Rupert Murdoch and the Corruption of the British Media

[Douglas Caddy]

Leveson Inquiry DID ask David Cameron to provide evidence of News International communications on 'a range of issues'

Pressure grows on Cameron to publish communications with Rebekah Brooks

By James Cusick

The Independent

Monday, 5 November 2012

The Leveson Inquiry asked David Cameron for communications between himself and representatives of News International that covered a "range of issues" that went further than just the BSkyB bid, The Independent has been told. However, lawyers advising the Prime Minister "interpreted" the request for information as narrowly as possible, allowing him to hand over no texts or emails to Lord Justice Leveson's press inquiry.

The inquiry's decision to allow Downing Street lawyers to "interpret" their requests, and to leave Mr Cameron to define for himself what "inappropriate conversations" meant, was last night criticised by the Labour's shadow Justice Minister, Chris Bryant. The Rhonda MP has been demanding for weeks that the Prime Minister publish "dozens" of emails described as "embarrassing and salacious" between himself and the former chief executive of News International, Rebekah Brooks.

The Independent revealed the existence of the emails last month. Legal advice on the emails that Downing St received from government lawyers said that full disclosure to Leveson was not necessary because they fell outside the remit of the inquiry.

"There is a clear disconnect between what Leveson asked for, and the interpretation Downing Street put on that," Mr Bryant said. "To resolve this, the Leveson Inquiry should now publish the exact questions it put to the Prime Minister."

Mr Cameron has repeatedly refused to answer calls by Mr Bryant in the Commons to publish the private emails between himself and Mrs Brooks. He is also withholding emails between himself and the former News of the World editor, Andy Coulson. Mr Coulson later ran Downing Street's communications operation.

Downing Street has denied Mr Cameron is hiding anything, stating that everything they were asked for has been handed over. However, Leveson asking for communications that went beyond the BSkyB bid substantially weakens Mr Cameron's defence.

"The public does not know what the Leveson Inquiry asked the Prime Minister for. Neither do they know the scale of the communications between the PM and Rebekah Brooks. The number of texts and emails is crucial here," said Mr Bryant.

Robert Jay QC, the inquiry's senior counsel, repeatedly asked Mrs Brooks how often she had texted Mr Cameron. However, the emphasis on frequency was absent when the Prime Minister was questioned.

Mr Bryant has estimated that up to 150 text messages between Mr Cameron and Mrs Brooks were disclosed to the Leveson Inquiry by News International. None were handed over by Downing Street.

Two texts were discussed by the inquiry, with one mentioning that Mr Cameron often used the term LOL, which he thought meant "lots of love".

Last weekend two further texts held by the inquiry were leaked to the Mail on Sunday. Their content proved embarrassing for Mr Cameron, with Mrs Brooks saying she cried twice during a Cameron Tory conference speech, adding: "Will love 'working together'."

Yesterday the Liberal democrat peer, Lord Oakeshott, added to the political pressure on the PM, saying it was now "in the public interest" that he publishes the emails and all the texts. He said: "These exchanges show an unhealthy close relationship between Rebekah Brooks and David Cameron."

[Douglas Caddy]

Profits at News Corp's publishing division down by almost half

Home to titles including the Times, Sun and Wall Street Journal hit by $67m charge relating to phone-hacking scandal

By Mark Sweney

guardian.co.uk

Wednesday 7 November 2012 06.52 EST

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp said it took a $5m charge in the quarter in costs related to the proposed separation of the publishing division. Photograph: Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters

Profits almost halved at News Corporation's publishing division, home to titles including the Times, Sun and Wall Street Journal, in the three months to the end of September, during which the company took a further $67m (£41.9m) charge relating to the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.

The company's newspaper publishing operation was also hit by an advertising slow down in its US and Australian businesses in the three-month period.

Overall, News Corp beat analyst expectations reporting total profits – net income – of $2.23bn in the quarter. This was triple what it made in the same quarter last year, due mostly to the sale of its 49% stake in NDS to Cisco, which resulted in a $1.4bn gain, and $75m from a share buyback programme at BSkyB, in which News Corp owns a 39.1% stake.

News Corp's film business, which includes Twentieth Century Fox, also performed strongly. The company cited the success of Ice Age: Continental Drift, a boost in TV production and revenue from content deals with Netflix.

Total News Corp revenue for the three months to the end of September rose 2% year on year to $8.14bn.

News Corp's publishing division, which is to be spun-off into a separately listed company that will include publisher HarperCollins, reported profit of $57m in the three-month period. In the same period last year the division produced a profit of $110m.

The ongoing fallout of the phone-hacking scandal continued to mount up financially, with News Corp booking a $67m charge in the quarter relating to ongoing investigations "initiated upon the closure of the News of the World".

News Corp said the declines in the US and Australian publishing businesses were partially offset by an "increased contribution" from its UK operation, thanks to the launch of the Sunday edition of the Sun in February.

Book publisher HarperCollins also boosted the publishing division thanks to having acquired Thomas Nelson, a Christian book publisher.

News Corp said it took a $5m charge in the quarter in costs related to the proposed separation of the publishing division. The company also took a $152m pre-tax restructuring charge mainly related to its newspaper and digital games businesses.

"We are committed to leading the change that the marketplace and our customers demand as the company builds on its success at leveraging multi-platform opportunities for our content," said Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp.

"We believe that our ability to do so will be enhanced by the flexibility and management focus that will result from the proposed separation of our entertainment and publishing businesses."

He added: "We have made considerable progress in this process and look forward to providing more details by the end of the calendar year."

[Douglas Caddy]

Emerging From Scandal, News Corporation Looks at Potential Acquisitions

News Corporation is starting to look like its old self again.

The New York Times

November 19, 2012

The media conglomerate, which had been on its heels for more than a year because of the phone hacking scandal in Britain, is looking to make acquisitions again. First on the list could be a 49 percent stake in the Yes Network in New York, a purchase that could become the foundation for a new nationwide sports network to compete with ESPN.

News Corporation’s stock has reached highs as the company prepares to transfer its underperforming publishing assets, including newspapers like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post, into a separate publicly traded entity.

One of the crucial factors in the decision was that the split would allow Rupert Murdoch, the company’s chairman and chief executive, to buy into the businesses he loves without upsetting investors who are more interested in cable and broadcast. Potential targets include The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and more education companies.

“Rupert has his mojo back,” said Todd Juenger, a media analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. “The stock is up, investors are happy with the company’s recent decisions.”

“He is definitely rubbing his hands together,” a person with knowledge of News Corporation’s deal-making discussions said of Mr. Murdoch.

In the last several weeks, Mr. Murdoch has exuded a satisfaction and sure-footedness that people close to the company said they had not seen since before Mr. Murdoch’s British newspaper unit became embroiled in a phone hacking scandal. That is in part because hacking has been overtaken in the press by an unfolding scandal at the British Broadcasting Corporation.

The BBC, which Mr. Murdoch and his son James have frequently criticized, is accused of canceling a news program’s segment about serial child molesting committed by longtime host Jimmy Savile, and broadcasting false reports of pedophilia about a member of Margaret Thatcher’s administration.

People close to Mr. Murdoch said he considered the BBC scandal karmic justice for months of negative coverage of News Corporation, and he has provided almost daily commentary via Twitter. “BBC getting into deeper mess,” he wrote on Nov. 10. “After Savile scandal, now prominent news program falsely names senior pol as pedophile.”

And the BBC scandal touches another Murdoch rival — The New York Times, whose parent company’s new chief executive, Mark Thompson, served as director general at the BBC. Mr. Thompson’s replacement at the BBC, George Entwistle, resigned on Nov. 11 after just 54 days on the job. “Look to new CEO to shape up NYT unless recalled to BBC to explain latest scandal,” Mr. Murdoch wrote on Twitter last month.

As News Corporation sank into its hacking scandal last year, it delayed new acquisitions. In September, Britain’s Office of Communications, known as Ofcom, said that British Sky Broadcasting, 39.1 percent owned by News Corporation, was “fit and proper” to hold a broadcast license. The decision removed a cloud of uncertainty at News Corporation’s Manhattan headquarters and cleared the company to revisit deals, analysts said.

“The internal narrative at the company is that the boss is in shopping mode,” said one person close to News Corporation who could not discuss Mr. Murdoch’s thinking publicly.

Dropping its $12 billion bid for the portion of BSkyB that it did not already own gave News Corporation ample cash to complete share buybacks and consider other acquisitions. The company had $9.6 billion in cash at the end of its 2012 fiscal year and in September borrowed another $1 billion.

On a recent earnings call, Chase Carey, News Corporation’s president and chief operating officer, said: “We always seem to be the topic of the day when it comes to a rumor of some transaction.” Still, he added: “There are places where we think we should kick the tires on things.”

Last week News Corporation neared a deal with Yankees Global Enterprises to buy a 49 percent stake in the Yes Network, a regional New York sports network, with a valuation of about $3 billion. A stake in Yes would add to News Corporation’s lineup of regional sports channels and contribute to its reported plans to introduce a national cable sports channel that could take on the Walt Disney Company’s ESPN.

“It’s one of the only businesses where there’s no No. 2,” said Michael Nathanson, a media analyst at Nomura Securities. “In our view, sports is the safest asset in media.”

This month the company paid an estimated $250 million for the portion of ESPN Star Sports that it did not already own. ESPN Star Sports, based in Singapore, operates 17 sports networks in five languages around Asia.

Then there are publishing assets that the 81-year-old Mr. Murdoch has long coveted, like The Los Angeles Times. Its owner, the bankrupt Tribune Company, is looking for a buyer for its struggling newspapers, including The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune.

Julie Henderson, a spokeswoman for News Corporation, called recent reports that News Corporation was in talks with Tribune Company and The Los Angeles Times “wholly inaccurate.” News Corporation’s last major acquisition, of Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Journal and Barron’s, for $5.6 billion in 2007, was unpopular among investors.

But the structure of the coming split of News Corporation could give Mr. Murdoch considerable resources to indulge his love of newspapers. While the final details of the split won’t be announced until next month, News Corporation has arranged for its sluggish publishing division to be bolstered by Australian pay television assets, which will make up the bulk of the earnings in the newly formed company. In Australia, the company recently paid $2.01 billion to increase its stake in Australia’s dominant pay TV provider, Foxtel.

“All of the Australian assets go into the split-off company,” Mr. Murdoch said in June. “It is just a lot simpler.”

That structure also gives the company’s hard-hit newspapers a financial safety net and Mr. Murdoch capital. Mr. Carey, News Corporation’s president, has said the company will invest in its fledgling education division. Run by a former New York City schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, the education group, called Amplify, will be part of the new company.

Last month, News Corporation explored a $1.6 billion cash offer for Pearson’s Penguin publishing house. Penguin ultimately merged with Bertelsmann’s Random House. But News Corporation’s interest raised questions about other acquisitions that would bring scale to its HarperCollins book division, also part of the publishing company.

“He’ll have the currency” to do whatever he wants, said a person who discussed the split plan with Mr. Murdoch.

[Douglas Caddy]

Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks face charges over payments to officials

Former editors among five to face charges over alleged corrupt payments by News International staff to public officials

By Vikram Dodd

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 November 2012 07.41 EST

Prosecutors have announced new criminal charges against the former News International editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, this time over alleged illegal payments to public officials.

The Crown Prosecution Service announced on Tuesday that four former News International employees, and a defence official alleged to have been paid £100,000 for information, should stand trial.

The announcement came as a result of Operation Elveden, in which the Metropolitan police are investigating claims of unlawful payments by News International staff to police officers and other public officials.

Coulson, former editor of the now defunct News of the World, and the former royal editor Clive Goodman, are both charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. These relate to payments allegedly made to gain confidential information about the royal family.

In a statement, Alison Levitt, QC, principal legal adviser to the director of public prosecutions (DPP), said: "We have concluded, following a careful review of the evidence, that Clive Goodman and Andy Coulson should be charged with two conspiracies. The allegations relate to the request and authorisation of payments to public officials in exchange for information, including a palace phone directory known as the "green book" containing contact details for the royal family and members of the household."

Also charged are Brooks, editor of the Sun between 14 January 2003 and 1 September 2009, the Sun's former chief reporter John Kay, and the Ministry of Defence official Bettina Jordan Barber, who is alleged to have been paid £100,000 over a seven-year period.

The CPS said all three "conspired together, and with others, to commit misconduct in public office" between 1 January 2004 and 31 January 2012.

"We have concluded, following a careful review of the evidence, that Bettina Jordan Barber, John Kay and Rebekah Brooks should be charged with a conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office between 1 January 2004 and 31 January 2012. This conspiracy relates to information allegedly provided by Bettina Jordan Barber for payment which formed the basis of a series of news stories published by the Sun. It is alleged that approximately £100,000 was paid to Bettina Jordan Barber between 2004 and 2011."

The Metropolitan police have arrested 52 people as part of Operation Elveden, including 21 journalists at the Sun. Among the public officials arrested are a member of the armed forces, a prison official, and police officers.

In its statement, the CPS said: "All of these matters were considered carefully in accordance with the DPP's guidelines on the public interest in cases affecting the media. This guidance asks prosecutors to consider whether the public interest served by the conduct in question outweighs the overall criminality before bringing criminal proceedings.

"Following charge, these individuals will appear before Westminster magistrates court on a date to be determined."

The Met has said the investigations triggered by the phone-hacking scandal may last another three years and cost £40m.

The force has 185 officers and civilian staff working on all the related investigations – 96 on Operation Weeting, looking at phone hacking, 70 on Elveden and 19 on Tuleta, which covers computer hacking.

In July the CPS announced phone-hacking charges against Coulson and Brooks, who both edited the News of the World. They have denied the charges.

Coulson also faces trial in Scotland over claims he committed perjury in a libel trial, which he denies. He is a former top aide to the prime minister, David Cameron.

Brooks and Coulson were among eight people charged with 19 counts of conspiracy over the phone-hacking scandal, with prosecutors alleging that the News of the World targeted, among others, Labour cabinet ministers and celebrities – including at least one person associated with the Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Brooks and her husband, Charlie, are also facing charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by allegedly concealing evidence from the police investigating her time as a top News International executive. Both deny those charges also.

The other News of the World staff facing phone-hacking-related charges are Stuart Kuttner, former managing editor, Ian Edmondson, former assistant editor (news), Greg Miskiw, a former news editor, Neville Thurlbeck, former chief reporter, James Weatherup, former assistant news editor, and a the private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire. Kuttner faces three charges, while Miskiw faces 10 charges. Edmondson faces 12 charges, Thurlbeck eight, and Weatherup eight.

[Douglas Caddy]

News Corp exposed to growing legal threat following charges for tabloid duo

Charges for Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson raise prospect that News Corp could be prosecuted under US anti-bribery laws

By Ed Pilkington and Dominic Rushe in New York

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 November 2012 16.49 EST

The charges complicate the rehabilitation of Rupert Murdoch's son James as a possible successor to lead News Corp.

The new round of criminal charges brought in the UK against former senior News International editors has once again raised the prospect that Rupert Murdoch's New York-based parent company may be prosecuted under US anti-bribery laws, and complicates the rehabilitation of his son James as a possible successor to lead the global media empire.

The charges brought against Rebekah Brooks, who ran Murdoch's newspaper holdings in Britain, Andy Coulson, former editor of the now defunct News of the World, and two other former News International employees exposes the parent News Corporation to possible action under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The FCPA exists to prosecute US-domiciled companies for acts of bribery and corruption that they might commit abroad.

An official of the British ministry of defence, Bettina Jordan Barber, also faces trial for allegedly receiving £100,000 from Murdoch's tabloid newspapers for information that led to a series of published stories. The allegation that money passed hands clearly falls within the legal remit of the FCPA.

Mike Koehler, professor of law at Southern Illinois school of law and author of the blog fcaprofessor.com, said the charges "would be hard for the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission to ignore. We have been hearing allegations for a year and a half now, now we clearly have charges against high ranking officials at a foreign subsidiary," he said.

The new charges, and the allegation of bribery of a military official, come at a very sensitive time for the company. The media giant is preparing to split itself in two, separating the TV and broadcasting arm from the scandal-hit newspaper and publishing division.

The developments also bring to a crashing halt the recent perception in America that News Corporation had begun to recover its confidence after months on the defensive as a result of the phone-hacking scandal. Only on Monday, the New York Times ran an article headlined

The FCPA has two main components, one that relates to the bribing of foreign officials and another that relates to books and record keeping. It is often the latter that causes companies the biggest headaches. Characterising a bribe as "miscellaneous expense" is a serious offence.

"This latest news is an escalation of the FCPA case," said Koehler. But he said he expected the case could still take some years to be resolved.

The latest legal difficulties to hit News Corporation could also potentially have ramifications on its 27 TV licences within the Fox network – the real financial heart of the operation. Three of the licences are up for renewal, and in August the ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew) filed a petition with the US broadcasting regulator, the Federal Communications Commission, that called for them to be denied on the grounds that the company did not have the requisite character to run a public service.

Melanie Sloan, Crew's director, said the charges of the four former News International employees played into its petition. "News Corp argues that the conduct in Britain shouldn't matter here in the US, but the Atlantic ocean doesn't have cleansing properties – if Murdoch is seen to be unfit to run a global company in the UK, then he's unfit in this country, too."

In May, the UK Commons culture committee censured Murdoch in their report into the phone hacking scandal, saying that he was "not a fit person" to exercise stewardship of a major international company.

So far there have been no confirmed cases of News Corporation employees engaging in illegal activities within the US. This week the Daily Beast alleged that the Murdoch tabloids the Sun and the New York Post may have made payments to a US official on American soil in order to obtain a photo of a captive Saddam Hussein, the deposed Iraqi leader, in his underwear. News Corporation has denied the claims.

Mark Lewis, the UK-based lawyer who has represented many of the victims of News of the World hacking, has been investigating possible cases of data breaches within the US but has yet to issue legal proceedings

[Douglas Caddy]

PM heads for showdown on Leveson Report

Judge consults former inquiry team to make sure press regulation measures are not ignored

By Jane Merrick

The Independent

Sunday, 25 November 2012

David Cameron is heading for a clash with the most vocal and influential members of his Cabinet over the Leveson Report when it is published this week, as the bitter battle over freedom of the press and privacy of individuals reaches its climax.

The Prime Minister, who is among a tight circle of people in government who will receive Lord Justice Leveson's report 24 hours ahead of publication on Thursday, is expected to back some form of tighter regulation, despite a last-ditch campaign by newspapers and ministers to defend press freedom.

In a sign that the Leveson Report will not fight shy of robust regulation with statutory backing, the judge is understood to have consulted people involved with the previous inquiry into press conduct to ensure "lessons are learnt", said a source. Lord Justice Leveson has held talks with those involved in Sir David Calcutt's 1990 inquiry which gave rise to the Press Complaints Commission, amid concerns that his tough recommendations will be cast aside by government and Parliament.

Mr Cameron is facing entrenched opposition to state regulation from key Tory ministers, including the Education Secretary Michael Gove, the Chancellor George Osborne, Foreign Secretary William Hague, Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith.

Mr Cameron has ringing in his ears the words of Mr Gove and Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, who both restated their defence of a free press at the Spectator awards last week. But one Conservative MP who will vote in favour of statutory regulation urged the Prime Minister not to fall for Mr Gove's comments through "erotic absorption".

Downing Street insisted last night that Mr Cameron had not come to a decision on what was at present a "non-existent proposal". But ministers are fearful that the Prime Minister, faced with demands from a determined judge and 70 Tory backbenchers, plus Labour and Lib Dem MPs who want state regulation, will "cave in" to Leveson. One source likened the clash inside the Tory party to "Roundheads vs Cavaliers".

Mr Cameron is being urged to back some form of "third way" to reconcile differences. A proposal, accepted in principle by all newspapers, from Lord Hunt, the PCC's current chairman, and Lord Black of Brentwood, the executive director of Telegraph Media Group, for an independent regulator backed by heavy fines, is likely to be rejected by Lord Justice Leveson. However, Mr Cameron could implement the Hunt-Black plans for a period of time, with the threat of statutory regulation down the line.

Another option being suggested to Downing Street is to introduce a statutory regulator but to insert a "sunset clause" into the legislation, so that the measure would have to be renewed by a fresh parliamentary bill and could lapse if deemed unworkable.

As the political and media establishment braced itself for the report, the father of a victim of the 7 July bombings said he believed the Leveson Inquiry had been "hijacked" by celebrities.

Graham Foulkes, whose 22-year-old son David was killed in the London bombings and whose phone was hacked by the News of the World, told BBC2's Newsnight that the "celebrity circus" caused the inquiry to lose its "focus" and "value". He added: "There is no place for ordinary people in this media circle."

When he appeared before the Leveson Inquiry in June, Mr Cameron said it was no longer the case that the press should regulate itself: "I accept we can't say it's the last-chance saloon all over again. We've done that."

A No 10 source said: "People will disagree. You cannot have a discussion about a proposal which doesn't exist. He wants to wait until the full report comes out and consider that very carefully."

The Prime Minister, fresh from winning alliances with Angela Merkel and other EU leaders over the European budget last week, faces a critical fortnight for his premiership. He will give a statement to the Commons following the publication of the Leveson Report on Thursday.

There will be a full debate on the subject in the Commons on 3 December before what is expected to be a difficult Autumn Statement by the Chancellor on 5 December. Mr Cameron also faces opposition to his plans for gay marriage from 118 Tory MPs – although last night Downing Street insisted this was a free vote.

[Douglas Caddy]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2237956/Cameron-set-defy-Leveson-law-allow-state-controlled-press--now.html

[Steven Gaal]

LEFTY OBAMA ??

Will the FCC Give Rupert Murdoch the Powerful Gift of Media Consolidation?

http://truth-out.org/news/item/12882-will-the-fcc-give-rupert-murdoch-the-powerful-gift-of-media-consolidation

posted in fair use

[Douglas Caddy]

Leveson Report calls for media watchdog underpinned by law

Lord Justice Leveson has condemned decades of "outrageous" behaviour by newspapers as he urged the Government to set up a new media watchdog underpinned by legislatio

By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter, Robert Winnett and Steven Swinford

The Telegragh

1:31PM GMT 29 Nov 2012

Click on link to view video

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/leveson-inquiry/9711330/Leveson-Report-calls-for-media-watchdog-underpinned-by-law.html

Publishing his report into press standards, the Appeal Court judge insisted that enshrining the terms of a new regulator in statute “is not statutory regulation of the press”.

He said legislation was vital to “enshrine a legal duty on the Government to protect the freedom of the press” and to reassure the public that previous transgressions by newspapers would not be repeated.

But the recommendations of his 1,987-page report seem certain to lead to rows within the Coalition, with MPs split over whether any form of statutory involvement in press regulation is acceptable.

David Cameron, who received the report yesterday, will make a formal response to its findings later today.

As well as suggesting how a new regulator would work, the Leveson Report makes a series of recommendations about how politicians and the police should behave in future.

It suggests that members of the Government and Opposition front benchers should publish details on a quarterly basis of all meetings with media proprietors, editors and executives, including “private” meetings at their homes.

A summary of telephone calls, letters, emails and text messages between the parties should also be published.

David Cameron is criticised in the report for undermining public confidence in politicians by creating the perception that he had become too close to newspaper proprietors.

Senior police officers should also publish details of their meetings with the media, and should think carefully before drinking alcohol with them.

Lord Justice Leveson found no widespread evidence of police corruption in dealing with the media, but criticises the Metropolitan Police’s decision-making during the original phone-hacking inquiry and says former assistant commissioner John Yates should have declined to review the hacking investigation because of his personal friendship with the then News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis.

It is Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations for the future of press regulation, however, that will prove most controversial and will lead to the greatest political fall-out.

He suggests an independent regulator with the power to fine newspapers up to £1m or one per cent of turnover for breaching a new code of conduct, and says it should be up to the media to agree the form and powers of the new watchdog.

Crucially, however, the regulator must be underpinned by statute, to protect the freedom of the press, to reassure the public and validate the new body, he says.

“The legislation would not give any rights to Parliament, to the Government or to any regulatory or other body to prevent newspapers from publishing any material whatsoever,” he says.

“Despite what will be said about these recommendations by those who oppose them, this is not, and cannot be characterised as, statutory regulation of the press.

“What is proposed here is independent regulation of the press organised by the press, with a statutory verification process to ensure that the required levels of independence and effectiveness are met.”

The new body, he says, should have an arbitration system to enable wronged parties to seek swift redress by way of a prominent apology and fines, if appropriate.

He also suggests a kite mark system for publications that are signed up to the new regulator and a whistleblowing hotline for journalists who believe they are being put under pressure to breach the new code of conduct, with legal protection to prevent them being victimised for doing so.

The broadcasting regulator Ofcom should carry out reviews every two years of how the new regulator is working, he suggests, and should act as backstop regulator if publishers refuse to sign up to the new body.

The Information Commissioner should also be given greater powers to prosecute newspapers for breaches of data protection.

The board of the new body must comprise a majority of people independent of the press, with some former journalists but no serving editors and no MPs, according to Lord Justice Leveson.

Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, is cleared of any bias in his dealing with News Corp’s bid to take over BSkyB when he was culture secretary, but he is criticised for failing properly to supervise contact between his former special adviser, Adam Smith, and the News Corp lobbyist Fred Michel.

Leveson inquiry report in full:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/leveson-inquiry/9711729/Leveson-inquiry-report-in-full.html

[Steve Knight]

And Camoron immediately says "We need to think long and hard before bringing in such a law."

Idiot is so out of touch with public opinion he's somewhere out passed Pluto.

Couple of papers have also said they'd never sign up to such an oversight body.

[Steve Knight]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/nov/29/victims-accuse-cameron-leveson-inquiry

Victims accuse Cameron of 'ripping heart and soul' out of Leveson inquiry

Those who've suffered at hands of press say they feel betrayed by prime minister's decision to reject Leveson recommendations

• 
  Sam Jones
  
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 29 November 2012 19.05 GMT
  

David Cameron has been accused of "ripping the heart and soul" out of Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry and betraying victims of press abuse by rejecting the judge's recommendation for a statutory body to oversee the new independent press regulator.

Media reform campaigners and some of those who had their phones hacked or computers compromised said they were "profoundly depressed" by the prime minister's refusal to follow the recommendation.

Speaking at a press conference organised by the Hacked Off campaign, the filmmaker Ed Blum – himself a victim of hacking – accused Cameron of abandoning those he had pledged to help.

"I think with Cameron's statement today, he's let down the victims of press abuse," he said. "He's also ripped out the heart and soul of the Leveson report and at the same time, some papers tomorrow will call him courageous, although the British public will know that the slippery slope towards self-regulation has also let them down terribly as well."

Mark Lewis, the solicitor who represents a number of phone-hacking victims, including the family of the murdered teenager Milly Dowler, said some of his clients were struggling to understand the prime minister's behaviour.

"I have spoken to some people who feel that they've been let down because they were looking for an independent inquiry which was looking at the politicians themselves as well as the press," he said. "The politicians were in on this and somebody independent was coming along and made recommendations and cautious optimism lasted for about 45 minutes and then the prime minister spoke and said well he's not actually going to implement a report that he instigated."

He added: "[Cameron] called for a judicial inquiry. There wasn't really much point in this judicial inquiry unless it was going to be implemented."

Lewis also pointed out that in his evidence to the inquiry, the prime minister had spoken of the importance of what he termed the "victim test".

Cameron had told Leveson that the inquiry should not be about placating the press or politicians but about "really protecting the people who've been caught up and absolutely thrown to the wolves by this process".

By any measure, said Lewis, Cameron had failed that test.

"He called it the victim test; he called it the Dowler test," said the solicitor. "It looks like he failed his own test. He appointed the lord justice to make recommendations and now he says he's not going to follow them. That's a failure of that test and he needs to resit."

Other victims of press abuse told Hacked Off of their disappointment with the prime minister.

The former policewoman and Crimewatch presenter Jacqui Hames said she found his remarks in the Commons "profoundly depressing", while a group representing families who lost relatives in the Hillsborough football disaster were said to be "very upset". Christopher Jefferies, the man vilified in some sections of the press and falsely arrested over the murder of Joanna Yates, told Hacked Off he felt betrayed.

Midway through Thursday afternoon, the actor Hugh Grant tweeted: "With a group of (non celeb) victims including Hillsborough families listening to PM. Buzzword is betrayal."

Brain Cathcart, a journalism professor and founder of Hacked Off, praised Lord Justice Leveson for producing "a thorough, balanced and powerful report" containing measures to protect press freedom and recognise the rights of victims of press abuse.

He said the report had offered "a workable, proportionate, reasonable solution" to the problems facing the public, the media and the politicians.

The prime minister, however, had "not done his job" and his failure to accept the report's full recommendations was both regrettable and unfortunate.

"The Leveson proposals were carefully thought out," said Cathcart. "They would have made a difference. They should be implemented as quickly as possible and must not be put aside."

He added that despite "their years of abuses and outrageous conduct, it seems that the prime minister still trusts the editors and proprietors to behave themselves."

Cathcart described the report as a very important moment and urged Cameron to seize it.

"We do not want to let it slip and surely the prime minister does not want to be seen to be the person who has let slip this opportunity which is coming once in a generation," he said. "A long time we've been having these choices and ducking them. Does he really want to be the latest prime minister to duck these choices?"

To that end, Hacked Off announced that they had launched a petition urging Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband to work together to implement all the report's recommendations as soon as possible.

Jane Winter, the director of a human rights charity who discovered that emails and documents she had sent had been illegally accessed after the recipient's computer was hacked, was disheartened by the Leveson report in general and the prime minister's refusal to accept its key recommendation in particular.

Winter, head of the British Irish Rights Watch, was one of 60 victims who signed a letter to the PM last October asking him to implement Leveson's suggestions.

She said: "His response was, 'As long as it's not bonkers, I'll implement that'. Well I saw the report this morning and it doesn't look bonkers to me and I think he's gone back on his word and I feel betrayed."

Winter added: "I'm afraid he knows who his friends are – his friends in the media – and he's not really concerned about the victims although he said he was. He made a lot of nice noises about the victims who've been to hell and back, like the Dowlers, but he doesn't mean a word of it. If he did, he would implement these recommendations."

Despite her deep disappointment, however, she was refusing to relinquish hope entirely: "I still have a spark of optimism because it looks to me like both Labour and the Liberal Democrats are in favour of Lord Leveson's recommendations and we also know that there are a number of Tory backbenchers who support proper regulation for the media."

[Douglas Caddy]

A Free Press Isn’t the Problem

Editorial: The New York Times

November 29, 2012

Millions of Britons were justifiably outraged over last year’s serial revelations of illegal and unethical behavior by the powerful and influential tabloid press in Britain. But the regulatory remedies proposed Thursday by an official commission of inquiry seem misplaced, excessive and potentially dangerous to Britain’s centuries-old traditions of a press free from government regulation.

In a nearly 2,000-page report , the commission, headed by Lord Justice Sir Brian Leveson , cataloged the glaring misdeeds of Rupert Murdoch’s sensationalist tabloid, The News of the World , which is no longer published.

Noting, among other things, the tabloid’s “reckless disregard for accuracy,” and “lack of respect for individual privacy,” it called on Parliament to create an independent regulatory body with the authority to fine newspapers up to $1.6 million for violating its guidelines. This new organization, which newspapers could join voluntarily, would replace the largely ineffective Press Complaints Commission , run by the news industry itself, which is supposed to uphold a code of ethical journalistic practices agreed to by participating publications. Creating an independent regulatory body would require new legislation. To his credit, Prime Minister David Cameron seems opposed to proceeding in that direction. Conscientious members of all political parties should oppose it as well.

British newspapers operate in a harsher legal environment than the American press. They must navigate an Official Secrets Act , which criminalizes the publication of classified information and a plaintiff-friendly libel law, which lacks American-style exceptions for public figures. But they have been free from government licensing since 1694 . Although that would remain true under the Leveson proposal, a regulatory panel backed by law is a big step in the wrong direction.

Press independence from government is as essential a bulwark of political liberty in Britain as it is everywhere. That independence should not, and need not, be infringed upon now. Other, better remedies, are available to end abuses by Britain’s tabloid press.

Much of the conduct described in the Leveson report — hacking into voice mail messages of ordinary citizens and illegally obtaining medical records — is not news gathering. They are illegal acts under British law. So are bribery, corrupt relations with police officials and political figures and other abuses attributed to the tabloid press. In such instances, newspapers can claim no shield against civil lawsuits or criminal prosecution. That approach, not government regulation, is the right response to the kind of misbehavior alleged against The News of the World. It is also the right deterrent against illegal conduct by other newspapers.

[Douglas Caddy]

Leveson questions James Murdoch inquiry evidence on phone hacking

Ex-News International chief gave differing account of 2008 meeting on hacking to those of Colin Myler and Tom Crone

By Josh Halliday

guardian.co.uk, Friday 30 November 2012 08.36 EST

Lord Justice Leveson expressed concern in his report on the culture, practices and ethics of the press about aspects of James Murdoch's evidence to his inquiry on how much he was told about phone hacking at the News of the World.

Murdoch, the News Corporation deputy chief operating officer and former chairman and chief executive of News of the World publisher News International, said he was not told that hacking went beyond a single rogue reporter at a key meeting in 2008.

But Leveson said he found it "surprising" that Murdoch was unaware of damning legal advice by a senior barrister about a culture of illegal information access at the paper, and concluded: "Whatever the truth of what was discussed on 10 June 2008, the evidence outlined points to a serious failure of governance within the NoW, NI and News Corporation."

Leveson's concerns are outlined in a section of his report, published on Thursday, on the 10 June 2008 meeting between Murdoch, News of the World editor Colin Myler, and the paper's head of legal, Tom Crone.

Murdoch's account of the meeting differed from those of Myler and Crone when he gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry in April.

He denied he was shown or told about legal advice by Michael Silverleaf QC that phone hacking was likely to have gone beyond the one News of the World reporter, who was jailed in 2007.

Crone disputed Murdoch's evidence, claiming that he probably took the Silverleaf advice to the meeting along with copies of a briefing note and the "for Neville" email, which suggested that phone hacking at the now-defunct title went beyond a single reporter.

Leveson said in his report: "I have given careful consideration as to whether I should go further, and conclude that Mr Crone's version of events as to what occurred on 10 June 2008 should be preferred to that of James Murdoch.

"There are aspects of the account of Mr Murdoch that cause me some concern: in particular, it is surprising if the gist of Mr Silverleaf's opinion was not communicated to him in circumstances where the potential reputational damage to the company, of which he was CEO, was likely to be great if an early settlement of the claim brought by Mr [Gordon] Taylor were not achieved."

He added that Myler and Crone had "no motive to conceal relevant facts" from Murdoch. The judge also expressed "serious concerns" about Myler and Crone's evidence about the meeting, saying it was "surprising" that there was no full-blown risk analysis with options for Murdoch to consider.

Leveson said that the nature of his inquiry meant there had been insufficient opportunity for detailed cross-examination to get to the bottom of who knew what and when at the NoW and News International. He added: "In the circumstances, I do not seek to reach any conclusion about precisely what transpired at this meeting."

Leveson's report was also critical of News International's wider response in 2008 to phone hacking. He said that evidence by Rupert and James Murdoch suggested that "one or more parts of the management at the NoW was engaged in a determined cover-up to keep relevant information about potential criminal activity within the organisation from senior management within NI".

James Murdoch told the Commons culture, media and sport select committee earlier this year: "I did not know about, nor did I try to hide, wrongdoing. Whilst I accept my share of responsibility for not uncovering wrongdoing sooner, I did not mislead parliament and the evidence does not support any other conclusion."

News Corporation declined to comment.

[Douglas Caddy]

Leveson's regulator ignores 'appalling abuse' on internet, MPs warn

Lord Justice Leveson has designed a regulator for the press of "20 years ago" and ignored the impact of the internet, senior MPs have warned.

By Steven Swinford

The Telegraph

11:45AM GMT 30 Nov 2012

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9713949/Levesons-regulator-ignores-appalling-abuse-on-internet-MPs-warn.html

The Leveson report dismissed the internet as an "ethical vacuum" and said that it was up to the press to rise above it and follow higher standards.

He devotes just 12 pages of the 1,987 page report to discussing the role of the internet, and concludes that online news outlets can subscribe to regulation if they wish.

John Whittingdale, the Conservative chairman of the culture, media and sport select committee, said his approach was "curious".

He said: "It is curious to bring in very strong controls to prevent newspapers breaking the code when it's so easy for online providers to do so.

"At a time when more and more people are going online to obtain news and as a result circulation of newspapers is in steady decline, it seems strange to respond by designing a system which does very little to address new media. It's a system that is designed for the media of 20 years ago rather than today."

Lord Justice Leveson said that while people will not assume that what they read on the internet is “trustworthy”, they expect newspapers to be a “quality product”.

He said: “Some have called it a 'wild west’ but I would prefer to use the term 'ethical vacuum’. The internet does not claim to operate by express ethical standards, so that bloggers and others may, if they choose, act with impunity.

“The press, on the other hand, does claim to operate by and adhere to an ethical code of conduct. Newspapers, through whichever medium they are delivered, purport to offer a quality product in all senses of the term.

“In contrast, the internet does not function on that basis at all. People will not assume that what they read on the internet is trustworthy or that it carries any particular assurance or accuracy; it need be no more than one person’s view.

Mr Whittingdale, however, said many people believe what they read on the internet. He said: "People take the interent more seriously than he [Leveson] gives it credit for. They think that if something looks professions online then it should be reliable. People have to learn how to filter out and recognise material which is properly sourced and reliable."

Lord Justice Leveson also addressed the publication of naked pictures of Prince Harry and the Duchess of Cambridge on the internet.

In August, Prince Harry was photographed playing strip billiards with a girl in a £5,100 eight-room suite at the Encore Wynn resort in Las Vegas. The images were widely circulated on the internet and several days later published by The Sun newspaper.

The Sun published an article which stated: “It is absurd in the internet age newspapers like The Sun could be stopped from publishing stories and pictures already seen by millions on the free-for-all that is the web.”

Lord Justice Leveson said that the debate about whether Prince Harry’s behaviour was in the public interest did not justify publishing the pictures. He said: “What transpired and what the photographs revealed was graphically described in print. The debate did not need the pictures.”

He said that The Sun ignored the “large number of people who do not want to see the photographs”, adding: “The fact that something is on the internet does not justify its publication in a newspaper.”

He compared The Sun’s decision to publish the Prince Harry pictures with the decision by British newspapers to condemn the publication of topless pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge in a French magazine.

Lord Justice Leveson said: “There has to be some other public interest in publication of that image in order to justify it. For the Duchess, there clearly is not.

“But that equally means that playing the card of widespread availability is not good enough in relation to the Prince Harry photos either.

“If society wants them [the Royal Family] to mix with the public and in the real world, they have to be given the space to do so and their right to have a degree of privacy… must also be recognised.”

[Douglas Caddy]

Poster's note: So in the end Lord Justice Leveson did what he was ordained to do at the time he was selected to head the investigation, which was to find Rupert Murdoch "was kept in the dark by News International executives about suspicions of wider illegal activity at News of the World between 2006 and 2008." What a sad commentary on the administration of justice. Murdoch undoubtedly from the beginning was aware of what Leveson would ultimately enunciate as his finding.

-----------------------------------

Murdochs kept in dark on phone-hacking suspicions, Leveson finds

News of the World and the 'bombs under the newsroom floor'

By Josh Halliday

The Guardian, Friday 30 November 2012 14.52 EST

Rupert Murdoch was kept in the dark by News International executives about suspicions of wider illegal activity at the News of the World between 2006 and 2008, Lord Justice Leveson concluded in his report on press standards.

Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News International owner News Corporation, who gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry over two days in April, escaped the most excoriating criticism in the 2,000-page report. But the judge did express concern that several key developments on phone hacking were apparently shielded from Murdoch and his son James, as a result either of a cover-up or of a "serious failure of governance within the NoW, NI and News Corporation".

Leveson said it was "revealing" that Murdoch had not seen the sentencing remarks by Mr Justice Eady after a News of the World reporter and private investigator were jailed over phone hacking in 2007. He added: "That Mr Murdoch was apparently not familiar with it says something about the degree to which his organisation engages with the ethical direction of its newspapers."

The judge questioned James Murdoch's account of a key meeting in 2008 where two News of the World executives – the editor, Colin Myler, and head of legal, Tom Crone – claimed to have demonstrated to him that illegal activity was more widespread than just one reporter. At the time James Murdoch, News Corp's deputy chief operating officer, was News International chairman and chief executive.

His account of the meeting differed from those of Myler and Crone when he gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry in April. Murdoch denied he was shown or told about legal advice by Michael Silverleaf QC that phone hacking was likely to have gone beyond one News of the World reporter. Crone disputed Murdoch's evidence, claiming that he probably took the Silverleaf advice to the meeting along with copies of a briefing note and the "for Neville" email, which suggested that phone hacking at the now defunct title went beyond a single reporter.

Leveson said Myler and Crone had "no motive to conceal relevant facts" from Murdoch, although the judge also expressed "serious concerns" about their evidence about the meeting. "I have given careful consideration as to whether I should go further, and conclude that Mr Crone's version of events as to what occurred on 10 June 2008 should be preferred to that of James Murdoch," he said in his report.

"There are aspects of the account of Mr Murdoch that cause me some concern: in particular, it is surprising if the gist of Mr Silverleaf's opinion was not communicated to him in circumstances where the potential reputational damage to the company, of which he was CEO, was likely to be great if an early settlement of the claim brought by Mr [Gordon] Taylor were not achieved."

Overall, Leveson found that evidence of the two Murdochs illustrated that "one or more parts of the management at the NoW was engaged in a determined cover-up to keep relevant information about potential criminal activity within the organisation from senior management within NI". Hearing nearly 380 testimonies in 12 months, Leveson acknowledged that his inquiry afforded little opportunity for detailed cross-examination that would reveal who knew what and when at News International. He added: "In the circumstances, I do not seek to reach any conclusion about precisely what transpired at this meeting."

Leveson was careful not to accuse the News of the World's 150 editorial staff even in his most disapproving passages, reserving his most trenchant criticism for executives. He repeatedly wrote of a failure of governance at the News of the World and, on occasion, at News International, that led the now-closed Sunday tabloid to "lose its way".

The judge spent several hundreds of words analysing the significance of the appointment of Myler as editor of the News of the World in January 2007, after the resignation of Andy Coulson over the convictions for voicemail interceptions of the reporter and private investigator.

He credited Myler, now editor of the New York Daily News, as being one of the first News International executives to publicly use the phrase "rogue" when describing phone hacking at the title – a line he said he stuck to "vigorously and forcefully" until late 2010. But he criticised Myler for failing to fully investigate his own private concerns about the "bombs under the newsroom floor" he described in evidence to the inquiry.

Leveson said in his report: "In the event, he did little to assuage his own 'discomfort' except lay down rules for the future. As to the what had happened, he vigorously and forcefully followed a line which, to pursue the analogy of a bomb under the newsroom floor, simply ignored his privately held fear of an impending explosion."

The judge noted in four paragraphs early in his report that News International made several improvements to its governance processes in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.

News Corp and News International declined to comment on the judge's criticism. James Murdoch has previously said he "did not know about, nor did I try to hide, wrongdoing