Madness.

Leveson has been speaking in Oz this morning. The man who only realised half way through his own inquiry that most journalists did not write their own headlines, has been dispensing some more pearls of wisdom about newspapers. Apparently bloggers are to blame for the drop in media standards and ethics, as it is making  hacks have to work harder and “undermine media standards through encouraging them to adopt a casual approach to the law”. Yes, it’s all those pesky bloggers fault that the News of the World hacked phones…

Most print hacks, especially in Westminster, are already are bloggers and tweeters. Leveson should have looked at the level of content produced on websites and on Twitter compared to what actually makes it into to print. The ‘can’t beat, so join them’ horse has already bolted.

Leveson’s attempts to shut the stable door through statutory regulation is looking increasingly absurd.

Over the last few days the Hacked Off brigade have been desperate for it to emerge that the prank call nurse had been contacted by hacks before she took her own life. Evan Harris salivated on Saturday:

Good question. Anyone know? RT @ChristinaMaroc do we know if our press were hassling Jacintha Saldanha?—
Dr Evan Harris (@DrEvanHarris) December 08, 2012

Tom Watson even went as far as directly accusing journalists of “spooking” the woman, despite the fact they did not know her name:

Ask yourself how many reporters spooked that poor, poor woman? It wasn't irrelevant at all Jim Dowd: theyworkforyou.com/debate/?id=201…—
  (@tom_watson) December 07, 2012

Now the Press Complaints Commission have poured water on the press-haters’ wet dream. Lord Hunt told MPs earlier:

MP: “Was nurse hounded by press before she took her life?”
LH: “I don’t think so”

Yet another one in the eye for Watson. He’s not having a good run of it lately…

Here are Oz DJ’s Michael Christian and Mel Greig explaining their prank yesterday:

Wonder who is going to wake them up?

The Mail is reporting that the receptionist who was pranked by the Australian Queen impersonator has been found dead in a suspected suicide. Scotland Yard say:

‘Police were called at approximately 9.25am on Friday, December 7, to a report of a woman found unconscious an address in Weymouth Street, W1. London Ambulance Service attended and the woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Enquiries are continuing to establish the circumstances of the incident. The death is not being treated as suspicious at this stage’.

Nasty.

UPDATE:

#kate Sources now say its the nurse who was duped into revealing details of Kate's condition who has been found dead in suspected suicide—
martinbrunt (@skymartinbrunt) December 07, 2012

Fresh off the plane to Sydney, jet-setting Lord Justice Leveson has wasted no time in having a pop at the internet on tour down under. His withering and rather unfortunately timed moan ended up almost as a Leveson Report 2.0:

Ed Balls blamed his stammer for getting his script wrong yesterday but he still did not have anything to say this morning:

“I’m not going to come on the Today programme within 24 hours and start making ex cathedra statements without taking a proper judgement”

That didn’t stop his boss doing just that when he recommended implementing Leveson in full, just five hours after receiving the 2,000 page document.

Luckily Brian Leveson is off to Oz so he can clamp down on this blagging of private information…

Guido cannot fault Jonathan Reynolds’ taste. The Labour MP told the House last night:

“Some of my favourite media sources are those that feature very different politics to mine. I like reading The Spectator and Guido Fawkes’s blog. I find them entertaining because they are witty and well written, and they do not simply mirror my own politics back at me. We want a lively press.”

Not so much with Reynolds’ red colleague Jim Dowd, who went off on one at those that will not bow to a state regulator:

“What these people are basically saying is that they are above the law. This parliament, the British public, can say what they like. If it does not meet their approval, they will not abide by it. That is the calibre, that is the type of people we’re dealing with and we cannot trust them to act in the public interest.”

Needless to say, the Spectator have had a thing or two to say about that. Guido is currently working on his “naughty and nice list” for this year. Sadly not many members actually turned up for yesterday’s debate so it’s tough to get an accurate picture. Despite that groundswell of public support for the topic…

Roy Greenslade was giving his views on Leveson to his students today.  “Significant and reckless disregard for accuracy”? Well Guido can see one howler…

Via @HenryCTaylor