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.
Editor in Chief of Heat magazine and the Heat brand, spanning Heat radio, heatworld.com and Heat TV. Outlined procedures at the magazine for ensuring that high ethical standards were maintained.
A journalist and broadcaster, Diamond was, at the time of the Inquiry, a regular columnist at the Daily Mail and co-host of Good Morning Britain. Diamond gave evidence of invasive scrutiny by the press of her private life, including stories which were the subject of libel actions against national newspapers – in particular, The Sun. Diamond gave evidence of being hounded by paparazzi and invasive reporting of private grief when she suffered the bereavement of a child.
Michael Grade was chairman of the BBC from 2004 to 2006, and executive chairman of ITV plc from 2007 to 2009. In 2011, he was made a Conservative Party life peer in the House of Lords and in same year was appointed to the PCC. Gave evidence expressing opposition to statutory regulation, believing that the PCC worked well in some respects.
Satirist, journalist, Private Eye editor and broadcaster. Told the Inquiry that his publication was against regulation. The activities in focus at the Inquiry, such as phone hacking, contempt of court and police taking money, were all already illegal, he said. What was required was enforcement of existing laws. "The secret of investigative journalism is people ring you up and tell you things," he told the Inquiry (quoting his old friend Paul Foot).
Born 1965. Australian media personality, entrepreneur and politician who rose to prominence in Australia and UK as a paparazzo. Lyons owned celebrity photo agency Big Pictures, which often faced legal action relating to invasion of privacy and harassment from celebrities including Sienna Miller, Lily Allen, JK Rowling, Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley. The company went in to liquidation in 2012 and Lyons returned to Australia, where he became Mayor of Geelong from 2013 to 2016.
Broadcaster, journalist, writer and television presenter. Marr began his career as a political commentator, subsequently edited The Independent, and at time of giving evidence was working for the BBC. Marr told the Inquiry that rivalry between journalists was inevitable and that forming good contacts with Ministers was necessary and inevitable and that the Inquiry should not be too “fastidious”.
Author of a 2010 book called "Tabloid Girl", described as a "behind the scenes" account of life at a tabloid newspaper. Told Lord Leveson the book was a "dramatisation of [her] time in the industry" and should not be considered as a legal document. Marshall said that despite claiming to be a "true story", the book was written for entertainment and so had dramatised events. "No reliance can be placed upon those stories as providing... an indication of general practice in the journalism industry," she told the Inquiry.
British journalist and television personality. Morgan began his journalism career in Fleet Street as a writer and editor for several tabloid papers, including The Sun, the News of the World and the Daily Mirror. In 1994, he was appointed editor of the News of the World by Rupert Murdoch. He later edited the Daily Mirror, and was in charge during the period that the paper was implicated in the phone-hacking scandal. He told the Inquiry that he took ethics very seriously and was then questioned on the ethics of paying for and publishing details of the discarded bank statements of Elton John.
Australian-born American Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of News Corporation with an estimated net worth of $15.2 billion at the time of giving evidence. Gave a brief history of his organisation from the founding of the Adelaide News to date. Among other matters, was asked about the admission in the diaries of Woodrow Wyatt, a confidant of both Murdoch and Margaret Thatcher, that he "bent... all the rules" to enable acquisition of The Times and Sunday Times without the bid being referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. Murdoch outlined his different understanding of the process. In lengthy evidence over several days, Murdoch admitted that the phone-hacking affair had left a serious blot on his reputation.
British broadcaster, journalist and author. Question master of University Challenge and former presenter of Newsnight. He told the Inquiry that he found it easier not to have politicians as personal friends and described a lunch at which Piers Morgan told him how to hack a voicemail.
Crime correspondent for The Independent at the time of giving evidence. Peachey told the Inquiry that his contacts with the police aimed to hold them to account for their actions. This would have been understood, he said. Asked about "hospitality", he said it was limited to tea and biscuits during briefings.
Designated a Core Participant at the Inquiry, Rowland was a claimant in the litigation against News International regarding phone hacking. He told the Inquiry he had been shown evidence that someone had attempted to hack his voicemails 100 times in 2005, when he had been working for the Mail on Sunday and the Times. At the time of the Inquiry, he had been a journalist or freelance writer for 30 years, having written for the Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard and The Times. Had also worked as a TV presenter and author.
British television producer and head of Sky News, part of BSkyB. Spoke at the Inquiry for Sky News, which he said prided itself on the impartiality, objectivity and accuracy of its output, and on the integrity of its journalists. It complied with all legal and regulatory obligations, he said, giving examples of potential "illegality" such as a Sky journalist purchasing an Uzi gun to prove how easy it was and of accessing private emails. He said these methods were justified when Sky believed that it served the public interest in revealing crime.
The presenter of Channel 4 News, Snow strongly criticised the publishers of the Daily Mail for what he saw as an agenda to undermine people in public life, giving personal testimony of a five-page article in the Mail on Sunday about his private life. The paper had admitted it was untrue but devoted only one and a half inches to the apology. Channel 4 News did not seek to influence policy, he said.
New Zealand journalist and broadcaster, best known as a showbiz reporter for the News of the World, Daily Mail and Sun newspapers and as a contributor to ITV Breakfast shows. Wooton was twice named “Showbiz Reporter of the Year” at the British Press Awards. He told the Inquiry that the actions of some News of the World reporters had tarnished the reputation of those who reported from valid sources.
The elected president of the International Federation of Journalists at the time of the Inquiry and also an Executive member of the National Union of Journalists. Gave evidence of a variety of Media Accountability Systems that operated around the world including those underpinned by legislation and those that are entirely voluntary.
Writer and former journalist at the Sunday Mirror, Clarkson left the tabloid world in 1987 and has since written several true-crime novels and featured in documentaries about the criminal gangland and underworld. Told the Inquiry that he had never used private investigators. When he was working as a journalist, he said, reporters had openly talked to the police and would probably pay around £50 to a policeman for "help" with a story.
Journalist and radio and television executive, Forgan was editor of The Guardian's women's pages from 1978 to 1982 and a Guardian columnist from 1997 to 1998 before becoming a non-executive director of Guardian Media Group in 1998. She held senior director roles at both Channel 4 and the BBC, and in 2006 was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to Radio Broadcasting. At the time of the Inquiry, Forgan was Chair of the Scott Trust, which owns The Guardian, and gave evidence on its structure and aims.
Editor of RebeccaTelevision.com, an investigative website based in Wales, which aimed to combine television programmes with journalism. Approached the Leveson Inquiry because he believed the News of the World reporter Mazher Mahmood had exaggerated the number of prosecutions arising from his exposures in his book Confessions of a Fake Sheikh.
