MP for Charnwood at the time of giving evidence, Dorrell had been responsible for media policy and regulation as heritage secretary in the 1990s, when the Conservative Government decided to do nothing with the Calcutt suggestions for press reforms. Dorrell told the Inquiry he thought "recent wrongdoing" such as phone hacking was a failure of management not of regulation and that a powerful ombudsman could work without intervention from the state. Lord Levenson suggested that a statute giving legal recognition to the Ombudsman's views would not amount to parliamentary control.
Suter joined regulator Ofcom when it was first established in 2003, and was designate Partner responsible for Content and Standards. Prior to his appointment in this role, Suter had worked in various roles within the BBC over a period of 15 years. At the time of the Inquiry, he was a visiting fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. In 2014, he was appointed to the UK's Press Recognition Panel, created by the Royal Charter set up at the conclusion of Leveson Inquiry.
