Born 1957. Journalist and author and former press secretary to Tony Blair as Leader of the Opposition (1994-97) and as Prime minister (1997-2000). From 2000-2003, he was director of communications for the Labour Party (2000-03). Before 1994, he had been political editor of Today newspaper and the Daily Mirror. Campbell gave detailed testimony on the political media and what he saw as the decline of genuine investigative journalism and the increasing tendency of owners, editors and senior journalists to wish to be political players. Embellishment and pure invention were tolerated and encouraged by some editors and owners, he said.
Conservative MP for Surrey Heath and Education Secretary at the time of the Inquiry. A former journalist at the Aberdeen Press and Journal, the Times, the BBC and the Spectator. Told the Inquiry that sometimes "individuals reach for regulation in order to deal with failures of character or morality, and sometimes that regulation is right and appropriate but some of us believe that before the case for regulation is made, the case for liberty needs to be asserted as well".
Award-winning writer, director and producer who has written for Daily Star, Guardian, Netflix, Channel 4, Amazon, the BBC and others. Gave evidence about working for the Daily Star, and of the pressure to write contrived stories to please the editor. He told the Inquiry that there was a maxim at the paper that some stories were "too good to check". Peppiatt wrote an open letter to Richard Desmond when resigning from the Daily Star, accusing the paper of demonising Muslims, supporting the English Defence League (EDL), fabricating stories, ignoring foreign news and paying low wages to staff. A campaign of vilification against him followed, he told the Inquiry.
Daily newspaper in the UK, first published as a broadsheet in 1900. Acquired by Richard Desmond in 2000. Hugh Whittow was appointed editor in 2011. He told the Inquiry that “ethics play a big role in the Daily Express” and all journalists adhered to the Editors Code of Practice. He admitted to some misleading statistics about the EU and a fabricated story about the banning of salt.
British publishing group founded in 1974 and owned by Richard Desmond. At the time of the Inquiry, it published the Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday newspapers, and the magazines OK!, New! and Star.
