Facebook's Director of Public Policy for Europe, Middle East and Africa at time of Inquiry. Gave evidence on his role in ensuring that the platform did not violate privacy laws within each country of use and in removing information which was libellous or violated the terms of service. Asked whether Facebook ever sold personal information to third parties, he replied that it did not.
Professor of Communications at the University of Westminster at the time of giving evidence and an experienced independent commentator on journalism and media policy issues. He was also at that time acting as specialist adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications for its inquiry into Investigative Journalism, having also advised the same committee in its inquiry into News and Media Ownership in 2007-08. Gave his views on the Editors' Code of Practice and lessons that could be learned from broadcasting regulation.
Head of Media and Marketing for British Transport Police from 2006, Bird was asked to testify on the relationship between the Transport Police and the media and on practices concerning CCTV footage.
General Counsel and Company Secretary at Everything Everywhere (EE) at time of the Inquiry and responsible for legal, regulatory and compliance matters within the company. Both T-Mobile and Orange are owned by EE. Gave evidence on historic requests and responses concerning hacking and accessing messages of phones.
Dame Colette Bowe was the Chair of Ofcom from 2009 to 2014. She gave evidence to the Inquiry on the composition and role of Ofcom. In 2014, she was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire for her services to media and communications.
Brady spoke for Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited as General Counsel and Director of HR and External Affairs. The statement responded to allegations in a newspaper that a member of Virgin staff had in 2010 leaked confidential information about a number of celebrities to the press.
Head of Corporate Communications, Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies. Campbell is also Chair of APComm, the national representative body of those who work in police-related communications, including the wider law-enforcement agencies. Spoke of the advice that ACPO might give to members – for example, on the appropriate offering and acceptance of hospitality – to media contacts.
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 journalist and founder of PR company Max Clifford Associates, which dealt with protecting the public image of famous stars and events. He had been the victim of phone-hacking by the News of the World along with several of his clients. In 2014, Clifford was found guilty of eight counts of indecent assault on four girls and women aged between 15 and 19. He died on 10 December 2017.
Public policy and communications expert and at the time of the Inquiry Vice-President of Global Communications and Public Affairs for Google. Collins gave evidence on Google’s privacy policy, its removal policy on the UK (as opposed to US) site and its continuing evolution.
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.
Telecommunications and internet technology-policy expert. Gave evidence to the Inquiry as Head of Global Public Policy at Twitter.
Director of the Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre and Professor of Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London. While at Goldsmiths, Curran held a number of visiting appointments including McClatchy Professor (Stanford), Annenberg Professor (UPenn), Bonnier Professor (Stockholm University) and NRC Professor (Oslo University). Told the Inquiry that he believed that a relationship had developed between the British press and politicians that was bad for journalism and bad for government. This had been characterised by periods of hostility punctuated by periods of close alliance as in the late 1930s and the mid-Thatcher era.
Director of Public Affairs for the Metropolitan Police Service from 1997, Fedorcio resigned from the position in March 2012 after the force opened disciplinary proceedings against him. An inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) into Fedorcio's award of a contract to Neil Wallis, the former deputy editor of the News of the World, found he had a case to answer for gross misconduct. Fedorcio had earlier given evidence to the Inquiry about his connections with News of the World reporters.
Head of Communications at Staffordshire Police at time of Inquiry and a graduate member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He outlined procedures for dealing with the press, including advice to police staff not to use the term "off the record" and to follow up with an email or phone conversation when guidance to a journalist had been given.
Independent adviser on regulatory policy and strategic issues in the communications sector, and a founder member of the UK-based media consulting group Communications Chambers. Submitted a report, "News Plurality in a Digital World", which examined the risks of concentration of ownership and looked at plurality of ownership in western democracies.
Former Chief Executive of the Independent Police Complaints Commission and Deputy Chair of the homelessness charity Crisis until 2016.
Head of fraud and security at Telefónica 02 phone company. Gorham answered the Inquiry’s questions on how mobile-phone voicemails could be accessed remotely and the security arrangements in place in 2005 and 2006 when a series of phone-hacking scandals emerged.
Head of Corporate Communications at Avon and Somerset Police at time of the Inquiry. Previously Head of Communications and Public Relations at London Borough of Southwark and at Reading Borough Council before that. Was asked to outline the role and responsibilities of her office, off-the-record briefings and procedures in place following press behaviour since the Alison Yeates murder in 2010.
At the time of giving evidence, Horgan was Emeritus Professor of Journalism at Dublin City University and the first Irish Press Ombudsman, a post from which he stepped down in 2014. His career has been in print and broadcast journalism, politics (as a member of the Irish Senate) and academia.
