At time of the Inquiry, Lord Black (Guy Black) was Chairman of Press Standards Board of Finance Limited and Director of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC). He had been responsible for tightening the PCC's Code of Practice in the wake of the death in 1997 of Princess Diana. The Lord Black proposals frequently referred to throughout the Inquiry were his proposals for a new system of independent press self-regulation and were put forward on behalf of the newspaper industry.
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.
Former editor of UK tabloid the Daily Star Sunday, having taken over from Hugh Whittow in 2003. Morgan was a former scientist at British Aerospace who read physics at Manchester University and the University of Louisville. Answered questions at the Inquiry on his paper's views on Lord Black's proposals. Morgan believed that proposals were all covered by existing laws.
John Mulholland was editor of the The Observer at the time of the Inquiry, having worked for the Guardian Media Group since 1994. He gave evidence that all staff were obliged to abide by the PCC code of conduct as well as the more rigorous GNM editorial code. Contributors were similarly expected to abide by the codes. There were strict procedures in place for any journalist wishing to go undercover or use any form of subterfuge. The Observer had, he said, used the services of a private investigator under an earlier editor.
Editor of The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday at the time of the Inquiry. Was in broad agreement with Lord Black's proposals and believed they would have little effect on working practices at his two papers.
