An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press

Background

What it found

1. The Inquiry examined the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), the press's self-regulator since 1991, and found its failure to be structural rather than a matter of individual leadership - it lacked the power to enforce standards on an industry whose members judged compliance by their own self-interest. p. 1515 p. 1515

   “It follows from this that criticisms of the PCC have often been too specifically directed and as such may have missed their mark; it is the system as a whole which should be the accurate target. The way in which the various parts interact is the hallmark of the system as I have broadly defined it; in a less obvious but equally powerful way it should also be regarded as the key descriptor of the relationship that the industry has with the PCC. Although the system as constituted in this manner unravelled, in spectacular fashion, in July 2011, the inherent weakness was there for all to see almost from the very start.”

2. Leveson recommends a new, voluntary self-regulatory body for the press, independent of both the industry and government, backed by legislation that would recognise it in law and give publishers incentives to join. He states that this recognition is not itself regulation of the press. p. 1781 p. 1781 p. 1781

   “This legislative proposal does no more than ensure an appropriate degree of independence and effectiveness on the part of the self-regulatory body if the incentives described are to be made use of. This is not, and cannot be characterised as, regulation of the press.”

3. If the industry does not itself set up an adequately independent regulator, the report recommends that the Government legislate for a backstop regulator to apply and enforce a code of standards. p. 1782 p. 1782

4. The News of the World hacked Milly Dowler's phone in April 2002, as it later admitted to Surrey Police. The report finds, on the balance of probabilities, that this hacking was not the cause of the "false hope moment" widely blamed on it - the voicemail system's own automatic deletion of messages accounts for that - but confirms the phone was indeed hacked. p. 546 p. 545 p. 546

   “But it remains worthwhile to underline that the essential gravamen of the Guardian's original story of 4 July 2011, namely that Milly Dowler's phone was hacked by or on the instructions of journalists employed by the NoTW, was correct, and is now the subject of criminal charges.”

5. Christopher Jefferies, the retired teacher arrested (but never charged) over the murder of his tenant Joanna Yeates in December 2010, was defamed and vilified by parts of the press while in police custody. He later brought successful libel proceedings against eight newspapers, and the Attorney General brought contempt of court proceedings over three of the articles. p. 558 p. 559 p. 560 p. 564

   “Mr Jefferies was the victim of a very serious injustice perpetrated by a significant section of the press. Without such reporting, it is hard to accept that he would have found it necessary to change his appearance and effectively lodge with friends for approximately three months.”

6. The Inquiry examined the relationship between the press and the Metropolitan Police, prompted in part by the police's investigation into phone hacking. It found no widespread evidence of police corruption, but did find a damaging perception that the News of the World had an inappropriate degree of influence over the force, including some senior officers. p. 981 p. 980 p. 980

Where to start reading

Short on time? These sections carry the report's argument. Each opens at the start of the section.

1. Chapter 7: Conclusions and recommendations for future regulation p. 1781 · Read →

   Leveson's own summary of what he recommends and why - an independent regulator, backed by law only to recognise it, which he insists is not regulation of the press.

   “I have therefore set out a vision of a voluntary independent self-organised regulatory system that would provide an appropriate degree of independence from the industry, coupled with satisfactory powers to handle complaints, promote and enforce standards, and deal with dispute resolution.”

2. Part L: Summary of recommendations Read →

   The recommendations themselves, numbered and grouped by topic, from the regulator's powers to the criminal law and police conduct.

   “The Board should provide an arbitral process in relation to civil legal claims against subscribers, drawing on independent legal experts of high reputation and ability on a cost-only basis to the subscribing member. The process should be fair, quick and inexpensive, inquisitorial and free for complainants to use (save for a power to make an adverse order for the costs of the arbitrator if proceedings are frivolous or vexatious). The arbitrator must have the power to hold hearings where necessary but, equally, to dispense with them where it is not necessary.”

3. The Press Complaints Commission and its effectiveness p. 1516 · Read →

   Why the Inquiry judged decades of voluntary self-regulation to have failed.

   “The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has always been a voluntary system based on a network of implied contracts. Accordingly, participation has been optional, and in the event never universal; and has always been contingent on an evaluation by individual titles or publishers of their self-interest. Newspapers notionally sign up, and remain tied into the rules of the system, but only for the period and to the extent that they judge that this is in their best interests.”

4. The Dowlers p. 543 · Read →

   The phone-hacking case that brought down the News of the World and led to the Inquiry, including the Inquiry's own correction of one widely-reported detail about it.

   “The fact remains that the NoTW hacked the phone of a dead schoolgirl called Milly Dowler. The revelation of that story rightly shocked the public conscience in a way that other stories of phone hacking may not have, but it also gave momentum to growing calls for light to be shed on an unethical and unlawful practice of which there were literally thousands of victims.”

5. The press and the police: conclusions and recommendations p. 981 · Read →

   Whether the closeness between the Metropolitan Police and the News of the World amounted to corruption, and what the Inquiry recommends instead.

   “First, the scale of the problem needs to be kept in proportion. The Inquiry has not unearthed extensive evidence of police corruption (noting, as it has done, the current position in relation to Operation Elveden which is concerned with payments to public officials generally); nor is there evidence satisfying the standard of proof I am applying to findings of fact in this Inquiry, namely the balance of probabilities, that significant numbers of police officers lack integrity in one or more of the respects I have examined earlier.”