Leveson press standards probe cock up

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POLITICAL BLOGGER Guido Fawkes was due to give evidence

to the Leveson Inquiry on Thursday afternoon, tomorrow – after a controversial draft of a

Witness Statement suddenly appeared on his Order-Order site last weekend. But, now, he is FREE, according to his website, after a cock up from the Inquiry. The post was censored, pending legal advice...

The news comes as today, (Wednesday), Alastair Campbell gave evidence to the Inquiry regarding culture and ethics of the press. Campbell, who was a former spin doctor to Tony Blair, said that there was a culture of negativity in the press, as well as a culture of the press dressing up some stories as news, when really, they were comment pieces. He said that the press generally were playing catch up with the invention of the internet, and that because of the competition from independent journalists, journalists were opting for churnalism rather than proper investigative work.

Guardian freelancer Nick Davies, who gave evidence yesterday, also said that if you give a good journalist time and finance, they will get a really good story.

Campbell said that he reckoned there should be “fact checkers” like in some parts of the US, where other people check that journalists have sourced and quoted their stories to make sure they are tip top. Not sure with some egos that would go down well in some newsrooms.

His testimony to Leveson came as yesterday, ex-tabloid hacks gave a damning verdict on their trade, including alleging that editors knew there was widespread illegality being played out on some newspapers. Richard Peppiatt, ex-Daily Star hack claimed that in some stories they would be given the go ahead – despite there not being a shred of truth to them. He also claimed to having to make up quotes with anonymous sources to try to stand the story up.

Former News of the World hack, now publican, Paul McMullan, who lifted the lid on the News of the World’s illegality, was given the thumbs up from ex-colleagues for becoming a press whistle-blower he told the Inquiry QC Robert Jay. He told that phone hacking had become the norm at the paper. He said that his job was lots of “fun” but that private investigators became the norm at News International. McMullan also said that although some people maybe shocked by what has been going, uncovering the truth in the public interest was not easy. “It’s not as simple as just going up to someone and asking, are you…..,” he said. As far as he was concerned, uncovering the truth meant having to step over the line.

The Inquiry continues.