Background: For those who aren’t familiar with the long-running story, basically, earlier this year it started to come to light that journalists at the News of the World, a tabloid newspaper in the UK (owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp), had been systemically hacking the telephones of many celebrities, politicians and other high profile people and listening in to their private voicemail messages. The details came out gradually, but when it emerged that a reporter had hacked the phone of missing (later found murdered) school girl Milly Dowler, the story quickly turned into an international scandal.

The News of the World, 168 years in the business, was shut down by its owners, the hugely powerful Murdochs. A public inquiry was set up by the government to investigate this, and then to investigate the wider matters, which led to this week’s proceedings. The Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practice and ethics of the press has been hearing witness statements from many of the victims of phone hacking and other people who suffered illegal or unethical activity by journalists.

This included earlier in the week the parents of the murdered girl Milly Dowler, and missing girl Madeleine McCann,  actor Hugh Grant, actress Sienna Miller, former head of Formula One motor sport Max Mosley and J.K. Rowling, among others. Get the whole story »