UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 25 JUNE 2014
"Ruthless" journalism was prevalent a long time before phone hacking became public knowledge, a senior lecturer at Birmingham City University said after yesterday's conviction of ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson.
"Journalists at certain national newspapers have been ruthless in their pursuit of stories for a long time. Phone hacking was just the technology that came along that they could use to pursue the same kind of ruthlessness," said Bob Calver, Senior Lecturer in Broadcast Journalism at Birmingham City University's School of Media.
"People's trust in journalists will be reduced and damaged, which is sad – we do need to be careful about saying that all journalists are bad. But there is understandably going to be pressure to ensure that there is proper regulation of the media in future.
"Whatever shape regulation of the press takes in the future, however, it is imperative that nothing is done to hamper journalists' legitimate pursuit of stories that are genuinely in the public interest."