Leveson - Sherborne making closing speech (merged)

I wonder what will be the results of the Leveson inquiry?

I wonder what measures will be installed to avoid press to make speculation about unproven theories.

D-Day for phone hacking suspects. At 11am CPS announces if 13 people will be charged, inc we think Andy Coulson, Neil Wallis, R Brooks

Live feed....err...I have a very intelligent day....I deleted the link. Sorry...

Will try to find it again

UPDATE: Brooks, Coulson, Kuttner, Mulcaire, Miskew, Edmondson, Thurlbeck and Weatherup to be charged over phone

https://jatyk2.forumotion.co.uk/t2015-leveson-sherborne-making-closing-speech

Will move you to the main forum and merge

UPDATE: Brooks, Coulson, Kuttner, Mulcaire, Miskew, Edmondson, Thurlbeck and Weatherup to be charged over phone

So charges against several of them have been dropped?

More here now:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2012/jul/24/phone-hacking-cps-charges-live

11.07am: A total of eight out of the 13 people arrested on suspicion of phone hacking will face charges.

A further three people on police bail over hacking allegations have not been charged. The decision relating to two others has been deferred, the CPS has said.

The eight journalists to face charges are: Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, Stuart Kuttner, Glenn Mulcaire, Greg Miskew, Ian Edmondson, Neville Thurlbeck and James Weatherup.

11.07am: Andy Coulson, Rebekah Brooks and Neville Thurlbeck all face charges related to the alleged hacking of Milly Dowler's mobile telephone.

11.03am: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced that Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, Glenn Mulcaire and Neville Thurlbeck will face charges relating to phone hacking.

Same link:

10.38am: Lord Justice Leveson asks whether Sherborne believes the tabloid press "commodify" people in the news.

Sherborne says he would put it higher than that. The press "dehumanise" those in the news, he claims.

The very real damage they are doing to people, particular the McCanns, this lasted months and months despite the fact the McCanns were begging the PCC and anyone else who would listen to stop this kind of reporting ... [It is a] failure to take into account the human dimension of these stories which were just too good to resist.

He moves on to address relations between the press and police.

A couple of days ago Murdock resigned from umpteen directorships - I think the TV reporters were right when they said they reckoned he is trying to disassociate himself with the press side - especially the UK section - is a good summation of his doing a strategic runner. LL

Full charges here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2012/jul/24/phone-hacking-cps-charges-live

I freely admit, I have never heard of many of the alleged 'hacking' victims, they appear to be zelebs.

I suspect the prosecution has a problem. The alleged hackers must have been given these phone numbers to begin with by someone; if all they have done is dial the number, and try the default password/s, I can see there being a problem proving that it has been without lawful authority.

It may be nasty, cruel and amoral, but I am none too sure it can be proven it is actually 'unlawful'.

And what's this?

conspired together and with persons unknown

Personally, I don't think 'persons unknown' is good enough, in such a high-profile and expensive case.

What do you make of it, LL and JP? You are both excellent at analysing these things.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2012/jul/24/phone-hacking-cps-charges-live

11.45am: Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, has issued a statement on the phone-hacking charges. She said:

I am not guilty of these charges. I did not authorise, nor was I aware of, phone hacking under my editorship. I am distressed and angry that the CPS have reached this decision when they knew all the facts and were in a position to stop the case at this stage. The charge concerning Milly Dowler is particularly upsetting not only as it is untrue but also because I have spent my journalistic career campaigning for victims of crime. I will vigorously defend these allegations.

Rose wrote:Rebekah Brooks statement: 'I am not guilty of these charges. I did not authorise, nor was I aware of, phone hacking under my editorship.'

I have a bad feeling that, in at least some cases, the CPS is trying to appease critics of the press rather than actually uphold the law, Rose.

I stress, I have no doubt that dirty tricks have been being played by the press, but the baby is being thrown out with the bathwater.

We're liable to end up with more press restrictions, which politicians will then hide behind.

bb1 wrote:http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2012/jul/24/phone-hacking-cps-charges-live

11.45am: Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, has issued a statement on the phone-hacking charges. She said:

I am not guilty of these charges. I did not authorise, nor was I aware of, phone hacking under my editorship. I am distressed and angry that the CPS have reached this decision when they knew all the facts and were in a position to stop the case at this stage. The charge concerning Milly Dowler is particularly upsetting not only as it is untrue but also because I have spent my journalistic career campaigning for victims of crime. I will vigorously defend these allegations.

Oh, do me a favor! Everyone who had any connection, however tenuous, with Fleet Street, knew that underhand methods were routinely used, so don't expect me to believe she didn't know, or that she didn't suspect or have an inkling of how those stories were being obtained!! Even a thick tree trunk would have been suspicious, so as far as I'm concerned she is being extremely economical with the truth, ie she's doing a Tony Blair!! LL

I have no doubt a great many of them were up to no good, LL. But the charges seem a bit 'woolly' to me?

You could be right Bonny. These are still 'alleged' offenses, not convictions. Sure dirty games are/were played, especially if it's about a scoop.
Let's be realistic: It is almost inconceivable that an editor does not know what their staff is up to, I mean hacking into a dead child's phone...???
And yet....Rebekah Brooks...hard to believe. Campaigner for victims...Sarah Payne springs to mind...

More here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18969993

Quote:

The following statement was made by Alison Levitt QC, Principal Legal Advisor to the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to Operation Weeting, the investigation into the alleged hacking of phones:

"This statement is made in the interests of transparency and accountability to explain the decisions reached in relation to Operation Weeting.

As soon as UK officials start claiming 'transparency and accountability', it's a safe bet that they are lying being economical with the truth about something.

And this illustrates perfectly the kind of brain-dead bottom-feeder who is lapping all this up:

Seeking justice ‏@justice4maddie
Maddie #McCann is getting her revenge one by one for the cover up in what really happened to her #phonehacking


What an absolute, obsessive, moron!

Stella Starlight ‏@StellabyLight
@justice4maddie Yes. Take down the top and watch the rats below run for cover. #McCann

Hasn't the pondlife noticed yet? The only people doing any 'running' are the members of Bennett's home forum, following yesterday's bombshell.

The very real damage they are doing to people, particular the McCanns, this lasted months and months despite the fact the McCanns were begging the PCC and anyone else who would listen to stop this kind of reporting

Go back to this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jan/12/daily-express-pcc-mccann-libels

'Daily Express right to quit PCC because it failed to stop McCann libels'


Paper's editor tells Leveson inquiry that regulator was not proactive enough in preventing excesses in press coverage

The editor of the Daily Express has justified its decision to quit the Press Complaints Commission by complaining that the press body failed to stop owner Richard Desmond's papers publishing more than 100 seriously defamatory stories about Madeleine McCann and her parents.

Hugh Whittow said that he was not party to the decision to quit the PCC in January 2011, which was taken by the board, nor was he part of the discussion beforehand as he was not made editor until the following month.

However, he said he agreed with Desmond, the Express Newspapers proprietor, because the PCC was not proactive enough on the McCann story, which cost the newspaper group £550,000 in a 2008 libel payout. All four Express Newspapers titles, including the Daily Express, also printed front-page apologies.

"I did go along with it," Whittow said of the decision to quit the PCC. "I don't think it was serving our best interests at the time because of the McCanns – that was a big story for us and I felt that they should have interevened. Everyone [newspapers] had too much leeway, there was nobody intervening at all as a result."

Inquiry counsel Robert Jay QC asked Whittow whether he was "seriously" putting this forward as a reason for leaving the PCC.

"[These articles] were grossly defamatory, you end up paying £550,000 and you blame the PCC ... Have you got any better reasons for leaving the PCC?" he asked.

Express Newspapers, which also publishes the Daily Star, were forced to settle with the McCanns in March 2008 when they were unable to defend stories which including claims that "Maddy's body sold by hard-up McCanns", admitting in its apology to publishing more than 100 "seriously defamatory" articles.

Gerry McCann told the inquiry in November this was nothing "short of disgusting". Kate McCann told Leveson that the same paper accused the family of storing her body in a freezer. Another story claimed that there was DNA evidence showing the missing girl's body had been put in the boot of the McCann's hire car in Portugal.

The McCanns told the inquiry they had had a conversation with Sir Christopher Meyer, the then chairman of the PCC, who advised them to sue for libel, so they did not make an official complaint to the regulator.

Dawn Neesom, the editor of the Daily Star, admitted to the inquiry that she could not verify the sources of the false McCann stories the paper published, which she said came from the Portuguese police and reporters there. "It was very hard to check sometimes," she added.

Jay asked whether it was normal for stories to be "fed" to her paper and then get published without independent verification.

"It was a risk and to this day I regret that happened in the McCann case, I can only repeat the apology which was published on page one ... for the hurt and distress we caused," Neesom replied.

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

Has the Express ever explained why they were incapable of realising for themselves that printing LIES was wrong?

about "Has the Express ever explained why they were incapable of realising for themselves that printing LIES was wrong?", the same question can be asked about Correio da Manhã newspaper.

It is going to be interesting to see what comes out in court, Pedro. I very much hope that this isn't the CPS chasing popularity and headlines again, as they have brought one or two high-profile cases recently that have fallen apart when put under proper scrutiny in court.

Yes bb1, you words are mine. Time will tell.

...And that's it over.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/leveson-inquiry-draws-close-141255074.html

Leveson Inquiry draws to a close

The Leveson Inquiry into press behaviour has ended.
Chairman Lord Justice Leveson concluded proceedings by thanking journalists who had reported on the eight-month inquiry.
He said he would produce a report as soon as he "reasonably could".

I wonder: what kind of measures will now be established to avoid attacks or nasty comments, smears, defamation, based on unproven, false theories.