LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) – An inquiry into British press
ethics set up in response to a phone-hacking scandal at Rupert
Murdoch’s News of the World could be curtailed or severely
delayed to allow time for possible criminal prosecutions, the
presiding judge said.
The need to wait until any prosecutions are out of the way
could put the inquiry on hold for several months if not longer,
Brian Leveson wrote on the inquiry website.
The Leveson inquiry was split into two parts: the first
dealing broadly with the way news organisations operate, and the
second looking at how much they might have broken the law.
A spokesman for the inquiry said the Part 1 recommendations
would not be delayed and would be published in October.
“The key work of the Inquiry in Part 1 – producing
recommendations on future regulation of the press – will not be
affected,” the spokesman said.
So far, Part 1 has dealt with issues concerning the press
and the public and the press and the police. It is now about to
look at relations between the press and politicians.
The second stage was always going to have to wait until
after any prosecutions over phone-hacking or police corruption
to avoid possibly prejudicing the trials.
The number of arrests has risen inexorably in the scandal
and police are having to trawl through a mountain of emails
relating to the various cases.
So far over 40 people have been arrested, including two
former editors of the now-defunct News of the World, and
prosecutors are considering whether to charge 11 suspects.
Leveson wrote: “I do not know whether there will be
prosecutions but, having regard to the number of arrests and the
quantity of material seized (including the 300 million e-mails
which it is said have had to be analysed) … it is likely that
the process of pre-trial disclosure and trial will be lengthy so
that Part 2 of this Inquiry will be delayed for very many months
if not longer.
“In those circumstances, it seems to me that it is in
everyone’s interests that Part 1 goes as far as it possibly
can.”
Part 2, Leveson warned, would be very expensive, would be
looking at evidence that could by then be even more out of date
and would go on longer than Part 1, which began last November.
The Leveson proceedings are separate from another inquiry
into phone-hacking by parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport
Committee, which concluded on Tuesday that Murdoch was unfit to
run a major international company.
Satellite broadcaster BSkyB sought to distance
itself from the hacking row at Murdoch’s News Corp, its
biggest shareholder, after British lawmakers suggested BSkyB’s
ties to News Corp might jeopardise its license.
