Attack on press freedom by the government
Discussion
Reuters said:
Fleet Street's finest jostled furiously at the start on Thursday of a government inquiry.
Prime Minister David Cameron has asked a judge to make recommendations for a new regulatory regime.
"We've been up to pretty bad behaviour throughout history. It was fun" said Roy Greenslade, a former Daily Mirror editor.
Richard Peppiatt, a former reporter with the Daily Star, said:
In more than 900 stories for British popular papers I can probably count on fingers and toes the number of times I was genuinely telling the truth.
Phil Hall, editor News of the World 1995 to 2000 said: The publish-and-be-damned attitude has long since been confined to the history books of Fleet Street.
Peppiatt though said: Tabloid stories were ordered up from cowering reporters by bullying editors to fit the newspaper's preconceived prejudices, regardless of the facts, under an unwritten pact best described as "you tell us what we want to hear and we won't question too much your sources."
Peppiatt's "florid diatribe" was a "grotesque caricature of the newspaper world," said ex Sun political editor Trevor Kavanagh.
Earlier, Kavanagh admitted the popular press occasionally erred but added: "You should see the stories we don't print."
Greenslade challenged former News of the World editor Roy Hall. "Maybe Roy can tell us first how he fixed the spot-the-ball competition when he edited the Daily Mirror. It is an episode of journalism I feel absolutely terribly sorry about....mea culpa, mea culpa," Greenslade admitted the lapse which critics said made it impossible for anyone to win the 1 million pound prize on offer.
"When Michael Jackson died, the Sun's circulation went up by 326,000 copies in one day," said Sun editor Dominic Mohan. "There is a public appetite for celebrity journalism."
Alan Rusbridger, editor of Britain's The Guardian, said: A free press is part of a larger right of free expression, something to be jealously preserved and guarded, regardless of the abuses of those freedoms by, or on behalf of, a small number of people calling themselves journalists." The Guardian exposed the phone hacking of the NotW and the state of the Met’s hierarchy.
Prime Minister David Cameron has asked a judge to make recommendations for a new regulatory regime.
"We've been up to pretty bad behaviour throughout history. It was fun" said Roy Greenslade, a former Daily Mirror editor.
Richard Peppiatt, a former reporter with the Daily Star, said:
In more than 900 stories for British popular papers I can probably count on fingers and toes the number of times I was genuinely telling the truth.
Phil Hall, editor News of the World 1995 to 2000 said: The publish-and-be-damned attitude has long since been confined to the history books of Fleet Street.
Peppiatt though said: Tabloid stories were ordered up from cowering reporters by bullying editors to fit the newspaper's preconceived prejudices, regardless of the facts, under an unwritten pact best described as "you tell us what we want to hear and we won't question too much your sources."
Peppiatt's "florid diatribe" was a "grotesque caricature of the newspaper world," said ex Sun political editor Trevor Kavanagh.
Earlier, Kavanagh admitted the popular press occasionally erred but added: "You should see the stories we don't print."
Greenslade challenged former News of the World editor Roy Hall. "Maybe Roy can tell us first how he fixed the spot-the-ball competition when he edited the Daily Mirror. It is an episode of journalism I feel absolutely terribly sorry about....mea culpa, mea culpa," Greenslade admitted the lapse which critics said made it impossible for anyone to win the 1 million pound prize on offer.
"When Michael Jackson died, the Sun's circulation went up by 326,000 copies in one day," said Sun editor Dominic Mohan. "There is a public appetite for celebrity journalism."
Alan Rusbridger, editor of Britain's The Guardian, said: A free press is part of a larger right of free expression, something to be jealously preserved and guarded, regardless of the abuses of those freedoms by, or on behalf of, a small number of people calling themselves journalists." The Guardian exposed the phone hacking of the NotW and the state of the Met’s hierarchy.
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