Sky News: Tighter Controls After Email Hacking

The head of Sky News has told the Leveson Inquiry it would be "highly unlikely" the channel would consider breaking the law in future.

John Ryley told the inquiry there will be a mandatory requirement at Sky News to seek legal advice for stories before any journalistic actions which might be viewed as unlawful.

He said there may be occasions when journalists have to consider breaking the law to "shed light" on wrongdoing, but added these cases are "very, very rare".

Ofcom has confirmed it is to investigate Sky News over the unauthorised accessing of private emails in relation to a story about convicted fraudsters John and Anne Darwin.

In a statement, the regulator said: "Ofcom is investigating the fairness and privacy issues raised by Sky News' statement that it had accessed without prior authorisation private email accounts during the course of its news investigations.

"We will make the outcome known in due course."

A Sky News spokesperson said: "As John Ryley said earlier this month, we stand by these actions as editorially justified.

"The Crown Prosecution Service acknowledges that there are rare occasions where it is justified for a journalist to commit an offence in the public interest.

"The director of public prosecutions Kier Starmer told the Leveson Inquiry that 'considerable public interest weight' is given to journalistic conduct which discloses that a criminal offence has been committed and/or concealed."

Also appearing at the inquiry today are Aidan Barclay, chairman of Telegraph Media Group, which publishes the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, and Evgeny Lebedev, chairman of the companies that own the Independent and London's Evening Standard.

Rupert Murdoch will also speak at the inquiry into media standards later this week.

His son James, 39, who will appear before Justice Leveson on Tuesday, is set to be questioned further about when he learned of evidence suggesting phone hacking was rife at the News Of The World.

The inquiry has already heard from Richard Desmond, owner of the Express and Daily Star titles, and is expected to take evidence from Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday owner Lord Rothermere in the coming weeks.

©Sky News