C4 News editor takes the stand at Leveson

Jim Gray appeared at the Leveson inquiry into press ethics, along with ITN’s head of compliance, John Battle.

In his witness statement, Mr Gray said that the aim of Channel 4 News is “to deliver original journalism that holds authority to account” and as such, the programme takes a diligent approach to legal and regulatory compliance.

Mr Gray said that there was no evidence of any phone hacking or payments to police “or any of the other practices which have been concerning this inquiry”.

When asked if he wanted to comment on regulation of the press, the Channel 4 News editor said he was “anxious about a heavy form of statutory regulation of print”. It could be used to “curtail, to constrain, or to limit freedom of expression and provision of important information by the media,” he said.

Ethical culture at C4 News

When discussing the culture at Channel 4 News, Mr Gray said that journalists working for the news programme, as well as at ITN generally, had very high ethical standards.

“It’s part and parcel of the terrain of holding to account and challenging authority, challenging consensus and established views, which is part of the remit we agree with Channel 4,” he said.

The Leveson inquiry heard that the programme paid a private investigator £200 in 2009 to track down the original solicitor in a case that was later shown to be a miscarriage of justice.

[High ethical standards are] part and parcel of the terrain of holding to account and challenging authority. Jim Gray, Channel 4 News editor

In 2010 it also paid a private detective £1,500 to locate suspects in an unsolved murder.

John Battle, head of compliance for ITN, which prodices ITV News and Channel 4 News, said that he “wouldn’t recommend” newspapers be held to the same strict regulations as broadcasters.

“My experience is that the broadcasters would perhaps take a risk level akin to something like a broadsheet newspaper, but a tabloid newspaper may in some circumstances take a higher risk than a broadcaster,” he said.

“But that’s the nature of the plurality of the media.”

Mr Battle said that ITN received only about 10 complaints through broadcasting watchdog Ofcom each year.

Also on Monday, it emerged that a reporter from the News of the World played police a recording of Milly Dowler‘s hacked voicemails just weeks after she disappeared, but that police did not investigate.

The revelation was made by Surrey Police in a letter to MPs. It said that a News of the World reporter told police that the voicemail was accessed after obtaining Milly’s phone number and pin code from a friend.

The claim that the News of the World accessed the murdered teenager’s voicemail kickstarted the Leveson inquiry into the ethics of the press and has been central the ongoing phone hacking allegations ever since.

A statement issued on behalf of the Dowler family said: “The release of the Surrey Police statement is a further reminder of the relationship between that force and the News of the World.

“The report indicates that the police force were aware of a caller purporting to be Sally Dowler seeking information in 2002. No doubt there will be current investigations as to who that was as it was not Sally Dowler,” the family added.

“The Surrey Police have not explained why they did not investigate that deception in 2002. No thought seems to have been given to the effect on the Dowler family.”

Labour MP Chris Bryant, who received damages from News Group Newspapers last week after his phone was hacked, said: “Given what Surrey Police have now admitted to knowing back in 2002, it is extraordinary that they never sought to investigate the self-evident criminality and distasteful intrusion involved in hacking Milly Dowler’s phone.

“The Surrey police should make clear now what meetings were held with the News of the World at that time, who attended on either side and what was discussed,” he added.