The Leveson inquiry into media ethics is continuing its investigation, and recently heard evidence from some of the most important figures in British television. Among those who have appeared before Lord Leveson in the last few days are Mark Thompson, BBC director general, Lord Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust, John Battle, ITN’s head of compliance and Channel 4 News’ Jim Gray.
Although it was the phone hacking scandal and the tactics employed by the tabloid media that created the need for a government inquiry in the first place, the remit has been widened to cover the whole media and all tactics employed by news gathering companies.
Mark Thompson of the BBC was the first to appear, admitting that the organisation had used private investigators on over 200 occasions, at a cost of more than £300,000, since 2005. Thompson defended the tactic, telling the inquiry that some news and consumer stories had required surveillance of individuals in order to establish certain facts.
He went on to say that tactics such as secret filming were only ever used when other methods had failed, but vehemently denied that his organisation had ever employed phone hacking or used money to get information from serving police officers; the two tabloid tactics at the heart of the Leveson inquiry.
Thompson did admit that one of the investigators the BBC had used in the past was Steve Whittamore,who was convicted of illegally accessing private data in a previous case. Meanwhile, Jim Gray of Channel Four News told Lord Leveson that they have only ever used private investigators on two stories, at a total cost of less than £2,000, and that these were employed to track down individuals whose input was essential to a news story or current affairs programme.
