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.
Professor and Head of Journalism at City, University of London at time of giving evidence. Prior to this appointment in 2009, Brock had worked at The Times for 28 years. He gave examples of how ethics was taught within the Department of Journalism courses.
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.
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.
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.
Professor of Journalism at City University London at the time of the Inquiry and a media commentator since 1992, mostly for The Guardian. Offered insights into the flaws of the Press Complaints Commission and the need to avoid making the same mistakes. PCC inadequacies were exposed particularly by the Milly Dowler phone hacking, he said. He stressed that he was not attributing blame but that the PCC chairmen and directors could not be other than aware of the vulnerability of the members of the Commission when they were attempting to hold their paymasters to account: the body had the task of regulating the people upon whom it depended for its existence.
Professor of Digital Economy at Cardiff University, Wales. His career in journalism included assignments at the Financial Times, the directorship of BBC News & Current Affairs, and editorships of The Independent and New Statesman. He was a founding board member of Ofcom. Gave the Inquiry examples of ethical issues such as defamation and contempt that would be included as part of the Journalism diploma/MA at Cardiff.
Professor of the Psychiatry of Learning Disability at St George's, University of London, and crossbench life peer in the House of Lords in 2010. President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists from 2005 to 2008 and from 2012 to 2013 President of the British Medical Association. Hollins gave evidence of “unacceptable press behaviour” and the intrusion her family experienced in 2005 after her daughter was stabbed and left paralysed. She gave evidence later in 2012 complaining that fabricated stories about her son had appeared in the Daily Mail.
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.
Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London at time of Inquiry, with interests in philosophies of the mind, language and feminism. Submitted evidence relating to questions of freedom of expression and the public interest.
Professor of Law and Innovation at Queen's University Belfast since 2017. Previously, Associate Dean of Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Reader in Law, at Newcastle University. Submitted academic work including on statutory controls of media content.
At the time of giving evidence, Megone was Professor of Interdisciplinary Applied Ethics at Leeds University, having led a successful £3 million bid for a new Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Inter-Disciplinary Ethics, of which he became director. Told the Inquiry that there was a significant public interest in a free press, but the social purpose or interest which the press serves is not guaranteed to be achieved simply by the freedom given by lack of censorship. The public had an interest in a press which was more than simply "free" in that sense, he said.
Welsh academic specialising in political philosophy and, at time of Inquiry, Professor Emerita of Political Philosophy at the University of York. Vice-President (Social Sciences) of the British Academy (2008 to 2012), Mendus covered the philosophical area of conflicts between freedom and the public interest.
Gus O'Donnell, former senior civil servant and economist, who between 2005 and 2011 (under three Prime Ministers) served as Cabinet Secretary, the highest official in the British Civil Service. Gave evidence concerning Andy Coulson's role as press chief to Prime Minister David Cameron, and offered his opinion that Coulson should have declared his News Corporation shares.
Philosopher and crossbench member of the House of Lords. Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and, among many other senior roles, former President of the British Academy (2005-2009). She was founding President of the British Philosophical Association (BPA) and until 2006 Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, and chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Gave written evidence to the Inquiry on press freedom and human rights in an international setting. Has published extensively on concepts of media freedom.
A full-time academic and freelance journalist, Petley has campaigned for a free press that maintains openness and public accountability. Professor of Journalism at Brunel University London at time of submitting evidence and a member of the editorial board of the British Journalism Review and the advisory board of Index on Censorship. Also a member of the National Council of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom and supporter of Hacked Off. He argued for a media free from restrictions which hinder the performance of proper social functions, and also for a media that lives up to standards of openness and public accountability.
Professor of Journalism in the Department of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London. Formerly a journalist working for national newspapers, magazines, TV and radio and co-author of Changing Journalism (2011). Offered evidence on the teaching of ethical journalism.
Academic expert in media and communications regulation, submitted evidence to the Inquiry on journalism and self-regulation. Has provided formal and informal policy advice and been frequently called to give evidence to parliamentary committees.
Greek-Australian moral and legal philosopher. Quain Professor of Jurisprudence in the Faculty of Laws, University College London at time of giving evidence. Offered his thoughts on the difference between rights and interests. Gave his view that some information can be in the public interest without there being a corresponding right to have access to that information (just as it could be in your interest to have your friend's kidney, but it is not your right to have it).
Dr John Abraham of the University of St Thomas, Minneapolis, submitted a document strongly criticising inaccurate reporting of climate change, drawing specific attention to articles in the British press.
