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Lord Justice Leveson defended the majority of
British journalism. |
Lord Justice
Leveson sought to reassure the media that he was not putting the
whole industry on trial, even though he is focusing on examples of
bad behaviour.
He made the
statement on the last of 40 days of evidence about the culture and
practices of the press, as the National Union of Journalists read
accounts from anonymous journalists of bullying and "dark arts" on
Fleet Street.
After hearing
from one reporter who complained that the inquiry was vilifying
reporters, the judge said: "I wouldn't want it to be thought that
the conclusion of this particular journalist about journalists and
journalism in general is one that I share.
"I have said more
than once and I’m happy to repeat that I consider a great majority
of the journalism in this country, from all areas, to be very much
in the public interest and a very great credit.
“That’s not to
say there isn’t some in respect of whom, given the evidence, I’m
likely to take a different view.
"But I’m keen to
make it clear to you that the mere fact that we are focusing on
examples of poor behaviour or poor ethical decision-making shouldn't
be taken as a view that this is what I think of the world.
"When Dame Janet
Smith conducted the inquiry into the regulation of the medical
profession following the activities of Dr Harold Shipman, nobody
suggested that there were other doctors out there who were behaving
as he did.
“Inevitably an
inquiry requires focus on areas that suggest change is necessary but
it’s important that context is provided.
"If that
reassures that particular journalist and indeed everybody with which
this inquiry is concerned, then I'm pleased to give that
reassurance."
However the inquiry on Thursday also heard more evidence of the way
in which the parents of Madeleine McCann were manipulated by some in
the industry.
It was claimed that the editor of the News of the World had ordered
his news editor to mislead a spokesman for the missing girl's
parents about an intrusive story the tabloid planned to publish.
Colin Myler was said to have told Ian Edmondson to have a "woolly"
conversation with Clarence Mitchell and not reveal the fact that the
newspaper had obtained Kate McCann's private diary.
He came up with the ploy to stop the family of the missing girl
obtaining an injunction against the story being published, the
inquiry into press standards heard.
The evidence from Mr Edmondson, the former head of news at the News
of the World who is taking his old paper to an employment tribunal,
contradicts what Mr Myler has previously said.
The former editor has told the Leveson hearing that his paper would
never have published the diary of the missing girl's mother if she
had not been aware of the plan, and that he thought Mr Edmondson had
cleared it with the McCanns' spokesman, Mr Mitchell.
Giving evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice hearing, Mr Edmondson
said he had a meeting with Tom Crone, the paper's senior lawyer, who
gave a view of the story that "dismayed" his editor.
He said the editor told him to phone Mr Mitchell but not to make it
clear exactly what the paper had and intended to publish that Sunday
- "make it very woolly".
This was in case the McCanns "took action" to stop the story coming
out, and also as cover in case they complained afterwards.
"It would be in order to blame Clarence, that he hadn't acted
properly on instruction."
Mr Edmondson said he felt uneasy about doing this and suggested that
the editor ring Gerry McCann himself, but was overruled.
Asked if this had been a one-off incident, the former news editor
replied: "I'm sure there were occasions where an editor would order
you to deceive someone, yes."
Asked by Lord Justice Leveson if he had told his editor that he had
informed the McCanns' spokesman about the planned diary story, Mr
Edmondson replied: "No."
Although there
was a "sea change" in the culture at the tabloid after the original
phone-hacking trial and the Max Mosley case, Mr Edmondson said
bullying still went on.
"Everything
emanates from the editor," he told the hearing.
"It's not a
democracy, the newspaper, it's autocratic," he concluded.
He said the
"majority" of stories in which they used the private investigator
Derek Webb to carry out surveillance were about love affairs, and
that some were in the public interest.
"There have been
a number of examples of false public image - someone portrays
themselves in the media as wholesome, faithful and would never cheat
on their wife but they're doing something else in private."
He said
politicians would highlight their "family values" in election
literature while celebrities would "parade their children" in glossy
magazines.
Meanwhile the
leading PR agent Max Clifford told how he had personally reached a
settlement of almost £1million with Rebekah Brooks, another former
editor of the News of the World, after finding his phone had been
hacked.
He said he had
been warning clients about what they said on the telephone as far
back as Muhammad Ali and Marlon Brando, and was aware that hotel
rooms were bugged when stars were staying in them.
Mr Clifford said
phone hacking was a "cancer" that is now being removed, and that the
scandal and the Leveson inquiry have led to some big stories being
kept out of the papers.
He denied that a
story about Cherie Blair's pregnancy had come from phone hacking,
and said Peter Mandelson had been very friendly with him when he was
helping to expose "Tory sleaze" but didn't hear from him again after
the 1997 election.
Mr Clifford
admitted that it was not true that the comedian Freddie Starr had
eaten a hamster, prompting a famous Sun headline in the 1980s, but
that his client was about to go on tour so he considered it good
publicity.
The inquiry,
which has now heard from 184 witnesses and taken 42 written
submissions, will return after a two-week break to examine the
relationship between the media and police.
