Independent editor fears Leveson is ‘loading a gun’ against the newspaper industry
Chris Blackhurst, editor of the Independent, has compared a letter written by Lord Justice Leveson, which heavily implied he would criticise the press in his final report, to ‘loading a gun’.
The letter was despatched to all national and regional newspapers, stoking fear as the industry waits on tenterhooks to find out what the full ramifications of the report’s findings may prove to be.
Blackhurst was the first out of the blocks to lambast this note however, describing it as a ‘diatribe’ and suggesting that the report was tantamount to a ‘demolition of the industry’.
The rambling letter stretched to a postman-troubling 100 plus pages and is said to amount to a shopping list of damning indictments directed toward the industry.
Whilst acknowledging that some of these may be justified he demurred with Leveson on a great deal and predicted that much of the reports contents would ‘raise eyebrows’.
Blackhurst said: “It throws the book at the industry. The best way I can describe it is he's loading a gun, and this document – well over 100 pages – is all the ammunition. And believe you me, there is plenty of ammunition, you read the ammunition and you just gulp."