With news today of the abrupt resignation of James Murdoch from his position at Newscorp, it comes as something of a postscript to the continuing Leveson Hearings on Phone Hacking in the Media.
With a seemingly endless list of victims, the latest to be questioned were Kate and Gerry McCann, whose missing daughter while on vacation conjured up probably the worst the tabloid press was capable of.
Although the Murdoch papers are implicated, it was also learned that the method of phone hacking was not the exclusive property of Newscorp or News International. As suspected, it became something of the norm to utilize phone hacking techniques in order to "get a leg up" on the competition for salacious details. The McCann's testimony offered horrifying proof that the press, at least in the UK, had sunk to its lowest level since the turn of the previous century, and in doing so offered some proof that journalism and morals were seldom on speaking terms of late.
Here, by way of the extraordinary daily program PM from BBC Radio 4 are the highlights of todays testimony and reports from the hearing room.
Oh, the Fourth Estate . . . .
