Pressure ‘is not to blame for hacking’

THE telephone hacking scandal cannot be blamed on pressure to produce big stories, according to a former News of the World editor.

Phil Hall, who edited the now-defunct paper from 1995 to 2000, told a seminar for the Leveson Inquiry that competitive pressures on newspapers had not led to a drop in standards.

He said phone hacking had not come about because of pressure for big stories but because a group of people had “indulged in illegal activity” and checks and balances that should have been in place had failed.

The seminar, held at the QE2 Conference Centre in Westminster, is the first in a series of discussions as part of the inquiry into media ethics and phone hacking.

The session, called The Competitive Pressures on the Press and the Impact on Journalism, featured a presentation from Mr Hall, as well as former Daily Star reporter Richard Peppiatt and consultant Claire Enders.