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.
London-based journalist, author and media campaigner. Former foreign correspondent with Reuters and Foreign Editor and then Deputy Editor of the Independent on Sunday. Professor of Journalism at Kingston University London at time of giving evidence and specialist adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport which produced the report "Press standards, libel and privacy" (2010). Gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry on teaching journalism ethics and standards. In 2011, co-founded Hacked Off to campaign for a free and accountable press.
The parents of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, whose voicemails were intercepted by the News of the World, leading to the misconception that Milly had been receiving her messages and was therefore alive. The unearthing of this practice sparked the investigations and subsequent court action against those involved, which in turn led to the establishment of the Leveson Inquiry. Designated Core Participant Victims in the Inquiry.
English actor and film producer. Dealt in detail with his concerns about his treatment by the press, including the reporting in relation to stories concerning his daughter and his concerns about the way in which particular journalists had accessed that information. Grant was also appointed spokesperson for the campaign group Hacked Off.
London-based lawyer specialising in media law, in particular defamation, privacy and harassment. Joined board of lobby group “Hacked Off” and has represented a substantial number of phone-hacked claimants since 2007. She also gave evidence to the Inquiry as a victim of phone-hacking herself.
British journalist, novelist and human-rights activist. Former chair of the Writers in Prison committee in the English section of International PEN and former Executive Director of Hacked Off. A Core Participant Victim, Smith gave evidence to the Inquiry of being told by her MP partner Denis MacShane that their phones had been hacked. The police confirmed that details of their conversations and meetings had been acquired by Glenn Mulcaire on behalf of the News of the World. She described the hacking as a sickening invasion of her privacy.
Former Director of British Irish Rights Watch, an independent non-governmental human-rights organisation. At the time of the Inquiry, an active member of the Hacked Off campaign, after learning of the hacking of her emails while working with BIRW. She expressed her concerns to the Inquiry at the length of time the police might have known of this hacking before contacting her.