News

Judicial Review arising out of the Leveson Inquiry
20 January 2012

R (Associated Newspapers Limited) v Chairman of the Leveson Inquiry

 

Cathryn McGahey was instructed as junior counsel to the Leveson Inquiry, and Louise Jones as Junior Counsel for the Core Participant Victims, in a judicial review claim brought by Associated Newspapers Limited (publishers of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday) against the Chairman of the Inquiry. Associated Newspapers challenged Leveson LJ's decision in principle to grant anonymity to journalists who wanted to "blow the whistle" on unethical or unlawful practices, but who were afraid that their careers would be ruined if they did.

 

Associated Newspapers contended that the Chairman's decision was unfair and therefore unlawful. They argued that the public might wrongly conclude that Associated Newspapers were involved in wrongdoing, when in fact the anonymous journalists were speaking of other organisations altogether.

 

The Chairman argued that his Inquiry should be as thorough as possible, that he had no other means of obtaining this evidence and that he would put in place safeguards to reduce the risk of unfair reputational damage to media organisations. The Chairman's arguments were supported by the Core Participant Victims, who contended that the interests of the public and the victims in hearing this evidence were compelling.

 

The Divisional Court rejected Associated Newspaper's challenge, and upheld the Chairman's decision as a lawful one.

 

The judgment is an important one, in that it gives judicial authority for the proposition that anonymity may be granted to witnesses for a wide range of reasons, including the wish to protect a career. Until this point, judgments in this area had concentrated on risks to life or national security that might arise were anonymity not to be granted.

 

Associated Newspapers Limited have announced that they will not be appealing to the Court of Appeal.