04 May 12 | Leveson Inquiry
Update 15:21 — Eight government ministers have today been granted core participant status at the Leveson Inquiry, meaning they will have advance access to evidence and the right to seek redactions of other statements submitted. Lord Justice Leveson rejected the application by the government as a body, but granted individual CP status to David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Vince Cable, Ken Clarke, George Osborne, Theresa May, Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove, who will be known as “government core participants“.
The coalition government will this afternoon make an application to be a core participant at the Leveson Inquiry, in a special hearing announced today.
If granted, this would mean that the government would have advance access to written statements and attachments submitted in module three of the Inquiry, which is examining relations between the press and politicians.
The Inquiry states that individual or an organisation can become a core participant if they are deemed by Lord Justice Leveson to meet one or more of the following criteria:
- 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 its report
Those already granted CP status in module three include Guardian News and Media, Associated Newspapers and News International; the Metropolitan police; the National Union of Journalists, and former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks, who is scheduled to give evidence to the Inquiry next Friday. MPs including Tom Watson, Denis MacShane, Tessa Jowell and Chris Bryant have also been granted CP status.
Today’s hearing is scheduled to take place at 2pm.
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02 May 12 | Leveson Inquiry
A statement released by the Leveson Inquiry late last night has raised doubts as to whether the second part of the Inquiry into press standards will go ahead, due to concerns over value and costs.
In the statement, Lord Justice Leveson expressed concern over the “enormous cost (both to the public purse and the participants)” and voiced his fear that the Inquiry may “trawl over material then more years out of date”.
While not ruling out the possibility of a second part, Lord Justice Leveson said: “It is likely that the process of pre-trial disclosure and trial will be lengthy so that Part 2 of this Inquiry will be delayed for very many months if not longer.”
He added:
In those circumstances, it seems to me that it is in everyone’s interests that Part 1 goes as far as it possibly can. If the transparent way in which the Inquiry has been conducted, the Report and the response by government and the press (along with a new acceptable regulatory regime) addresses the public concern, at the conclusion of any trial or trials, consideration can be given by everyone to the value to be gained from a further inquiry into Part 2.
Part Two of the Inquiry, intended to commence after any possible criminal trials would have been completed, would examine the extent of unlawful or improper conduct at News International and other media organisations.
Part One, which is currently underway, is looking at the culture, practices, and ethics of the press and will make recommendations based on the findings this autumn.
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23 Apr 12 | Leveson Inquiry
Sky news’s John Ryley today apologised to the Leveson Inquiry for mistakenly claiming the station had never intercepted communications.
At the end of a one-and-a-half hour questioning by junior counsel David Barr, Ryley, head of news at the station, said that a letter submitted to the Inquiry by Sky News denying intercepts had solely been concerned with phone-hacking. Last month, the station admitted to hacking emails in two investigations relating to “canoe man” John Darwin and fugitive couple Martin and Lianne Smith.
Separately today, broadcasting regulator Ofcom announced it would be investigating Sky News’s email hacking.
Ryley said Sky News would in future “pretty much rule out” unlawful behaviour by journalists, but added that any requests to carry out subterfuge would be recorded in writing.
Lord Justice Leveson had earlier reminded Ryley that while communications interception may have been carried out in the name of public interest, no prima facie public interest defence existed in the Computer Misuse Act.
The hearings continue this afternoon, with media owners represented by Evgeny Lebedev for Independent newspapers and Aidan Barclay for the Telegraph group.
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19 Apr 12 | Leveson Inquiry
Rupert and James Murdoch are set to give evidence at the Leveson Inquiry into press standards next week.
Two days have been set aside for Rupert Murdoch’s long-awaited appearance, as the Inquiry moves into its third module, looking at the relationship between press and politicians.
The media mogul is likely to be quizzed about his closeness to the British political establishment when he appears on Wednesday and Thursday.
Rupert Murdoch closed News International title the News of the World last July in the wake of the phone hacking scandal that engulfed the tabloid.
His son James, set to appear on Tuesday, resigned as chairman of BSkyB, whose parent company News Corporation was founded by his father. He also stood down as chairman of the newspaper publisher, News International, earlier this year.
Evgeny Lebedev of the Independent and Evening Standard, and Telegraph Media Group chairman Aidan Barclay, will both appear on Monday.
Follow Index on Censorship’s coverage of the Leveson Inquiry on Twitter – @IndexLeveson
