The Leveson Inquiry was established in 2011 to investigate the culture and ethics of the British press in the wake of the phone hacking scandal at News of the World. Over 6 months, Lord Justice Leveson heard from 184 witnesses and 42 written statements. The inquiry aimed to examine relationships between the press, public, politicians, and police, as well as press regulation. Leveson's 2012 report found the existing Press Complaints Commission was insufficient and recommended establishing a new independent regulatory body with stronger enforcement powers like fines.

1. Phone Hacking
Scandal

2. In July 2011, The Guardian newspaper in England broke the story that the News of
the World tabloid had hacked the cell phone of a murdered schoolgirl in 2002. So
strong was the outrage that media baron Rupert Murdoch shut down the News of the
World. By year’send, many of his News Corp. executives had resigned or been forced
out of their positions, as had two top law officers at Scotland Yard who allegedly
failed to order appropriate follow-up investigations of phone hacking evidence in the
Yard’s possession for at least five years. And News International, the U.K.
publishing subsidiary of News Corp., agreed to pay 3 million pounds to the family of
MillyDowler, the murdered Surrey schoolgirl whose cell phone was hacked by the News
of the World.
Leveson Inquiry

3. Leveson Inquiry is the inquiry by Lord Justice Leveson into ‘the culture, practices and
ethics of the press.’ In order to do this in an accurate and thorough way he heard 184
witnesses and accepted 42 written statements over a period of 6 months.
The inquiry was set up by David Cameron and Nicholas Clegg following the outrage
of the public upon hearing that the missing school girl MillyDowler had had her phone
hacked by the News of the World. Following on from this it became evident that phone
hacking was far more widespread than ever believed possible. People also began to
question why the police, politicians and the Press Complaints Committee (PCC) had
failed to investigate phone hacking more comprehensively when concerns were first raised
about the News of the World.
The inquiry is looking at the whole press and not just News Corp’s newspapers. One
of its purposes is to look closely at the relationships between the press and the public,
politicians and police and to see how powerful the press was in relation to the other
groups.
Once the report has been completed then there will be recommendations made as to how
the press regulation should be reformed; should there be a statutory, external regulatory
body set up or should the existing ‘self-regulation’ be made more robust and
successful. Obviously the press isstrongly against having an external regulatory body
set up because they believe this may stop the freedom of speech, with many truths being
unable to be publicised. But it is important that Leveson develops a system that will
coverthe wholeofthe press.
Eventually a 2,000 page report was in November 2012. The report found that the
present PCC was not enough to ensure the privacy of the public. He recommended that
a new independent body should be set up that had many sanctions available including
fines.
Soon after the report David Cameron spoke in the House of Commons saying that the
report was welcomed but he had concerns about bringing about the changes. Talks began
in December 2012 between the press and politicians about putting changes in place and
these talks should be finished by the summer of 2013.