Abell was deputy director of the Press Complaints Commission at the time of giving evidence, having previously acted as one of two assistant directors at the Commission. Abell provided extensive information on the background of the PCC, its guidelines regarding conduct, and desirable ways of balancing the interests of editors and the public. He also argued in favour of pre-publication consultation. If a person knew something was to be written about them, the PCC could represent the person to the paper "and give advice to the editor, while letting the editor retain the decision about publication. But the effect is very often that stories are either not published, or that the inaccurate and untruthful parts of stories are not published." Now a radio presenter and editor of the Times Literary Supplement, Abell was also Managing Editor of The Sun from 2013 to 2016.
Editor of the Financial Times at the time of the Inquiry. Testified regarding ethics and procedures in place within his publication. Gave his personal view that the PCC code "needs to be enforced before it is substantially amended... In the case of phone hacking it clearly was not enforced."
British journalist and former editor of The Independent newspaper. After studying law, Blackhurst also worked for The Sunday Times, Daily Express and Evening Standard. Gave detailed responses to the proposals of Lord Black on behalf of The Independent group.
Television journalist and Political Editor of Sky News at the time of the Inquiry. Boulton gave evidence of his experience of the interaction of politicians and the media. He suggested that healthy relations between political journalists and politicians broke down during Tony Blair’s years in office and spoke of his concern at attempts by politicians to manipulate news agendas.
Journalist and former newspaper editor. CEO of News International from 2009 to 2011, having previously been the youngest editor of a British national newspaper (at the News of the World from 2000 to 2003) and the first female editor of The Sun (from 2003 to 2009). Brooks was a prominent figure in the News International phone-hacking scandal, having been editor of the News of the World when illegal phone-hacking was carried out. Following a criminal trial in 2014, she was cleared of all charges by a jury at the Old Bailey, which accepted her defence that she had no knowledge of the illegal acts carried out at the newspaper she edited.
British journalist and editor. Founding Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post UK before switching to the world of trend forecasting and business insights at WGSN. Buzasi has been listed as one of Management Today’s “35 Under 35”. Told Inquiry that she did not think further statutory regulation would resolve the kind of issues “giving rise to this Inquiry”.
Writer and editor of UK edition of the worldwide celebrity gossip magazine, OK!. Gave evidence along with Hello! and Heat editors. She told the Inquiry that OK! was a celebrity-friendly magazine and that it was therefore in its own interests to treat celebrities with respect.
Director of Communications at the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) at the time of the Inquiry, having previously worked as a sub-editor for Hello! magazine and as deputy editor on a magazine called Food Manufacture. Gave details of how the ACPO press office communicated and passed on information to the press.
Former editor of regional daily newspaper the Yorkshire Post, a post he stepped down from in 2013 after for 9 years. Also former Editorial Director of Johnston Press (Yorkshire) so was responsible for the company’s editorial operations in Scarborough, Wakefield, Harrogate and Halifax as well as Leeds. Prior to the Yorkshire Post, Peter edited the Sheffield Star from 1992 to 2004 and The Gazette, Blackpool, from 1988-1992. He was instrumental in highlighting manufacturing by introducing the ‘Made in Sheffield’ dinner and established the Yorkshire Post business and environment award ceremonies and the Taste Awards, which honoured the region’s food producers.
Editor of MailOnline, the website of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, at the time of the Inquiry. Previously Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, Clarke had also held editorial positions at the Daily Mirror, Scottish Daily Mail, The Scotsman and the Irish Mail on Sunday. Giving evidence to the Inquiry, he defended some web stories that had been criticised by detailing sources and defended other claims, such as that "racism is hard-wired in the human brain", by reference to original sources. Clarke told the Inquiry that "news speaks for itself".
Journalist and political strategist, Andy Coulson was editor of the News of the World from 2003 until his resignation in 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's reporters in relation to illegal phone-hacking. David Cameron appointed Coulson as communications director in 2007. Coulson resigned on 21 January 2011 as reports of News of the World phone hacking intensified. He was arrested 8 July 2011 and in 2014 found guilty of conspiracy to intercept voicemail, serving five months of an 18-month sentence.
Journalist and editor of the Daily Mail at time of giving evidence. Was also editor-in-chief of DMG Media, which publishes the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, Metro, the Mailonline website and other titles. Dacre was a member of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) from 1999 to 2008, leaving to chair the PCC's Editors' Code of Practice Committee. After giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry about his views on regulation, he was later recalled to answer accusations made against the Mail by actor Hugh Grant.
Editor since 1999 of the Irish News, a daily newspaper based in Belfast. Told the Inquiry that the implications of the PCC were frequently discussed at editorial meetings and that the PCC had never ruled that the Irish News had been in breach of the Code. He firmly believed none of his staff had been involved in phone-hacking nor made any payments to private investigators.
Edmondson was news editor at the News of the World at the time of the Inquiry and answered questions on practices of phone-hacking and surveillance at that paper. In April 2011 he was arrested by the Metropolitan Police as part of Operation Weeting, which investigated phone hacking, and subsequently sentenced to seven months in prison for conspiring to intercept voicemail messages.
Freelance journalist, consultant and, at the time of the Inquiry, Guardian Readers' Editor. Member of the Ethical Journalism Network and Chair of Concern Worldwide UK. Gave evidence on the role of a Readers’ Editor and on the procedures for correcting errors.
Editor of Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror at time of giving evidence. A promotion later in the same year (2012) made him editor-in-chief of the Trinity Mirror group. Asked how the proposals for press regulation as set out by Lord Black would impact on his group, Embley said they would continue changes already underway.
Editor of The Sunday Times from 1967 to 1981 and of The Times from 1981 to 1982, the period of the takeover of the papers by Rupert Murdoch's News International. Sir Harold resigned the editorship of The Times in 1982, claiming editorial interference from Murdoch, whom he described when editor as "evil incarnate". At the time of giving evidence, Sir Harold was continuing his career as a journalist and writer, primarily in North America. He said at the Inquiry that the political will for News International's takeover of the papers facilitated it happening, referencing a private meeting between then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Rupert Murdoch.
Editor of the Wolverhampton Express and Star for 11 years from 2002, Faber offered the Inquiry his views on the ethics of connections between police and journalists and his paper’s cooperation with the West Midlands Police. He formerly edited a number of local papers including the Gloucestershire Echo, the Bristol Evening Post and the Evening Argus in Brighton.
A former editor of the South Wales Evening Post and, at the time of giving evidence, editor-in-chief of South West Wales Media. Told the Inquiry that he believed that it was the intention of the Northcliffe Group to be part of any statutory arrangements but that he had concerns that Black's proposals gave insufficient attention to online-only publications. He also stressed that the behaviour of some national papers was not replicated in the regional press, as was evident from the submissions made to the Inquiry.
Gave evidence on behalf of the National Union of Journalists, of which he was a past-President and a long-standing National Executive Committee member at the time of the hearing. A former newspaper journalist and Head of Journalism at Liverpool John Moores University, whose research interests have included media ethics, he also served on the UK Press Council and as a long-term member of the NUJ Ethics Council.
