquiries Act 2005. The briefing covered the technicalities of intercepting phone calls, voicemails and email, and other means of access to private information. The session was commissioned to explain to the Inquiry the technicalities of phone hacking and other possible means of covert access to private information.

Briefing Session 2: Current media law

This briefing session was held at 2pm on Wednesday 28 September 2011, and led by Mark Warby QC, a leading silk in media, entertainment, sports and regulatory law. His presentation covered the existing legal framework governing the operation of the media, including the relationship between Articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights, data protection, freedom of information, and the law relating to broadcasting, both at UK and at applicable European level. The purpose of the session was to give the Inquiry an overview of the legal context within which the media is currently required to operate.

Briefing Session 3: Regulatory systems

The third session was held at 2pm on Wednesday 5 October 2011 and helped the Inquiry understand both the potential and the limitations of regulatory systems, the ideas and techniques underlying them, and the forms that they currently take. It provided an overview of the full range of regulatory approaches from self-regulation to detailed legal regimes, looking at models in use in a number of different areas, sectors and countries. There were presentations by Donald Macrae , Ed Richards CEO of Ofcom, David Smith Deputy Information Commissioner of the ICO , Tony Boorman, of the Financial Ombudsman Service, Guy Parker and Lynsay Taffe of the ASA , Mark Tompson and Stephen Abell.

Inquiry team

Chairman

The Right Honourable Lord Justice Leveson

Assessors

On 20 July 2011, Cameron announced in a speech to Parliament the final terms of reference of Leveson's inquiry, stating that it will extend beyond newspapers to include broadcasters and social media. He also announced a panel of six people who will work with the judge on the inquiry:

• Sir David Bell, former chairman of the Financial Times
• Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty
• Lord Currie, former Ofcom director
• Elinor Goodman, former political editor of Channel 4 News
• George Jones, former political editor of the Daily Telegraph
• Sir Paul Scott-Lee QPM, former Chief Constable of West Midlands Police

Counsel to inquiry

• Robert Jay Q.C. was called to the Bar in 1981 and took Silk in 1998. He practices in public and administrative law, regulatory law and large-scale multi-party litigation, acting for both claimants and defendants. He is a Recorder of the Crown Court, a Deputy Judge of the High Court, and Joint Head of Chambers at 39 Essex Street.
• David Barr barrister since 1993; is experienced in civil litigation both at first instance and appellate level.
• Carine Patry Hoskins, barrister, a public and administrative law specialist.
• Toby Fisher, barrister, specializes in public and environmental law. He is co-author of the chapter on freedom of expression in Human Rights Practice (Simor, ed; Sweet & Maxwell).
• Josephine Norris, barrister, Assistant Editor of the Encyclopaedia of Environmental Law.
• William Irwin, barrister since 2010. specialises in public law, personal injury and employment work.

Core particpants

The Inquiry’s ‘core participants’ (CPs) are designated by the Chairman. An individual or an organisation can become a CP if they seem to the Chairman to meet one or more of the following criteria according to Rule 5 of the Inquiries Rules 2006:

• the person played, or may have played, a direct and significant role in relation to the matters to which the inquiry relates;
• the person has a significant interest in an important aspect of those matters to which the inquiry relates; or
• the person may be subject to explicit or significant criticism during the inquiry proceedings or in it’s report.

One of the privileges of being a core participant is that "the recognised legal representative of a core participant may apply to the chairman for permission to ask questions of a witness giving oral evidence.:

As of November 2011, the Core participants were designated as being:

• News International
• The Metropolitan Police
• Victims (see below)
• Northern and Shell Network Ltd
• Guardian News and Media Ltd
• Associated Newspapers Ltd
• Trinity Mirror
• Telegraph Media Group
• the National Union of Journalists.

Victims

The 14 September 2011 press release also named forty-six celebrities, politicians, sportsmen, other public figures, and members of the public who may have been victims of media intrusion and who have been granted "core participant" status in the inquiry.

51 victims were listed by the Inquiry as of November 2011. They were:

1. Chris Bryant MP
2. Tessa Jowell MP
3. Denis MacShane MP
4. The Rt Hon Lord Prescott of Kingston upon Hull
5. Joan Smith
6. Christopher Shipman
7. Tom Rowland
8. Mark Lewis
9. Mark Thomson
10. Gerry McCann
11. Kate McCann
12. Christopher Jefferies
13. Max Mosley
14. Brian Paddick
15. Paul Gascoigne
16. David Mills
17. Sienna Miller
18. Hugh Grant
19. Ben Jackson
20. Ciara Parkes
21. Simon Hughes MP
22. Max Clifford
23. Sky Andrew
24. Ulrika Jonsson
25. Mark Oaten
26. Michele Milburn
27. Abi Titmuss
28. Calum Best
29. Claire Ward
30. Mary-Ellen Field
31. Gary Flitcroft
32. Ian Hurst
33. Shobna Gulati
34. Mike Hollingsworth
35. Kieron Fallon
36. Ashvini Sharma
37. Tim Blackstone
38. Valatina Semenenko
39. Sally Dowler
40. Bob Dowler
41. Gemma Dowler
42. Sheryl Gascoigne
43. Graham Shear
44. JK Rowling
45. James Watson
46. Margaret Watson
47. Charlotte Church
48. HJK (anonymous witness)
49. Jackie Hames
50. Jane Winter
51. Anne Diamond

Steve Coogan was added to this list.

Criticism and controversy

It was subsequently reported in the media that Leveson had attended two parties in the prior 12 months at the London home of Matthew Freud, a PR executive married to Elisabeth Murdoch, the daughter of Rupert Murdoch. These revelations led to a number of Labour MP calling for Leveson to be removed from the Inquiry.

In September 2011, former Merseyside Police Inspector Alec Owens, the original lead investigator of Information Commissioner's Office's (ICO) Operation Motorman, criticised the senior management of the ICO for the way in which the investigation was handled. He stated that investigators were prohibited from interviewing journalists and alleged that this was because the management "were frightened". He said that had the team been allowed to question journalists the use of phone hacking might have been uncovered earlier. In November 2011, just a few days before Owens was due to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry on 30 November, his home was raided under warrant by Cheshire Police. Before leaving under police caution for an interview at Wilmslow police station, Owens informed Lord Leveson by phone of the raid.

In late November 2011, political blogger Paul Staines on his Guido Fawkes site posted the Inquiry pre-submission of former journalist and Labour Party spin-doctor Alistair Campbell. All pre-submissions are given under strict and full confidentiality, and all core participants - including victims, the Met Police and the Crown Prosecution Service - are also signatories. Staines stated that he had obtained the submission legally. Leveson immediately called him to the inquiry to make a statement under cross-examination.

See also

• Politico-media complex

External links

• Website for The Leveson Inquiry
• [1] Leveson Inquiry Press Release (14 September 2011) "Ruling on Core Participants"
• Inquiry Coverage at BBC News
• Inquiry Coverage at the Guardian
• Inquiry Coverage at the Daily Telegraph