Director of the Science Media Centre at time of the Inquiry. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to science. Was asked by the Inquiry to submit guidelines on the reporting of science and health stories.
British Liberal Democrat politician and solicitor. Member of Parliament for North Norfolk since 2001 and chair of the Science and Technology Select Committee since 2017. Gave evidence that he had met News Corporation executive Fred Michel on two occasions and that the proposed takeover of BskyB had been raised. Lamb told the Inquiry that Michel suggested it would be a "pity" if the "fair" coverage given by News Corporation papers to the Lib Dems could not be continued. Lamb reported the conversation to the party leader.
Fiona Fox gave evidence on behalf of the Science Media Centre, an organisation formed in 2000 after the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology's third report on "Science and Society" was published. The SMC offered examples of extremely bad science reporting (for example, the reporting of the birth of the first clone and the supposed "dangers" of MMR vaccines), and also for the need for promotion of more expert information when science becomes headline news. The SMC offered recommendations to the Leveson Inquiry including drawing up guidelines which could be adopted by the Press Complaints Commission.
UK charity that promotes respect for scientific evidence and the public understanding of science, founded in 2003 by Lord Taverne and Bridget Ogilvie. Aims to help the public in making sense of scientific and medical claims in public discussion and works with scientific bodies, publishers and the media to promote sound science and evidence. Proposed to the Inquiry a stronger role for the PCC in correcting misleading stories and cases of poor evidence.
The Trust, a bio-medical research charity based in London, joined with the Association of Medical Research Charities and Cancer Research UK to give evidence. Told the Inquiry that a 2011 Report on Public Attitudes to Science revealed that most people heard or read about science via the media and a third received their information from printed media. It acknowledged much good reporting but also expressed concern about "scare stories" and the negative impact they could have.
UK trade union formed in 2001, representing engineers, managers, scientists and members in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). Mike Sparham, full-time officer representing Metropolitan Police Service members at that time, told the Inquiry that Prospect did not have a view on the ACPO guidelines relating to media matters. Most members had no direct contact with the media so would be unaware of the guidelines, he said.
